《Aliad [Dropped]》 Prologue / Chapter 1 - Reborn? Prologue It was just an ordinary day, going to work, traffic, work, lunch, work, going home, traffic, home. Everything was going exactly the same way as before. That is until a plane crash landed on top of my house. I felt my consciousness fading away. Everything was going dark and I could barely hear or feel the flames. All I could look forward to was the darkness as my eyes started to shut and the cold overcoming the heat I felt. I was never religious or anything like that. But I felt that my life was pretty boring and lame. I did not want it to end so easily. As my consciousness failed, I screamed in my head, I don¡¯t want to die. And with that everything was gone. Chapter 1 - Reborn? *voices* I woke up. I could see that I was in some sort of cradle that was rocking back and forth. It felt so soothing that I went straight back to sleep. Next time when I wake up, I thought. The light woke me up from my bed. I turned five this day. Its been five years since I was reborn in another world. I figured it out a couple days after I first woke up. I saw that I was in a medieval like world called Arun. From what I heard it is exactly the same as Earth only it has five continents and only six oceans. There were also more than just the humans. There were elves, dwarves, winged humans, dragons and beastmen. There were variants of each race so those variants made their own nations except for the beastmen and dragons. The elves were a mix of Dark Elves; who were elves with pale skin, red eyes, white hair and were good at secrets, High Elves; who were elves that had blonde hair, fair skin, their eye color was the same as humans and were good at magic, Blood Elves; who were elves that were more muscular than any of the other elves had black hair, fair skin, eye colors the same as humans and were good at combat, good enough that they usually went crazy. The little dwarves were a mix of Stone Dwarves; dwarves whose bodies turned into stone making them look like walking rocks, they were naturally attuned to the earth and so long as they were on earth they would not die, they do not have hair nor any beards; Dark Dwarves, dark-skinned dwarves who were really good at magic and were mostly a group of mages rather than warriors, they had styled beards but no hair; Dwarves were basically humans with short humans who had a stocky yet muscular body, these dwarves have styled beards as well as hair compared to the Dark Dwarves and Stone Dwarves, they usually were combat oriented always seeking a fight. The beastmen are a tribal group. Unlike the dwarves or the elves there is really no way to easily separate them. There are lionmen, tigermen, hawkmen and others. These all constitute the beastmen. Animals with the limbs of humans as well as the physique to match their animalistic form. They retain their primal rage making them strong warriors but are looked down upon by all the races as being inferior. The dragons were a proud and secretive group. Not much is known other than their capability of speech as well as their natural ability to use magic. They live in the Ice Front and stay there most of the time. At least this much I learned from the studies I was forced to take when I was three years old. Along with all the etiquette and other things they made me learn as a prince. That¡¯s right I was reincarnated? Reborn? As the third prince of the Rigel Kingdom in the Lunaria continent. That¡¯s all I know really as the rest of my studies concerning geography and history get taught to me after today. I got up from my bed and suddenly the door opened. In came my butler, Sebas. He was wearing a white long sleeved shirt with a black vest over it and black pants. There was a dangle of a chain on his right pocket, obviously it was his pocket watch. He had a calm and solemn expression but I knew that he was always the friendliest and the one who knew me the best as being the one to really make sure that I was taken cared of as my family was always busy. He was old, forty five years of age, his white hair was combed and neat. Even his white moustache was styled nice as well as his finely combed white beard. As he closed the door he said, ¡°Good morning Prince Zed.¡± Oh yeah after I was reborn I was given a new name Zed Rigel. Everyone in this world at least has a first name but last names are saved for royalty or nobility. As I was thinking that, Sebas went to my closet and started getting clothes to change me in. Having a butler is great. As Sebas was changing my clothes I began to ask what was going to happen today. Sebas said, ¡°All the servants are currently making sure that the castle is able to receive all of the nobles as well as the royal families of the Lunaria, Mustashum, Luna¡¯tesh, and Gunterra.¡± ¡°The elves and the dwarves are coming?¡± I asked ¡°Yes, your royal father, invited everyone from the Lunaria continent as he was sure that you were a genius,¡± he said with a grin. It was true, during the last two years that I was being taught, I remembered everything and was able to amaze even my teachers. It was only right as I wanted to make the best out of this new life, so I put my all into everything. But things still had to be kept to tradition. I learned everything I was supposed to learn in two years in just six months. Meaning for the rest of the time I spent it learning as much as I could about what I was allowed to learn and even the ones forbidden me. Tradition stated that I learn magic from my fifth year but after tripping and bleeding when I was four years old and having been healed by magic I longed to know more about it. For the last year, I have been sneaking out of my room to learn in the royal library as well as practicing magic in my own room. I was completely sure that my actions were all kept secret. But of course, after Sebas¡¯ comment about my ¡°genius¡± and his grin, I knew that everyone knew. I couldn¡¯t help but be despondent. I was sure that no one knew! Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Do not worry my prince, only the royal family knows,¡± Sebas said to comfort me. ¡°How much do they know?¡± ¡°Everything,¡± he said finishing up my changing. ¡°Breakfast is ready and the royal family awaits.¡± I tense up, ¡°Am I the last one?¡± I asked worried because punctuality was one of the traits my parents were most concerned about. ¡°Yes but since it is your birth date, they let you sleep in,¡± said Sebas, ¡°nonetheless it is no good to keep them waiting.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± I said going out of my room and heading down to the dining hall. But before I exited I stopped to take a look at the mirror. What I saw was a childish boy of five years. He had silver hair, gold eyes and bronze skin. He was scrawny but that is to be expected from a five year old prince. My hair was short but they spiked up. I was wearing a black long sleeved collared shirt with gold linings. I had on silver pants and a pair of black boots. I liked the color black and I knew with the cleaning enchantments on the clothes that whatever I did would not leave a hint of dirt on them. After looking myself over I exited. The corridor outside my room was lavish. There were paintings of my ancestors lined up in every other section of the wall separated by marble columns. The floor was made of some blue tiles that easily accented the marble columns. A door would appear after every minute of walking until I reached the end which led to a railing overlooking a courtyard. I turned right and slowly descended the violet colored carpet that filled the whole staircase. The staircase rounded to the left as it slowly led me down into the courtyard. Reaching the courtyard I turned left and into the Great Hall. This Hall was decorated with armor instead of old paintings. At the end of the hall was a door that led to the throne room. I turned left at the crossroad before the throne room and headed to the Dining hall. I stopped and let Sebas announce that I was here and entered. Inside was a giant hall, lavishly decorated with pink and some white pink. The red curtains were parted revealing the Great plains of Lunaria that the Rigel Kingdom was located in. The chandeliers were blinking as the light of dawn reflected from them. In the center was a round table filled with food obviously made for the nobility as other than being plentiful was also made with care to the presentation. My whole family was sitting and nearest to where I entered was my older sister, Alexandra, she was the youngest of my three older sisters. She had silver hair and bronze skin like I did but her eyes were black. She¡¯s fifteen this year and she wants to be a priestess. She had on her priestess black priestess robe and a star necklace around her neck. My parents wouldn¡¯t let her apparently but they relented when they found out that my sister had a gift for healing magic. ¡°Morning Zed,¡± she said to me with a smile. ¡°Morning runt,¡± said my older brother, the second prince, Salazar Rigel. He was seated next to my sister. He had black hair, gold eyes, and was fair skinned. He was lean but not that muscular. His hair spiked up like mine and had an unkempt beard. He wore a blue long sleeved collared shirt with a bunch of medals and black pants and shoes. ¡°Don¡¯t call him that,¡± snapped my oldest brother, the crown prince, Leon Rigel. He was seated across Alexandra. He had silver hair, brown eyes and bronze colored skin. He was more muscular than Salazar. He wore a black long sleeved shirt with red lining as well as a complimenting black pants with a sword on his left hip on a red scabbard. ¡°Morning Zed,¡± said my twin older sisters who sat in between my two older brothers. They were Eustasia and Serephine. They both looked the same but also were easy to tell apart. Both had white hair and gold eyes but Eustasia had bronze colored skin while Serephine had fair skin. Eustasia had long flowing hair while Serephine had short hair. They both were lean like Salazar but not as muscular. They both wore easy to move in clothing. As much as it displeased my father. They both wore leather clothes that were neat enough to be able to look presentable in them. Eustasia had a black and red leather clothes while Serephine had black and gold leather clothes. Leaning next to their seats are their trusty rapiers. ¡°Good morning my son,¡± said my mother, Queen Elizabeth. She was the most beautiful person that I have ever met. She had black hair, brown eyes and fair skin. She wore a dark pink dress that were embroidered with gold trimmings and linings. She was a commoner from what I hear and I am really proud of my father the king to have married a commoner. ¡°Good morning Zed,¡± said a rough but gentle voice that belonged to my father, King Aaron. He was large, broad shouldered and muscular. He had an essence of someone you did not want to mess with yet was kind and gentle. His eyes were gold colored, his hair silver and his skin was bronze. He wore a silver and gold long sleeved shirt as well as black pants. ¡°Good morning everyone,¡± I said after everyone greeted me. I then proceeded to my seat to the left of father and began eating breakfast. Its only been five years in this world yet I feel warm and comfortable. No one knows the secret about me being reborn but this life was great. I¡¯m going to do everything that I can to keep this happiness, I thought with a smile on my face as I ate breakfast and talked with my new family. -----------------------
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Chapter 2 - Magic Affinity After breakfast I went to the royal library that I could finally go inside of. I don¡¯t know what it is about these traditions requiring me to be five just to go inside the royal library but I guess it let me practice magic somewhat. The library was located inside a gray tower that was covered with markings all around it and a blue tiled roof. It had no windows but only a reinforced steel wooden door. I entered the library and inside was filled with shelves and shelves of books. There was no librarian but there was a podium in the middle with a tablet. The podium was made of wood and on the tablet was written: Royal Library of Rigel 1st Floor ¨C Records 2nd Floor ¨C History 3rd Floor ¨C Geography 4th Floor ¨C War Records 5th Floor ¨C Magic Studies 6th Floor ¨C Magic Research 7th ¨C 10th Floor ¨C Royal Floor The words for the first floor was shining and so I thought I might try touching the words for the fifth floor. As soon as I touched it, the words lit up and I could feel the ground beneath me floating. The area around the podium was an elevator! I slowly rose with the podium elevator and I could see that I had some time to look around. The shelves surrounded the rounded walls and also inched closer towards the center. There were no stairs that I could see so the podium was the only way of moving from floor to floor. Each floor was different. The first floor was neat and tidy but the second floor had some pieces of paper on the ground but it was still clean. The third floor had massive maps where some shelves of books should¡¯ve been and there were tables scattered around also with some maps. Like the second floor it too had some paper on the ground. The fourth floor had drawings of some creatures as well as some maps with markings on them. This room was messier than the lower floors but it was still alright. As soon as I reached the fifth floor I noticed that this floor was larger than the others. For one, it was taller and seemed to go on longer than the tower looked from the outside. There were shelves that went as high as the ceiling, which was what I thought to be one hundred feet. The shelves were only on the walls and there were tables and chairs near the center. I went to one of the shelves and started looking. Ranking of Magic, Creation of the Magic Guild, Memoirs of a Sage; different titles were scattered with no set organization. It was as if they were just placed on the shelves just because there was space. If only there was something about finding out my magic affinity, I thought. I had already begun my training with magic after watching some of the mages in the castle and imitating them. I had noticed my mana pool and was meditating as that was what I thought they were doing and my mana pool did increase. Although I don¡¯t know how large my mana pool really is I still knew that it was increasing. Even though I increased my mana pool I couldn¡¯t really use any magic. I asked Sebas about this at one time and he said, ¡°You need to know your affinity first. After that, you will find it easier to practice your magic.¡± I asked him then about how I find out my magic affinity and he just said that I had to wait until I was five years old to learn about it, he wouldn¡¯t even tell me what the affinities were. Suddenly a book floated towards me, it was titled, On Magic Affinities. It seems that the books come towards you when you think about them, I thought. I grabbed the book and went to one of the chairs. As soon as I sat on them, the chair changed to become a plush and soft chair. At first it was too big for me but now it fit just right. The table also changed to fit my height when I was sitting. This library is very convenient, I thought with a smile. I placed the book on the table and started reading. There were five different magic affinities; they were Primordial, Spectrum, Supreme, Ancient, and Legendary. Each affinity also had subsets that one specializes in. Primordial affinity, the most common one, had subsets of Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. Anyone with a Primordial affinity is able to use any of the primordial elements but their subset will always be stronger than the others. Spectrum affinity, the uncommon one, had subsets of Light, Dark, Arcane and Nature. Spectrum affinity mages had the ability to use any of the Primordial magic but their restriction is only of an aspect of it. If a mage had a Light Spectrum affinity they could only use a purer version of the Primordial magic. Nature Spectrum affinity could only use the raw power of the Primordial magic, it was unrestrained and difficult to control. Arcane Spectrum had precise control on the Primordial magic. And Dark Spectrum had a tainted version of the Primordial magic. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Supreme affinity had Summoning or Contractual, Healing, Holy, and Chaos as its subsets. Supreme affinity was rare, except for Healing as that usually needed to be a member of the church to be able to use it. Supreme Affinity has no connections to the Primordial elements and is separate. Summoning or Contractual allows to summon elemental spirits or contracted demons. Holy uses the divine powers while Chaos uses the demonic powers. Holy affinity usually increases the users abilities while Chaos does the same but only stronger at the cost of the users lifespan. Ancient affinity is super rare and its subsets are Form, Void, Spirit, and Inner. Form allows the user to change or create something out of nothing but it has to be something that can exist. Void allows the user to deconstruct or change something to less of what it was. Spirit allows the user to be able to talk with the spirits and borrow their powers. Inner allows the user to release the hidden potential of a person as well as dispel any magical enchantment. All of these affinities were amazing, I was already hoping that I had a Supreme Affinity as that was something that I was interested in. I turned another page and I was given another affinity to look at. Legendary Affinity, the most unique affinity, its subsets are Time, Space and Ethereal. Time allows the user to change the flow of time. Space allows the user to bend space. Ethereal allows the user to use any of the lower affinities at maximum potential. I was stunned, this legendary affinity, truly was deserving of being legendary. I continued reading and read that the Legendary Affinity cannot be noticed by any test and that the only way to really know is to try. Being excited, I wanted to see if I had the Legendary Affinity, but I didn¡¯t even know of what to do. I didn¡¯t have the time to look for another book when the podium elevator came into view and Sebas was there. ¡°It is time Prince Zed,¡± said Sebas with a bow. ¡°What time is it?¡± I asked. ¡°It is currently noon, and your family is waiting for you in the throne room,¡± he said checking his pocket watch. ¡°Ok,¡± I said getting up and going towards him. ¡°Why are they waiting for me in the throne room?¡± I asked as the podium elevator descended. ¡°That is where your magic affinity will be tested, all the guests have arrived as well.¡± ¡°They¡¯re going to test my affinity today?!¡± I asked excitedly. ¡°Yes, they are also going to introduce you as the third prince as this is your first public appearance.¡± That made me nervous, when the podium elevator reached the first floor. I followed Sebas to the throne room. When we reached the door, Sebas said, ¡°Prince Zed, it is custom that you enter the door before me as this is your first public appearance. Please do not worry and everything will be alright.¡± ¡°Thank you Sebas,¡± I said with a smile as my nervousness and anxiety disappeared. I reached out and opened the door thinking, I wonder what affinity I¡¯ll get, as the light of the throne room almost blinded me and I heard, ¡°Please welcome, the third prince of the Rigel Kingdom, Prince Zed Rigel.¡± ---------------------
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Chapter 3 - Affinity Test This is my first attempt with the tables, hopefully it turns out ok. ------------------ I entered the throne room after the announcement. At the end of the room was seated my father and mother on gold and red thrones. My father¡¯s throne was larger than my mother¡¯s. Above them hangs a black and purple banner. The purple created a circle on the black banner and within it was a picture of some kind of bird with two heads, six wings, and twelve tails. Standing next to my father was a man that had brown hair in a ponytail, black eyes, pale skinned and was the most skinniest person that I know. His name is Rico Vlad and is our Prime Minister. When I looked at him, for a second I though his eyes looked like they were mad, but the next second it was gone. I couldn¡¯t understand why he hated me so much. I turned my eyes to the person standing next to my mother. She was an old elf from her pointy ears. She had white flowing hair going down her blue and red robes, gold eyes and fair skin. She held a black staff on her left hand. I walked towards the throne and stopped in front of the steps leading up to the platform where the thrones were placed. I then turned around and applause rang all around me. I saw some humans with very dark skin and had on all sorts of accessories, ranging from their necks, ears, hands, wrists, and nose. There were also some humans with bronze skin and almost everyone of them had black hair and brown eyes. These humans were all to the left of me while the right had elves and dwarves. There was an assortment of dwarves as well as high elves. The dwarves were the most boisterous while the elves were just applauding gracefully? I couldn¡¯t really tell just that they were doing exactly what was expected of them. Not too loud and not too soft, it made me feel that something was off. After the applause died down, my father said, ¡°Turn around my son.¡± I did as I was told and I caught a glimpse of my brothers and sisters all smiling to the right of me. I smiled back and turned to face my parents. My father was standing and said, ¡°Today we have all come here to see my son, the third prince, Zed Rigel, take his magic affinity test. Today is also his announcement day, the day in which he takes up the title of third prince and is blessed by the gods.¡± A mild applause, and my father turned to the woman standing next to my mother, ¡°Principal Artemia, if you would please begin the test.¡± ¡°Yes, your highness,¡± said the woman as my father sat back down and she took an orb and walked towards me. ¡°Prince Zed, please place your hands on the orb to begin the test,¡± she said holding it out for me to hold. I reached out and held the orb with both of my hands. Suddenly everything turned black and I couldn¡¯t hear, see, or feel anything. I started panicking not knowing what to do but then a bright light sparked in front of me. It was the orb. It was glowing a gentle white light and I heard a voice saying, What is your name? I looked around me where the voice came from and couldn¡¯t think of anything else other than the orb. A talking orb? I thought. And again the voice asked, What is your name? Zed Rigel, I thought. Zed Rigel, I am the orb of tests. It is my duty to help you understand your affinity. But don¡¯t I just get told my affinity? That was how I understood it. Your affinity is not told you, it becomes you. Your affinity and yourself are one. You should already know what it is, all I need to do is help you understand it. This is completely different from what I read. Most do just get told their affinity, but you are different. You retained your personality inside the Black Mist. The Black Mist is a dimension I pulled you in to tell you of your affinity. It usually ends with a small conversation as most do not have a personality here and are merely just dolls that have a vague understanding of what is happening. But you are different, you have a personality, something that the Mist is supposed to separate. As such you are experiencing something only a few have experienced. You separate our personalities? It makes the process much easier, it said with a glow? Now then, what is it you wish you had as an affinity? Supreme. Oh, not the Legendary or the Ancient affinity? Most would wish the most powerful be conferred them, yet you do not. I like the summoning portion of it. I do not seek to master time or space, nor to be able to affect what is and what isn¡¯t. I am content with being able to help those around me and the Supreme affinity will help me in that direction. Self-sacrifice, coming from a prince. I would¡¯ve taken you for one that seeks power as most princes are. It comes from the family I guess. Very well, it seems you know and understood your affinity even before the test. So it is Supreme. From what I can tell, yes. It is time for you to go back. The darkness slowly disappeared only to be replaced by the throne room. As the darkness disappeared I heard a voice say, the test may be complete but there is more. When the darkness disappeared, a crown appeared inside the orb that the woman was holding. ¡°It is Supreme affinity!¡± she shouted. With that she returned to her spot next to my mother as ¡°oohs¡± came from the audience. I turned to look towards my siblings and they were smiling, I turned to look to my parents and they were grinning from ear to ear. ¡°It is time for the blessing of the gods,¡± said my father. The audience quieted down, and Rico Vlad, the Prime Minister came towards me and took my left hand somewhat forcefully. Seriously, what did I do?! I thought. He placed a ring onto my pointer finger. It was like a silver band as it had no designs on it. It also was bigger than my finger but when he removed his fingers, the ring glowed and shrunk to fit my finger. A white light shined from the ring towards the banner. The bird looked like it was moving and I heard another voice, I, Ongarin, King of the Gods on behalf of the pantheon, grant our blessings on this child, Zed Rigel. The voice was loud and domineering. It made me fall to my knees just like everyone else did. When the voice disappeared I stood up again, although it felt like I would fall down in any moment. I looked around and everyone was in different states of kneeling or prostrating and getting up and trying to stay standing. My parents had shocked expressions as they sat back on their thrones. Did I do something? I thought anxiously trying to remember if I ever did anything to get the king of the gods to personally grant me his blessing but nothing came to mind. When everyone was more or less back to their original state, my father said smilingly, ¡°If everyone would please go to the ball room to continue the festivities.¡± Everyone exited the throne room, guided by the guards, except for my family, the principal and the prime minister. We all gathered near the throne room waiting for my father to say something. ¡°That was unexpected, has there ever been a time in which Ongarin personally did the blessing?¡± asked my father to the Principal Artemia. ¡°No there has not been such a time, not even in my hundred years of life,¡± she replied. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. She¡¯s a really old lady?! She doesn¡¯t look like it! I thought with a cringe. ¡°Well, if the Ongarin wishes to personally bless my son, then Ongarin wishes to personally bless my son,¡± said my father laughing. My father has always been like that, not really minding the small details. ¡°Zed, now that you have received your ring, you should be able to use the skills given to us by the gods.¡± ¡°The gods give us skills?¡± I asked excitedly. ¡°Yes, so now hold your ring in front of you and say ¡®status¡¯,¡± he said demonstrating to me and a screen showed on top of his ring.
Status
Name:Aaron RigelRank:Great Guardian
Age:40Level:100
Race:HumanGender:Male
Titles
King of Rigel Kingdom
It¡¯s like a game! I did the same thing and I said, ¡°Status.¡±
Status
Name:Zed RigelRank:??
Age:5Level:1
Race:HumanGender:Male
Titles
3rd Prince of Rigel Kingdom
Health:500 / 500Health Regen:2.4 / Sec
Mana:1500 / 1500Mana Regen:21.6 / Sec
Stamina:750 / 750Stamina Regen:7.6/ Sec
Strength:20Agility:25
Vitality:15Willpower:30
Intelligence:50Wisdom:40
Leadership:10Luck:5
It displayed my name, age, stats, titles, health, and mana. ¡°Why is mine different from yours?¡± I asked my father. ¡°Because it will only show what you want to show to others. Right now we cannot see anything as you had just received your ring and been blessed.¡± ¡°How do I set it to show what I want?¡± ¡°You just will it,¡± said Rico, with a hint of annoyance. Again, what did I do?! I willed the status to show everything except for my stats, and they looked pleased. ¡°Now do the same thing except say, ¡®blessings¡¯¡±. I did that and the screen changed.
Blessings
Blessing of Ongarin
Increases all stats by age and level.
Blessing of Magus
Increases all stats concerning magic. Allows a greater use of mana.
Blessing of Blangvina
Increases all stats concerning combat. Heightens battle instinct.
Blessing of Julia
Increases regeneration by 100%. 100% chance of reproduction when older.
Blessing of Finda
Increases chance of finding anything including trouble by 50% plus age.
Blessing of the Pantheon
Increases effects of all blessings by 100% and spells by 200%
I was shocked, these blessings are too much for me. They are way too overpowered and I really question the thing about Julia¡­ Everyone else was just as shocked as I was. My brothers were smiling for some reason though. My mother and the principal had their hands over the mouths. Rico looked scared as he looked at my blessings. My sisters were wide-eyed and they forgot to close their mouths like they should¡¯ve. My father is just looking at the screen, then to me, then to the screen continuously. Then after what seemed like an eternity, my father said, ¡°Well the gods have taken a liking to our Zed here.¡± ¡°A liking?! Dear-¡± ¡°Now, now, our guests are waiting for us in the ball room. No need to keep them waiting,¡± my father said dispelling my mother¡¯s words. Everyone filed out to the ball room while my father told me in a hushed tone, ¡°We¡¯ll continue this later, know that I am proud and happy to see that the gods have found favor in you. I will convince your mother that nothing terrible will happen to you.¡± He probably was thinking of Finda¡¯s blessing concerning the trouble part. ¡°Yes father,¡± I said nodding. ¡°All right, let us meet our guests, there is a princess you need to meet,¡± said my father as he wrapped his arms around me and led me to follow my family that was ahead of us into the ball room. ------------
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Chapter 4 - Fianc茅e The ball room was to the right of the courtyard as we got out of the throne room. The room itself was huge, there were servants wafting through the guests with platters of food, wine and beer, mostly beer. The chandeliers in the ceiling were beautiful. They were lit by white orbs and the glass surrounding them made it seem like they were different colors every now and then. The silver curtains on the left were pulled back to reveal a balcony that overlooked the city. To the right, servants went in and out of some doors, most likely to the kitchens. My father and I strode towards the center of the ballroom and were immediately surrounded by the guests. ¡°It is wonderful to finally meet you Prince Zed,¡± said a bald, dark skinned lanky man with gold bands on his wrists, gold rings on his fingers and gold earrings that looked like some kind of dinosaur. He wore a white robe with a simple yellow sash around his waist. ¡°My name is Aukahnatep Mustashum, King of the Mustashum Kingdom.¡± Behind him were more dark skinned men but they had hoods on, covered their mouths with some cloth and carried scimitars? If that is what they would be called in this world. Royal guards probably, I thought. ¡°It is my pleasure to meet your majesty, the king of Mustashum,¡± I said bowing down as I was taught to do in my etiquette class. Did I really have to think that? I thought, remembering the harshness of my teacher where a simple mistake brought several lashings. I do not want to relive that event, so we are just going to forget about it. Right forgetting, forgetting¡­ ¡°¡­ come Zed, the dwarves want to talk to you,¡± said my father dragging me out of my thoughts. I didn¡¯t realize that I had spaced out from my conversation with the king. Hopefully I wasn¡¯t noticed. The dwarves were a mix of their kin. One stood out as we went closer to meet him. He had gold hair that was combed. He wasn¡¯t a stone or dark dwarf as his skin was bronze colored. He was facing away from us but he had a muscular and somewhat stout body. In his hands were two mugs of the beer and he was shouting, ¡°Hey, you! Yes You! More beer! We dwarves love our beer! This human beer is good but there¡¯s not enough! We need more!¡± As he said this the other dwarves around him also told our servants the same thing and they kept on shouting, ¡°Beer! Beer! Beer!¡± Dwarves live up to their name. I thought. ¡°Must you force our stock of beer to run out Boris my old friend,¡± said my Father. Boris, the dwarf with the two mugs of beer, turned around and I could see that he had red eyes and that his beard was braided with some black stones to tie them. He had a long sleeved red and gold shirt that showed his muscles underneath. There was a medal with a silver hand on it placed on his left chest. A pair of black and gold pants and polished boots were also worn. ¡°Aaron!¡± said the dwarf opening his arms and dropping the mugs of beer onto his servants nearby. ¡°It is good to see you!¡± he said as he tried to hug my father with his short stature when we were close enough, ¡°It is good to see your son as well,¡± he said after releasing my father from his grip. ¡°Yes it is good to see you, and I see that your drinking habits still have not changed over the years,¡± said my father. ¡°What can I say, we dwarves know our beer and yours is the best one among the humans,¡± said Boris, ¡°I can¡¯t say much for the quantity though.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because they¡¯re made for humans, not excessive drinking dwarves.¡± ¡°So this is the lad!¡± said Boris ignoring the beer and grabbing me. ¡°He¡¯s skinny,¡± he said. ¡°That¡¯s because he¡¯s only five,¡± said my father. ¡°Only five? Why when I was your age,¡± said Boris while looking at me, ¡°I had these muscles you see, although smaller, and I was already drinking beer. Hey give this brat a beer!¡± Another dwarf started giving me a mug but my father took it and said, ¡°He¡¯s still too young, wait at least five more years then you can introduce him to your drinking spree.¡± ¡°Five years is a deal then.¡± Boris said releasing his hold on me. Afterwards my father and Boris started talking on their own and I slowly moved away as their talks turned into the shipment of beer between the two kingdoms. I walked around dodging the servants with the idea of looking outside from the balcony. It was easy to get through as the servants were very mindful of the fact that there were dwarves in the ballroom. I got outside and marveled at the sight. In front of my laid a giant city with large walls surrounding it. I could see two gates from where I stood with people coming and going through it. This was the outer section of the city, it was also the largest section. Closer to the castle was another set of walls just after the outer section of the city. Within this section was setup all sorts of shops as well as a giant ring like building. Then came the castle walls, within this section that I could see was a beautiful garden filled with flowers and hedges. Outside the walls was a vast plains. There were forests far to the left and right and a silhouette of a mountain was over in the distance in front of me. The sun was still up in the sky but it was going down over the horizon. ¡°It is beautiful,¡± said a voice beside me. I turned around and it was a female High elf. ¡°It is beautiful isn¡¯t it not,¡± she said again. ¡°Yes,¡± I answered. The High elf had blonde hair, and pale skin, as they usually do. She had blue eyes, short hair, and looked as graceful as a falling leaf. She had a gentle charm around her that made me blush slightly. She wore a dark green dress that became whiter as it travelled down her body, slightly revealing what was underneath. ¡°Hehehe, I am too old for you boy,¡± she said as if reading my thoughts. ¡°Wh-What?¡± I said flustered. ¡°Hehehe, I¡¯m just teasing you, my name is Talleria Wisteria, envoy of the Luna¡¯tesh Kingdom of the High Elves, my mother, Elleria Wisteria, could not attend as she had business to attend to in the Lunar Plains,¡± she said bowing. ¡°No need to bow princess Talleria,¡± I said not really knowing what to do. ¡°But I did not come as the princess, I came as the envoy, as such my current status is lower than yours. It is only appropriate that I continue such courtesy,¡± she said not stopping. ¡°Um, well then, uh, raise your head, um Talleria,¡± I managed to speak out. She gracefully stood up and said, ¡°There is no need to be flustered, prince Zed.¡± Awkward silence between the two of us as I couldn¡¯t think of anything but just then my father came into view and said, ¡°Ah there you are Zed. It seems that you have met princess Talleria.¡± He then turned to Talleria and said, ¡°It is with great honor that we receive the envoy of the Luna¡¯tesh Kingdom into our home.¡± ¡°There is no need for pleasantries, we are all friends here,¡± she said, ¡°that being so I believe the young prince has still to meet Lunaria Federation guests, no?¡± ¡°Yes, and as such if you would please excuse the two of use,¡± said my father. ¡°Go and I shall have my fun enjoying the view from here,¡± she said. My father and I proceeded to return to the ballroom and he said to me in a hushed tone, ¡°Do not get close to her. Considering your ¡®blessings¡¯ I do not think it would be wise to be ¡®blessed¡¯ with her.¡± I couldn¡¯t stop blushing as my father said that. I just stared at him in disbelief and he just looked at me grinning from ear to ear. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. We continued walking in the ballroom and we soon reached a group of people. They all had black hair, brown eyes and bronze skin. They were talking to each other until they saw my father and I. One of them came forward, unlike the others, this one had purple eyes and was dressed much nicer than the rest. He wore a blue buttoned shirt that had a crescent design on the shoulders. He wore white pants that had a gold chain showing on one side. He came up to us and said, ¡°It is great to see you again Aaron and a pleasure to finally see your son, Zed.¡± ¡°It has been too long, Vayasu,¡± said my father, ¡°how is your wife?¡± ¡°The same as always, nagging and nagging,¡± said Vayasu. ¡°Aren¡¯t they all,¡± said my father laughingly. I suddenly felt a cold chill to my right and when I turned around, I saw my mother glaring at my direction. My dad¡¯s not going to have a nice night, I thought. ¡°Zed, this is King Vayasu Imadul of the Lunaria Federation. He is also your father¡¯s best friend,¡± said my father introducing me. ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you King Vayasa,¡± I said bowing. ¡°Such good manners. You brought up a fine lad for my daughter to marry,¡± said Vayasa. Marry? Oh yeah apparently I have a fianc¨¦e, I thought. ¡°Hopefully you have brought up a fine lady for my son to marry,¡± said my father, ¡°your temperament is not really suited for growing women.¡± ¡°Nonsense, I am perfectly capable to turn young ladies into women,¡± said Vayasu. ¡°Tell that to your one hundred concubines¡­¡± said my father. ¡°¡­ alright, if it wasn¡¯t for my wife I don¡¯t think she could¡¯ve been raised any finer. Come now Sasha it is no time for you to hide, come and meet your fianc¨¦,¡± said Vayasu. From behind Vayasu came a little girl. She had black hair, bronze skin and purple eyes just like her father. Her hair was long and she kept on hiding from behind Vayasu. She looked like a very shy cat that you couldn¡¯t help but just hug. She¡¯s cute, I thought, wait, is this even alright? I mean my body is five years old but¡­? Is it alright?! I was a bit stuck in a moral dilemma but I disregarded it and thought, I¡¯ll just think that its alright since I¡¯m basically five right now. ¡°My name is Zed Rigel, nice to meet you Sasha,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°¡­to¡­ you,¡± she said softly that I could barely hear. ¡°Sasha this is your fianc¨¦, you should get to know him better,¡± Vayasu said pushing Sasha towards me. ¡°Why don¡¯t you take her to the garden outside,¡± suggested my father. I nodded and took her hand while saying, ¡°Come on Sasha, let¡¯s go to the garden it¡¯s wonderful out there.¡± I led her to the balcony and went down the stairs that were not so easy to spot unless you knew they were there. In just several minutes, we were walking through the garden with me guiding Sasha. She kept her face down like she didn¡¯t know what to do. In truth I didn¡¯t know either. Suddenly, I saw some flowers and I got an idea. I led Sasha to the fountain below the balcony and told her to wait for me there. I gathered flowers from the garden and made a crown out of them. Doing this reminded me of my past life in which I used to do this to get my sister¡¯s mood to get better when she was sad. When I was finished, I went back to where Sasha was and placed the crown on her head. She touched the crown wondering what it was and turned around to look at her reflection on the fountain. ¡°Do you like it?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes!¡± she said, ¡°I love it, its very pretty.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good then,¡± I said smiling. Suddenly I was hugged and she said, ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s no big deal.¡± ¡°Can you teach me how to make it?¡± she asked. I said yes and taught her how to make it. After some tries she got a crown that looked like mine and she placed it on my head. ¡°Now were king and queen of the flowers!¡± she said with her eyes closed and smiling. She is very cute, I thought, I think I¡¯m liking this life. We then talked about many things, including her daily life back in her place. ¡°You have dragons?!¡± I asked excitedly. ¡°Yes but they¡¯re not smart or can use magic. They¡¯re used instead of horses, some of them can fly while some cannot,¡± she said explaining the dragons. She said that they weren¡¯t intelligent and that they were basically beasts that looked like dragons but weren¡¯t really dragons as real dragons could speak and use magic. We talked some more and she told me that her affinity was Spectrum and that she would attend Asmodeus Academy next month. Asmodeus Academy was the academy that Principal Artemia managed. ¡°You would probably also go there soon too,¡± she said hiding her face. ¡°Probably since she was here,¡± I said, ¡°I wonder what It¡¯d be like.¡± ¡°We have to take another test when we get there, it¡¯s a test to figure out which portion of the affinity your most strongest at,¡± she said still not looking at me. ¡°Another test?¡± I said thinking about the bizarre orb, ¡°will it be with the orb again?¡± ¡°No, they would just ask us to use our magic to do something simple with our affinity,¡± she said shaking her head. ¡°But I don¡¯t know how to use my magic yet,¡± I said pouting. ¡°Hehehe, here let me teach you,¡± she said looking at me. She told me that using magic is like thinking of things. If I wanted to burn a branch with fire, all I need is to think of burning the branch. She also told me that things could get complicated sometimes and that¡¯s why there are usually names for our spells that we make ourselves or read about to make things easier for us to use. She couldn¡¯t help me with my Supreme affinity as she only had knowledge of the Spectrum affinity for her. But I told her that I will manage and to watch me as I summoned something. I didn¡¯t know if I needed to prepare anything so I just told her to stay behind me and she did while clinging to my clothes. I started using my magic, thinking of some spirit that knew everything to come or maybe even something like a dragon that could do anything. I really didn¡¯t know what I was doing and so I just thought and thought until I felt something tugging me in the back of my head. I felt it and started trying to pull it out. It started to hurt my head but I felt something was happening and that I needed to pull that something out. I kept on pulling until I could see in my head a bright white light. I pulled the light as close as I could and I could tell that I was getting tired until the light took over the darkness in my head. I opened my eyes and just before it disappeared, I saw some symbols and a circles on the ground in front of me. When they disappeared, everything in front of me became white and from that came a loud booming voice, ¡°Who summons the codex, the knowledge of all magic.¡± ----------------
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Chapter 5 - Codex of Magic The white light slowly disappeared getting smaller and smaller. Until all that was left was some kind of white mist that slowly dissipated. Through the mist I could see an outline of some kind of diamond shaped object. ¡°Who summons the codex,¡± asked the voice. ¡°I did,¡± I said. ¡°A mere child, summons me, the knowledge of magic!¡± said the voice. By this point the mist had all but dissipated and I could tell that the object was slowly coming closer to where I was. When the object came out of the mist, I saw that it was a book. A really old book with iron bindings. It had no title but the cover was tattered leather. Looking at the pages from afar, it looked like they were wrinkly and could crumble at any moment. ¡°Behold, the codex of magic,¡± said the voice making me realize that the voice came from the book itself. A talking book? And here I thought a talking orb was the only talking inanimate object that I would see, I thought. ¡°Zed, you¡¯re creeping me out,¡± said Sasha with a worried look on her face. ¡°Wh- What?¡± I asked. ¡°I know you¡¯re feeling disappointed as your magic didn¡¯t work but you shouldn¡¯t start talking to yourself its creepy,¡± she said. ¡°But the light! The mist! Didn¡¯t you see anything?¡± I asked incredulously. ¡°No and even then magic isn¡¯t supposed to work anyway, especially since its your first summoning. I mean even when I tried using magic the first time nothing really happened,¡± she said nonchalantly. ¡°Child, only you can see me,¡± said the book. I looked towards the book and I couldn¡¯t help but fall down. Am I hallucinating? I thought. ¡°Zed are you okay?¡± said Sasha worriedly, ¡°Wait here I¡¯m going to call someone.¡± As she said that she ran away towards the ballroom. A talking book and only something that I could see, I thought. ¡°What are you?¡± I asked the book. ¡°I am the codex, the knowledge of all magic,¡± it said. ¡°Why am I the only one who can see you?¡± ¡°Because you are the one who summoned me.¡± ¡°Explain.¡± ¡°The codex is different from any other summoned being. All others can be seen by anyone but the codexes can only be seen by the one that summoned it. We are the pinnacle of beings, filled only with knowledge.¡± ¡°Codexes?¡± ¡°Yes, I am the codex of magic, there are others as well.¡± ¡°Why did I summon you? I¡¯m sure I wasn¡¯t meaning to summon something like you.¡± ¡°Summoning is a fated magic. When one summons, it always summons the one that the caster is bonded to. In this case, your summon was fated to be me, the codex of magic.¡± ¡°I thought summoning meant summoning spirits?¡± ¡°It is, I am the embodiment of magic, all things about magic are known by me. Those spirits you refer to are merely fractions of my whole self. A portion of my whole power.¡± ¡°Then that means I can only summon you¡­¡± I said dejectedly. I was hoping I could summon something like a dragon. ¡°Not quite.¡± My ears perked up. ¡°Go on,¡± I said. ¡°Summoning is a fated magic, that is true but the other half of it is not. Contracts, this is the only way to summon more than one being.¡± ¡°What is the difference?¡± ¡°Summoning has always been and always will be for one fated being, but contracts are matters in which you subdue another being and force them unto your will. If you wish to be able to summon more than myself, you would need to search for them and defeat them to have them acknowledge you as their master.¡± ¡°That sounds hard,¡± I said cringing. I really don¡¯t think I can do much with a book as a summon if I have to subdue something like a dragon. Should I start with a slime? Or maybe a rabbit? ¡°It should not be difficult,¡± the book said, ¡°after all, I am your summon. The almighty codex of magic.¡± ¡°You said that you know everything about magic correct?¡± I asked trying to remember the things that the book said. ¡°Yes, anything concerning magic history, magic research, magic studies, magic affinities, anything magic related.¡± ¡°Is that all you can do?¡± I asked thinking that I just got myself a book of all knowledge but no power. ¡°How rude! My master is something that values power over knowledge. I¡¯ll forgive you since you are five years of age but knowledge is power! Knowledge is the key to everything!¡± said the book while it was flapping its pages about as it was floating. Okay, floating book that flaps is a bit creepy, I thought. ¡°Since my master doubts my power, I will grant you the knowledge to use the Ethereal magic.¡± ¡°Wait Ethereal?! I thought I could only use Supreme affinity magics!¡± I asked incredulously. ¡°Preposterous, the Ethereal magics can be used by you since you were able to summon me, the knowledge of all magic.¡± ¡°But the test!¡± ¡°Did you forget that the Legendary affinity cannot be tested!¡± the book asked with an angry tone. Oh yeah¡­ there was that part, I thought sheepishly. ¡°So how do I use Ethereal magic?¡± I asked with my puppy eyes. Being five is good, I thought. ¡°Zed!¡± I looked to where the voice came from and I saw my brother, Leon running towards me. ¡°Are you hurt? Are you okay? Nothing bad happened right? Did you use magic?!¡± he said making my head hurt as he asked so many questions in less than one second. ¡°I-I¡¯m fine,¡± I managed to squeeze out as he dropped down on his knees and checked if there were any marks or bruises on me. ¡°Good I was worried something might have happened to you. Everyone else is upstairs making sure that no one noticed that you were gone, so I¡¯m the only that came here. Anyway did you use magic?¡± he asked with a stern look on his face. ¡°Yeah I did,¡± I said, ¡°Is something wrong?¡± He stood up and smacked my head really hard. ¡°Ouch!¡± I shouted holding my head and showing him my puppy eyes as I started to cry. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. While I¡¯m still five, I might as well use my cuteness as much as I can, I thought. ¡°Those eyes won¡¯t work on me,¡± he said with an angry look. My puppy eyes did not work. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have used magic. Don¡¯t you know how dangerous it is? Didn¡¯t you read it in the royal library?¡± ¡°No, I only read about the affinities,¡± I said rubbing my head. He sighed, ¡°That would probably be why. Don¡¯t use magic again alright?¡± he said turning his angry look into a concerned one. ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I?¡± I asked. ¡°Magic is dangerous if not trained,¡± he said, ¡°magic is a powerful thing but it also has its consequences. Many children your age also used their magic in the past but most of them died because they couldn¡¯t control it.¡± That made me shudder, Was I that close? I thought ¡°Luckily your magic failed and that caused the magic to be canceled. But from now on, no more magic alright,¡± he said after scolding me. ¡°Okay,¡± I said looking down. I¡¯ll just ask the book later about it if its true, I thought. ¡°Come here,¡± he said reaching for me and hugging me, ¡°we wouldn¡¯t be able to bear it if our little brother died.¡± I hugged my brother tighter and we stayed like that for a few more minutes. Afterwards we went back to the ballroom and continued the party until it was late at night. There were jesters or clowns that came in and made tricks using magic. There also was a dance in which I had to dance with Sasha as I held her waist and she held my hands. She was blushing the whole time and out of the corner of my eye I could see my family grinning. After the dance, Vayasu came and asked how Sasha was. I couldn¡¯t answer as I didn¡¯t know what he wanted me to tell him so I just looked down and he just laughed saying that he gets it. After the festivities, everyone returned to their rooms and I said goodnight to Sasha and my family as I went to my own room. The codex was following me the whole time and it seems that it was true that only I could see it. It talked at times too but only I could hear it. When we got to my room, I changed my clothes to my night clothes as I told Sebas that I could do it on my own, which made him smile as if he was proud of me. It¡¯s only changing clothes! I thought. I got into bed and I asked the codex, ¡°Was what my brother said earlier true?¡± ¡°Yes. If your magic was not enough you would have died, although since you were summoning, there was no way for you to die.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Simply that when you summoned me, I helped you use your magic to be able to summon me without any harm to yourself, otherwise you would¡¯ve made the castle turn into a crater.¡± I shuddered at the thought. ¡°I guess I should not use magic then,¡± I said reluctantly, I was really hoping to use magic. ¡°Nonsense, all you need is to be able to control it. With me around, I can help you control it but bit by bit I will be leaving the control to you.¡± ¡°I guess with you around, I can use magic without worry then,¡± I said smiling. ¡°I am your servant after all. Speaking of, you need to inject your mana into me.¡± ¡°Why?¡± I asked. ¡°I can only use a small portion of my true strength until you imprint me with your mana. In this way, we will truly be bonded and I can help you that much more,¡± it said as it came to land next to me. I shrugged and did as he asked. It was very simple it was just like putting my weight on it, except instead of weight I was injecting it with mana. When I did that, it started to shine. The iron bindings slowly turned golden and the tattered leather became darker and much newer looking. Golden lines also started appearing on the cover making it look like a really expensive looking book. When I was done I heard a voice say, ¡°Name me, my master.¡± The voice came from the codex and I had to think of a name. It had to be cool sounding but I wasn¡¯t really good at making up names. After going through many different names I finally settled on one. ¡°I name you, codex of magic, Malakir. May you serve me well.¡± ¡°I Malakir accept the name my master has given me. In return I give him my powers. At once, I give him, the knowledge of Ethereal.¡± Suddenly information travelled into my head with a shock. I couldn¡¯t see anything as I could barely understand the information going through my head. It was like my head was being force fed the information and that it was about to burst. Then I could see some kind of orb. You finally found it, said the voice. It sounded familiar. Take it, I still cannot believe that you choose something else instead of it. But I guess it was planned this way. Have fun with it. The orb grew and grew and within it was an image. It looked like two sets of triangles next to each other. As it got larger, I began to notice the finer details. The triangles were identical and that there were diamonds with rounded edges were inside of it. The larger it got the more detailed it was and I could finally tell what it was. They were wings. One was black the other was white and in the middle was a swirling mass of yellow or gold. The symbol of Legendary affinity. The white wing of Time, the black wing of Space and the mass of Ethereal. As it dawned on me, everything went black and I lost consciousness. --------------
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Chapter 6 - Servant is Master, Master is Servant Hello everyone, thank you to all for reading and liking this story. We are about to end Arc 1 - Reborn only one more chapter after this. ------------------ I woke up groggily after that ordeal. Malakir was right next to me. The sun was shining outside my window. I sat up and tried to remember what had happened last night. I remembered talking to Malakir of what he was and also the imprinting that I gave him and then¡­ after that it¡¯s a bit hazy. I don¡¯t remember much other than blacking out after something. ¡°Good morning master,¡± said Malakir. ¡°Morning, hey what happened last night after the imprinting?¡± ¡°I gave you knowledge of Legendary affinity or more specifically Ethereal magic.¡± ¡°Does that include Time and Space?¡± ¡°No, only Ethereal as that is the only one that you can really use, you can use a small portion of the other two other magics of the Legendary affinity but not to the extent that you can use your Ethereal magic.¡± ¡°Does this mean that I can use Ethereal Magic now?¡± ¡°No, you merely have the knowledge of it, it¡¯ll come easier to you but it will still require practice. Nonetheless you cannot use magic until you understand more. Otherwise you might create a crater.¡± I nodded and got up and changed my clothes. I grabbed Malakir and as I started to open the door, it opened by itself. ¡°Good morning Prince Zed,¡± said Sebas. ¡°Morning.¡± ¡°I guess you will not need me for the morning as well,¡± said Sebas bowing. ¡°Yes.¡± He glanced at my book and proceeded to lead me to the Dining hall. It was the usual, my brothers making comments about me and Sasha yesterday. My sisters talking about the princes from Mustashum and Lunaria. My father and mother were discussing something about an academy when my father glanced at my book, ¡°Zed what is that?¡± he asked motioning to Malakir. ¡°After the imprinting they can now see me but they cannot hear me,¡± said Malakir. ¡°I found it in the royal library,¡± I said making up an excuse. ¡°I see,¡± and with that he went back to the conversation with my mother. After breakfast, I followed my father to his study above the throne room. It was filled with shelves and desks filled with papers and books scattered all around it. My father sat at the chair behind the central desk and handed me a stack of papers. ¡°Sign your name at the marks I had placed,¡± said my father handing me a magic pen, the pen was a marvel of magic as it never ran out of ink and you could change the color with a thought. ¡°All of this is for your admission to Asmodeus Academy.¡± ¡°Asmodeus Academy?¡± I asked signing my name on the papers. ¡°It is a magic academy that accepts only those that have great potential. It accepts both commoners and nobility but I believe that I do not need to tell you that you should not fraternize with the commoners,¡± he said sternly. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Good. Sasha is also going to the Academy, be sure to take care of her as well.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I said handing back the stack of papers and getting up. ¡°You will be going to the academy in one month¡¯s time. That will be the start of your term, up until that time you may do whatever you want so long as it is within the city. If you wish to get out of the castle you must take some guards with you.¡± ¡°Yes father,¡± I answered going out. As I went out the door opened and in came the Prime Minister. I exited but before I did I heard, ¡°riot in the southern lands.¡± I went to the royal library with Malakir in hand and went up to the fifth floor. There Malakir started to teach me how to understand magic. I stayed there for a week as he told me that I should first meditate and try to feel magic around me. By the end of that week, I could feel something brushing against my skin but there was no wind. I told Malakir this and he told me to concentrate on the feeling. That day ended but I still couldn¡¯t feel anything. He said that was fine as feeling it within a week was really fast anyway and that I should meditate every time I have the chance. The next day we were in the library again but instead of meditating, he had me concentrate my mana to my right hand. I did as he asked and a small blue orb appeared. I poured in more and it got larger. When it was almost as large as a boulder he told me to stop and slowly reduce its size while making the mana disperse into the air. I did that and it took hours. Finally, when I was done, I felt tired and went back to my room. It was already night so I just went to sleep after Malakir telling me that he will start lessons tomorrow and to do what he had me do after every meditation. The next day in the royal library. ¡°Mana is the basis of everything. Every plant, every rock, and every being. Magic is the manipulation of mana. Magic affinities are the classification of what a being can manipulate.¡± ¡°Does that mean that plants and animals can also use magic?¡± ¡°Yes, although most think that it¡¯s just because of their physical bodies. If a pig had an affinity for Primordial magic, then the pig could breathe fire.¡± A pig that breathes fire¡­ could there come a day that pig¡¯s might actually fly? I thought. ¡°Most animals though tend to stay with the Supreme affinity and only using Holy magic.¡± ¡°Why can we only use one magic of an affinity,¡± I asked. ¡°That is because of conflict. Holy magic conflicts with Chaos magic, likewise Fire conflicts with Water.¡± ¡°But we can use it still right?¡± ¡°Yes but it will take more from you and you would only be able to use it up to an Acolyte¡¯s power.¡± ¡°Then what about Ethereal?¡± ¡°This is where conflict does not necessarily work. Ethereal magic ignores the confliction as each of the magic is not a part of you but rather you transform the mana within you into the magic. Most magic is a part of you when you are first born, Ethereal doesn¡¯t work that way.¡± ¡°Then why can¡¯t I use Time and Space?¡± ¡°Because you need to have it be a part of you to be able to really use it. The mana of Time and Space is different from the Ethereal mana. Your mana can transform to it but to use Time and Space magic, you must have pure Time and Space mana.¡± ¡°You said Acolyte is that some sort of ranking?¡± ¡°Yes, it is a measure of a mage¡¯s power similar to the ranking of warriors. For mages it is, from the weakest: Acolyte, Adept, Intermediate, Master, Sage, Lord, King, Emperor, Saint, and God. For warriors it is: Trainee, Journeyman, Novice, Squire, Warrior, Guardian, Great Guardian, Knight, General and Great General.¡± ¡°You can be a god?¡± I asked incredulously. ¡°No, not really a god, only have skills similar to a god. There has only been two that have reached that level. Famous for being able to create the Mustashum desert for his failed magic, the god-ranked Primordial Fire mage, Abaddon and famous for founding the magic kingdom of Aliad, the god-ranked Ancient Form mage, Asmodeus.¡± ¡°Asmodeus? He created a magic kingdom?¡± ¡°Yes, I believe the school your going to is named after him too.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I said thinking of my conversation with my father, ¡°he created a magic kingdom?¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Yes, he did. It was the most advanced kingdom, fully reliant on magic. Sadly that was its own undoing. It flew in the air because of magic but because of something, it was covered in darkness and disappeared, leaving the magic beasts it had to roam about the world.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you know what happened?¡± I asked, ¡°It¡¯s magic history isn¡¯t it? You should know what happened.¡± I really wanted to know as a floating kingdom is nice and I feel like making my own too. ¡°It wasn¡¯t magic related, if it was I would have known. I have my suspicions but at this point in time, I have no clue.¡± ¡°Well what are your suspicions then?¡± I asked holding Malakir tightly. ¡°Mana is not the only energy in this world. There is also the Angelic, Demonic, Necromantic, and the Mystical. They work the same way as Mana but they have their own quirks. Mana is pure while the others pervert it or change it somehow. In which way they change Mana is unknown to me.¡± ¡°So you really don¡¯t know what happened to Aliad?¡± ¡°No.¡± And with that we ended the lesson and I started doing the exercises Malakir told me to do. Days went by and with only a few more days to go before my leaving for school, I went down to town with a few guards and Malakir. I went around looking for something that interests me when I saw a crowd was gathered. I went closer and saw that it was an auction of some sort. The crowd parted when they saw me and my guards and I saw that it was a slave auction. Up the wooden stage, was a man with a booming voice wearing all black and auctioning off a group of naked elves and beastmen. This is probably why the elves weren¡¯t as happy as the others at my birthday. I knew slavery was going to be something that happened here, it is another world, but I didn¡¯t think that we would be friendly with a whole race while at the same time enslaving the same race. I wonder how father is dealing with this. When the slaver saw me, he immediately ran away. Ah so it was illegal. ¡°Guards catch him!¡± I ordered. ¡°Yes sir!¡± said the guards as they ran to catch the guy. The crowd ran and screamed away as I got up the stage and tried to figure out a way to release them. ¡°Perfect time to try out Void magic master,¡± said Malakir, ¡°touch the chains and imagine it disintegrating slowly, this is the Acolyte Void magic known as ¡®Disintegrate¡¯.¡± I did as Malakir told me and the chain rusted and broke off, freeing the elf. He thanked me in some language and I just smiled and proceeded to the next one. When half of the slaves were free, someone yelled, ¡°Hey! What are you doing to our merchandise!¡± It was a fat man that had food all over his black beard. His hair was unkempt and he wore black leather that seemed to be too tight for his fat body. ¡°Boys round up the slaves we need to get out of here! I¡¯ll take the kid,¡± the fat man said as he took out a giant iron chain from his side. Not good, I thought. I ran away thinking that I have no idea what to do against him. But I couldn¡¯t really run away as before I even got off the stadium I was already wrapped up in chains. ¡°Hehehe, you¡¯ll make a nice slave, maybe I¡¯ll even break you in,¡± the fat man said smiling, revealing a set of repulsive teeth. ¡°You dare harm my master!¡± shouted Malakir, ¡°Master, I will perform the god-ranked spell of the summoning magic, so please just sit back and let me handle it.¡± With that I felt myself filled with power and a voice in my head said, A summon that uses this spell takes over the master¡¯s body. This spell is called ¡®Takeover¡¯, usually master, you would use this over all of your summon and contracts and take over their abilities. But you cannot use this yet, so I will be using it for now. The chains broke around me and the fat slaver was bound in black chains. The other slavers were also wrapped in the same chains. I found myself in control of my body again and I whispered to Malakir, ¡°Please don¡¯t do that again.¡± It felt weird having your body do things that you knew weren¡¯t your doing. When the guards came back, the chains disappeared and the slaves were free. All the slavers were rounded up and couldn¡¯t stand looking at me and were all saying, ¡°take me away, take me away! Away from him, the monster!¡± I didn¡¯t like being called a monster so I left the scene with my guards and headed back to the castle. So much for the fun day in town¡­ I thought. I didn¡¯t eat dinner with my family that night as I wasn¡¯t in the mood for it and just slept. Time passed and it was the day of departure. I was going alone as my sisters had their own schools to go to and my brothers had to help my parents with the affairs of the state. Sebas wasn¡¯t coming with us as servants weren¡¯t allowed to come to the Academy. All in all, I was going alone with a retinue of guards guarding the carriage I was in. It was going to take a week to travel to the academy and it was going to be my first time to being outside of home. My parents saw me off with tears with my brothers saying that they will accompany me up to the walls. With my stuff piled into the carriage we were off. ¡°Good luck in the Academy,¡± said my oldest brother Leon. ¡°Make us proud!¡± said my other brother Salazar, ¡°make sure you do the tournament.¡± ¡°Tournament?¡± ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s a yearly tournament for all the grades near the end of the year. Last time I participated I lost.¡± ¡°You went to Asmodeus Academy?¡± I asked. ¡°Yep, but I wasn¡¯t strong enough,¡± said Salazar despondently. ¡°Nonsense, you have great skill in everything,¡± said Leon, ¡°You make the financial minister look like a two year old.¡± ¡°Yeah but that¡¯s not power, look at you, you¡¯re a warrior ranked swordsman and I¡¯m just a Novice rank with the bow.¡± ¡°But you¡¯re also intermediate ranked with magic,¡± said Leon, ¡°I¡¯m powerful with a sword but you¡¯re talented in both magic and combat.¡± When we got to the walls, my brothers told me, ¡°Take care. You should have enough guards to protect you for a week to get there. Be mindful of bandits and magic beasts on the way.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you tell this to the guards?¡± I asked. ¡°They¡¯re already told, but you also have command over them. Just make sure that they don¡¯t lose their lives for a petty thing,¡± said Leon. ¡°I will.¡± With that they got off the carriage and waited by the gates, while my carriage and entourage headed off towards the mountains where Asmodeus academy was. ----------------
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Chapter 7 - Bandits Hello everyone! Thank you to all for reading and following my story. This is the final chapter of Arc 1 - Reborn the next chapter will be the beginning of Arc 2 - The First Year. Hope everyone enjoys reading! ------------------ The first day of travelling was very uneventful. Unless you can call, Malakir teaching me more about the history of magic and doing the exercises. By this time I could do both things simultaneously, although I have to be very focused when I do it and the slightest bump in the road would cause it to get very unstable. That was an event I did not want to do again, I had to explain to the captain what the sound was and that there was no danger to my life. The guards were a solid bunch, they were all Warrior ranked while the captain was Guardian ranked. Of course, there were those of Squire rank but those were mainly composed of archers and crossbowmen. The Warrior ranked had swords and axes, while some had hammers and maces. They all wore the same armor with the Rigel insignia of the bird with two heads, six wings and twelve tails. I believe that the creature was called a Ravenex, a legendary bird said to have been created as a bane of magic. It no longer exists as they were exterminated for their parts to be used as countermeasures against mages. Needless to say some of their parts are still used today, their bones are used in the mint that created the currency of the Rigel kingdom. In this way, only those coins are accepted and no mage can make gold out of lead. Which they did at some point which led to the Ravenex¡¯s extinction. Just another lesson that I think is useless from Malakir. Its been three days since we left the castle and I was already getting annoyed at Malakir because of his constant teaching. We ate our food in the carriage since Malakir wanted to teach me during that time as well. Malakir was very happy about this, I could only tell this from the way his voice rose several pitches every time he started teaching. I was really bored so I looked out the window of the carriage and saw a large lake. ¡°Stop!¡± I shouted. The carriage stopped and Malakir said, ¡°What?¡± I ignored him and went out, I told the guards, ¡°Let¡¯s rest here for a while.¡± They nodded and Malakir floated towards me saying, ¡°Why are we stopping? Aren¡¯t we in a tight schedule to get to Asmodeus Academy?¡± ¡°We are but I need to rest plus I need to get away from your teaching for a bit,¡± I told him honestly as I headed to the lake. ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± he shouted. I ran to the lake and took a look at it. It was pristine, you could actually see the fish inside the lake. There were trees all around us since we entered the base of the mount Stonepeak. This was the mountain that I could see from the castle. There were deer on the other side of the lake drinking water and I decided that I should just sleep here for a bit. Next to the relaxing waters. When I came to, I was tied up by ropes. I couldn¡¯t see anything around me and I struggled to try and get out of my bindings. How long have I been asleep? What happened? Where¡¯s Malakir? Where are the guards? I thought these things while trying to get out of my binds when I heard a sound. A door opened and I squinted as the sudden light hit my eyes. ¡°Finally awake aren¡¯t we, little prince?¡± said a voice. I opened my eyes when they recovered and it was the fat slaver. But it couldn¡¯t be, I thought, didn¡¯t he get captured? How¡¯d he escape? ¡°You really shouldn¡¯t have captured my brother, now I, leader of the Stone Bandits, am gonna torture you so bad you¡¯d wish you¡¯d died!¡± he said grabbing my hair and pulling me. He took me to a room and chained me to the wall standing up. He then proceeded to beat the crap out of me while saying things like ¡°This is for my brother!¡±. When he got done left me battered and bruised while still chained. I wasn¡¯t able to stand up as the pain was too much. I tried to stay awake but the blood loss made me weak. Before I lost consciousness, I said, ¡°Malakir, Leon, Salazar¡­¡± When I opened my eyes, I saw my brother Leon staring at me. ¡°You¡¯re finally awake!¡± he said hugging me. I was in a white room filled with beds and some potions that made it look like a mad alchemists lab. ¡°What happened?¡± I managed to get out. ¡°You were attacked by the Stone Bandits and was taken hostage by them.¡± ¡°Hostage?¡± I asked. ¡°Yeah, those bandits actually thought that they could use you as a leverage to get their friend back. Bad thing for them, we found you bruised and wearing a Ravenex collar that we just executed them on the spot.¡± ¡°A collar?¡± I asked moving my right to my neck. Sure enough there felt like there was something there from the soft skin I felt. ¡°Yeah this collar,¡± he said showing me a black collar with a red stone in the center. ¡°This collar nullifies any magic from the wearer. It¡¯s usually only used on criminal mages, how the bandits got a hold of this I have no idea. Salazar is looking for clues right now.¡± So that¡¯s why Malakir couldn¡¯t save me, I thought. Sure enough Malakir appeared beside me and he said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry master, they used Ravenex mist that made me unable to do anything.¡± ¡°Ravenex mist?¡± I asked. ¡°Oh? You also know about those. Well yeah, they also used them on you and the guards. The mist cancels any magic and weakens anyone without magic. It¡¯s a very unique material that could only be gotten from our royal stock.¡± ¡°Um yeah I do,¡± I said forgetting that only I can hear Malakir. ¡°Anyway you should get some sleep. And you¡¯ve made a pretty big impression at the school if that¡¯s what you were hoping for,¡± he said with a smile. ¡°Impression?¡± I asked looking around, ¡°you mean I¡¯m at the academy right now?¡± ¡°Yep, the Academy infirmary. It was the closest place to where we found you and we thought it best to bring you to a place that could better take care of you rather than out in the wild,¡± he said getting up. I nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry just rest, you missed the first day of school though,¡± he said opening the door, ¡°I¡¯ll tell Salazar that you¡¯re up.¡± And with that he left. Malakir kept on apologizing to me and said that he will teach me ways of countering counter magic when I got better. He actually even started teaching me even though he said he would wait until I told him that my side was hurting and he shut up. It took a couple of hours and the door opened again and in came Salazar, in his red and white clothes, Principal Artemia with her green and gold robe along with her black staff, and also another person who I didn¡¯t recognize. He had black hair, brown eyes and skin, and he was the first person I saw that wore glasses. He wore a blue robe with yellow trimmings. He exuded a calm and responsible feeling. When Salazar saw me, he ran up to me saying, ¡°Zed! You¡¯re alright!¡± He hugged me tight, which actually hurt and I told him that and he said, ¡°Sorry, sorry. I was just so worried.¡± I smiled and I heard Artemia say, ¡°I¡¯m glad you are safe Prince Zed.¡± ¡°Thank you for taking care of me,¡± I said bowing my head. ¡°No need to thank me, we only provided you with a bed. You¡¯re brother¡¯s mages did the actual healing. You were already fully healed when they got you here, and that was the most hectic first day every. Wouldn¡¯t you agree Sieg?¡± she asked the boy next to her. ¡°Yes it was principal,¡± he said in a voice that sounded almost like a girl¡¯s but was definitely a boy¡¯s. ¡°I¡¯m very sorry for the trouble I caused,¡± I said bowing. ¡°O-Oh its no trouble at all,¡± she said cringing. Out of the corner of my eye I saw, my brother staring daggers at Artemia. I touched his elbow and he looked at me and changed his expression to a kinder one. ¡°That being said, we welcome you to Asmodeus Academy, Prince Zed,¡± said the boy, Sieg. ¡°We¡¯re sorry that we couldn¡¯t make it as grand as you would have liked it but current matters couldn¡¯t let that happen.¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. He said the word ¡°grand¡± with such emphasis that I thought that he hates me. But then I thought, he doesn¡¯t have a last name! Which means that he was a commoner and he clearly hates me for being a prince. Good grief, first day of school and already an enemy that hates my guts, I thought. ¡°It¡¯s alright, I¡¯m responsible for the trouble caused by my kingdom. It is only natural that something of a grand scale could not happen,¡± I said lowering my head thinking of the lessons with Malakir. In one of his lessons, I learned that Asmodeus Academy is within the lands of the Rigel Kingdom but is not controlled by it. Similar to the Vatican back in my world. Though the kingdom has no power within the Academy, it can still limit the supplies that the Academy receives. This is probably why they are trying to make sure that no bad relations happen with my family. Explains why the principal hasn¡¯t done anything to kick my brothers out. The academy has a ¡®strict students and faculty only¡¯ allowed inside. Also another lesson from Malakir. And here I thought I was ignoring him. Probably the blessing¡¯s fault. Even if I¡¯m not paying attention I still learn stuff. Where was this when I was in the other world! ¡°Since you missed the first day¡¯s ritual, we decided to do it when you woke up,¡± said Salazar motioning to Artemia. ¡°Yes, Sieg,¡± she said holding out her hands. Sieg pulled out an orb from his robes and handed it to Artemia. It was smaller than the orb that tested my affinity a month ago. ¡°It¡¯s the same way as your affinity test, just place your hands on the orb and inject your mana inside.¡± I practiced this with Malakir. We decided that it would be best to hide the fact that I could use Ethereal magic and since I could already summon Malakir that we just reveal that I can use summoning magic. I touched the orb and released my mana after converting it into summoning mana. The orb glowed and revealed a circle filled with runes that I had no meaning of. ¡°Summoning magic,¡± said Artemia, ¡°with this we your schedule will be the same as the students that have it. Sieg will bring you your schedule tomorrow. As custom, you will also be serving as a Magus of the school under Sieg.¡± ¡°Magus?¡± I asked. ¡°Peacekeepers and intermediaries of the school,¡± explained Sieg, ¡°we will be responsible for the safety of the students as well as making sure that the students do not cause any irreparable damage to each other.¡± He sounded annoyed at the fact that I would be working with him, yet happy as I will be serving under him. So its like a student council huh, and I have to serve under a guy that hates me? This is going to be a nice life, I thought with a sigh. ¡°Of course you do not need to participate at all,¡± said Artemia as if sensing that both I and Sieg did not like the idea of working together, ¡°because of your status as Prince, simply being a part of the group is enough.¡± ¡°No, I will do my duty as a Magus since it was given to me to do,¡± I said thinking that if I just slack off, Sieg is going to hate me even more plus my reputation will be destroyed if I don¡¯t do it. ¡°If you insist,¡± said Artemia with a sigh, ¡°let¡¯s go Sieg, we need to give Prince Zed time to rest. We will come back in the morning.¡± With that they left the room leaving me and Salazar alone. ¡°What a day¡­¡± said Salazar crashing on the bed next to me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t be, it wasn¡¯t your fault that you got ambushed by bandits, it was that captain¡¯s fault for stopping at such an open spot.¡± ¡°What?¡± I asked incredulously, trying to remember the captain. ¡°Yeah, why would they even stop at a place that they could be ambushed easily is beyond me. Brother is going to put stricter rules now to make sure something like that never happens again so don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°N-no, I was the one who told them to stop there,¡± I said remembering that the captain did warn me that the place wasn¡¯t safe but I was too focused on stopping Malakir from teaching me that I ignored him. ¡°What?!¡± he asked looking at me with shocked. ¡°I-I-I was the one who told them to stop there,¡± I repeated, ¡°I was bored from staying locked inside the carriage,¡± I lied thinking that I hadn¡¯t told them about Malakir and am not going to tell at least not yet. ¡°Because you were bored¡­¡± he said looking at me, ¡°do you understand what you did?¡± I shook my head and dropped my head down. ¡°Because of your stupid idea, half of your guards lost their lives!¡± he shouted. I shuddered and in came bursting in my older brother Leon asking, ¡°What happened?! What¡¯s going on?¡± Salazar told my brother everything and Leon just came closer to me and said, ¡°Do you realize what you did?¡± I nodded and said, ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Are you going to do the same thing again?¡± ¡°No¡­¡± thinking that I wasn¡¯t going to let something like my stupid reactions get others in trouble again. ¡°That blessing of yours is the main cause of this so its not your fault,¡± he said hugging me closer, ¡°we told you to make sure that you decided things carefully because we knew that your blessing was going to do something like this. Only, we didn¡¯t realize that it would be this quick.¡± Blessing? I thought, oh yeah from Finda I think. After calming down, Salazar said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for shouting at you. I was just worried.¡± ¡°Father knows of what happened and has placed guards all around the academy, since we cannot station them inside. They will listen to you and help you when you need it,¡± said Leon releasing me. ¡°I won¡¯t need them,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m a Rigel, I will not let anyone die for me again.¡± My brothers laughed and Leon said, ¡°That¡¯s the spirit, but father¡¯s orders are absolute, so the guards will still stay.¡± I nodded knowing that I couldn¡¯t say anything that would change that. ¡°Anyway, good luck with school and take this,¡± Leon said handing me a package, ¡°its from father. He said it would help you.¡± I opened the package and it was a gold bracer with the Rigel symbol, the Ravenex on it. ¡°It¡¯s a Ravenex infused bracer. It¡¯ll stop any magic from interfering with your own magic. Its one of its kind so don¡¯t reveal its powers,¡± said Leon cautioning me. ¡°Thank you brother,¡± I said hugging him, ¡°could you also tell father my thanks and that he and mother shouldn¡¯t worry anymore?¡± ¡°I will, now rest,¡± said Leon. With that they both left leaving me in an empty room with Malakir. ¡°I guess you won¡¯t need to teach me counter counter magic then Malakir,¡± I said grinning at him. ¡°I still need to teach it to you. What would happen if you lost that bracer, and I have to say that is something that wasn¡¯t made before. Theorized but not practically made. Whoever made it is a genius,¡± said Malakir. ¡°He must be if you say so,¡± I said looking out the window. It was still daylight but I felt so tired from the events that just happened. I caused the guards to die, I got captured and beaten. Saved by my brothers and sent to a school to work under a guy that hates me. To make matters worse, because of the blessing of a god, I¡¯m going to be in trouble most of my life. Just when you think life is good, life turns around and shows you why its not. ¡°I¡¯m going to sleep,¡± I told Malakir. I laid down on my bed thinking, school starts tomorrow. I wonder what¡¯s going to happen. With that I slept through the night soundly and the hectic week ended. ----------------
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Chapter 8 - Classes Hello again everyone! Thank you for reading and commenting! Your comments really make me happy and motivated so without further ado here''s the first chapter of the second arc. -------------------- I woke up with someone shaking me awake. I turned over and saw Sieg standing wear the same clothes as yesterday. ¡°Good, you¡¯re up,¡± he said, ¡°get out of bed and put on the clothes I brought you. School starts in ten minutes.¡± I quickly got up and spotted the clothes at the foot of the bed and started changing clothes. It was the same as Sieg¡¯s, a blue robe with yellow trimmings only mine had a Ravenex embroidered over the left chest. I motioned to the Ravenex and Sieg said, ¡°It is to distinguish the commoners from the nobility.¡± Great so this means that they¡¯ll know who I am and hate my guts before I even get to know them, I thought. ¡°Here¡¯s your schedule,¡± he said handing me a blank piece of paper, ¡°it¡¯s attuned to your mana and will display your schedule when you inject your mana inside. It¡¯ll also serve as a guide when you get lost. Inject your mana now so that I can finish this job and head on to my class.¡± I took the paper and thought, What did I ever do to you?. I injected my mana on the paper and the paper started having beautiful designs all around it and it said: 07:00 AM ¨C Breakfast 08:00 AM ¨C Basics of Magic 10:00 AM ¨C Magic History 12:00 PM ¨C Lunch 02:00 PM ¨C Summoning Magic 05:00 PM ¨C Free Time 08:00 PM ¨C Dinner 10:00 PM ¨C Free Time I looked at my schedule and thinking that there¡¯s only less than ten minutes to class meant that he deliberately woke me up late! I looked at him and he had a sneer on his face when he said, ¡°Come, I¡¯ll take you to your Basics of Magic class.¡± I followed him out of the infirmary wishing that I had breakfast first. Outside, the hall was lit with floating orbs every ten feet or so. There were no designs on the walls, just plain marble. We went through so many hallways that I was beginning to wonder why we never got lost, I lost track after turning left ten times. Just then, we stopped in front of a door and he told me to go in. I opened it and went inside. Inside was pitch black and I started to go back but the door shut behind me. I began pounding on the door trying to open it but it wouldn¡¯t budge. This is bullying¡­ First day and I get bullied¡­ even as a prince, I thought, because I¡¯m a prince, I get bullied. Good grief. I pounded and pounded on the door when it opened and I fell forward. ¡°Careful,¡± said a gentle voice as I was caught before falling. I stood up and saw a girl with pink hair, fair skin, and green eyes. She had on the same clothes as I did and for a minute I thought I saw an angel. ¡°You¡¯re Prince Zed right?¡± she asked. I nodded. ¡°What are you doing here? This place is off-limits.¡± ¡°S-Sieg led me here,¡± I stammered. ¡°Sieg did? I guess that makes sense,¡± she said after thinking a while. She grabbed my hand and said, ¡°What¡¯s your first class?¡± ¡°Basics of Magic,¡± I said. ¡°Alright, I know a shortcut but don¡¯t tell anyone about it,¡± she said leading me to a wall. We ran straight towards it and I thought that we were going to crash into it but we just went through it as if there was nothing there. ¡°Welcome to the Magus room,¡± she said holding out her hands. The room was eerie and dark. There was a circular ceiling that surrounded a light that went to a rounded counter. Around the counter were chairs that looked very uncomfortable. All around us were pillars of light with name plates near them at the ceiling. She led me to a pillar that had ¡°Basics of Magic¡±, written near the top. ¡°Just step in the light and you¡¯ll be teleported into a another room like this one and just go straight ahead. You¡¯ll see a door in front of you, just enter it as that¡¯s your class. You might want to hurry up as there¡¯s not much time left.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± I said bowing down. ¡°No need, I need to say sorry though,¡± she said rubbing her right arm with her left, ¡°Sieg has a¡­ history with the nobility and he hates them for it. I hope you¡¯ll forgive him.¡± I considered it and said, ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡± With that I entered the pillar and felt my body being ripped apart but it didn¡¯t feel uncomfortable and then suddenly I was looking back at the room but this one was different as there was no counter or any other pillars. I went straight ahead and I was in another hall and in front of me, just like the girl said, was a door. I opened it and was greeted by a cacophony of voices. The room looked like a college lecture hall. There was a desk with black boards behind it on my right while gently sloping upwards were many desks on my left. When I entered the room, everyone started quieting down and looked at me. I heard hushed whispers but I couldn¡¯t tell what they were saying. I looked at the students and saw that the ones at the left were all nobles while at the right were all commoners. I could tell this because all the nobles had a Ravenex. Discrimination on the first day even inside the class room¡­ I was standing there not knowing where the sit when all the noble children came down to where I was and knelt down. This feels oddly great, I thought grinning. ¡°We welcome you, Prince Zed,¡± said a kid with blonde hair, bronze skin and blue eyes, ¡°please follow me to your seat.¡± He led me to my seat which looked like a throne in the front row of the left side. I sat down and he sat to my right, everyone else sat behind us. ¡°My name is Alex Rammert, of the Rammert knights. My dream is to become a mage knight that serves directly under you my Prince,¡± he said bowing down as he sat. ¡°No need to bow like that, for now let¡¯s just be friends,¡± I said. ¡°Of course, my prince.¡± ¡°Stop calling me prince Alex. Call me Zed,¡± I said smiling. ¡°Okay Zed!¡± he said smiling. Just then the bell rang and in teleported a man with a red robe. He had bald hair, dark skin and his eyes looked like they were closed. ¡°Welcome everyone to the first class of Basics of Magic,¡± he said with a breathy voice. ¡°I am your teacher for this class, Marvin. I should not have to tell you that magic is a wonderful but unforgiving power. Misuse it or be unable to use it completely means death¡­¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. He continued on about how magic should be used with utmost care and that we should be careful of how much magic we were using and that we only use magic to the extent that we know for sure we can, all without breathing once. It was the same lessons with Malakir only with a voice that repeated itself countless times over the whole period. Finally the bell rang and he teleported away leaving us students to head for our next class. ¡°Pri-Z-Zed what is your next class?¡± asked Alex. ¡°History of Magic, what about you?¡± ¡°Same, come on let¡¯s go,¡± he said already at the door. ¡°Wait, I know a shortcut but there¡¯s too many people here so let¡¯s just wait here for now,¡± I said after we got out the door. ¡°Of course my prince,¡± said Alex before he shut his mouth closed with both hands. ¡°I won¡¯t do anything just try not to call me ¡®prince¡¯ I already told you that you can call me Zed,¡± I said moving his hands away. ¡°I know, but its just so different from what I thought.¡± I have a feeling there¡¯s a big misunderstanding going on with the commoners¡¯ children and me right now if the noble¡¯s act like this. ¡°You¡¯re also a Supreme affinity?¡± I asked as the crowd around us went their ways. ¡°Yes, Summoning is my magic but I am also pretty good with a sword.¡± ¡°You can fight too?¡± I asked gaining a new found respect for my friend. Salazar told me that someone being able to fight in combat with a weapon while using magic is gifted. ¡°Of course!¡± he said proudly, ¡°I¡¯m a Rammert and all Rammerts are the best mage knights in the kingdom. I may be the youngest but I¡¯ll surpass all my brothers!¡± ¡°You have brothers?¡± ¡°Yes, they¡¯re all really talented people. My family has served as the Royal family¡¯s personal knights ever since our ancestors became friends. Its only natural that our family be the best. Please let me be your knight, Prince Zed.¡± I remembered seeing some people next to my brothers sometimes, I guess those were the Rammert knights then. Is this my father¡¯s way of making sure I¡¯m safe? ¡°If you really want to be my knight sure, but I don¡¯t know how to give you knighthood so for now just being my friend is enough,¡± I said smiling. He nodded and we continued talking about our families. He was the same age as I am only he¡¯s a month older. He was also at my birthday but I never got to see him as my father led me around and I met Sasha. Which reminds me, Sasha should be here but I haven¡¯t seen her yet. Could it be that students with different magic are placed in different classes? We talked some more and when there was no one left in the hall, I led him to the pillar I used and told him all about it. He was surprised that something like this was here and he said, ¡°As expected.¡± I led him to the Magus room and we found the pillar for our ¡°Magic History¡± class. It was the same thing as the pillar we already used and it also led to another door which we entered. The same situation as my first class was here. The commoners on the right, the nobles on the left. The nobles even left the front row empty leaving me and Alex to sit there. The bell rang and our teacher teleported in. It was a woman this time. She had ginger hair tied up in a bun, red eyes with glasses over them and fair skin. She began class saying her name, Beatrice, as well as saying that she was twenty five when from my perspective she was forty something. Again the same class as Malakir¡¯s only this one was more morbid as she kept on introducing us to experiments that other mages have done in the past that killed them. This continued on for two more hours when the bell rang and I was sure that the morning classes were made to make sure that we were scared enough that we weren¡¯t going to try anything with magic. Sure enough many of the commoners were scared whereas none of the nobles were since they were already told this like I was. Alex and I decided to not use the pillars as everyone will be there for lunch. So we followed everyone to the cafeteria. I was so hungry that I just followed Alex to it. The cafeteria was enormous. It had several floors with rounded walls making me think that the cafeteria was inside a tower. We went to the middle where the same podium as the royal library was placed. He told me to use it as only the Royal family can use such devices. I pressed the top floor as that was where it said ¡°Royal Family¡±. As soon as I touched it, I was surrounded by noble children all greeting me and wanting to meet me. Alex and I had to everything we could to keep them from grabbing me and pulling me or my clothes off when suddenly a voice shouted, ¡°Get away from master!¡± It was Malakir. After shouting that, all of the noble students were pushed away by a giant wind and the podium elevator took us up. Alex and I were dumbfounded and Malakir was just floating there humming. When we got to the royal floor it was empty except for a table in the middle and a perfect view of the surroundings. I could see a mountain path on one side and the base of the mountain on another. Asmodeus Academy was erected next to Asmodeus Mountain so it was only natural to see this. ¡°What was that?¡± asked Alex. ¡°It was my summon,¡± I answered truthfully. ¡°You have a summon! But where is it?¡± he asked looking around. ¡°Master, if you wish it I can reveal myself to him,¡± Malakir said. I did want to, after thinking that Alex saw Malakir and said, ¡°Wow!¡± ¡°Alex meet Malakir, Malakir meet Alex, my friend,¡± I said introducing them. Alex blushed when he said, ¡°I¡¯m Z-Zed¡¯s friend. Nice to meet you, great summon Malakir.¡± ¡°It is a pleasure to meet my master¡¯s friend,¡± said Malakir. Suddenly my vision darkened and I heard a cute voice say, ¡°Guess who!¡± ------------
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Chapter 9 - Summoning Trial ¡°Sasha!¡± I said and my vision came back and I turned around and saw her wearing the uniform, ¡°what are you doing here?¡± ¡°I was allowed to use the elevator because I¡¯m your fianc¨¦e,¡± she explained. I introduced her to Alex and we sat down at the only table, Sasha sat next to me while Alex was across from us and I was wondering how we get our food. ¡°How do we get our food?¡± I asked Sasha and Alex. Immediately a plate of very stylish salad appeared in front of Sasha and she explained, ¡°just think of what you want to eat. Its different from the lower floors, the food here is generated magically so you can anything. Also the food will never make you feel full until you get up. So even eating a piece of bread from here will be enough to fill you up,¡± she said as she started eating. We both tried it and I imagined a giant steak with a side of mashed potatoes and lots of gravy and it appeared in front of me. Likewise a pair of prime ribs appeared in front of Alex. ¡°This is awesome!¡± we shouted and wolfed down our lunch. Sasha just shook her head beside me as she just calmly ate her salad. Lunch was going to last for two hours but we all finished eating within forty-five minutes. We still had at least an hour to go so we just ate desert and talked about our morning classes. As I suspected Sasha had a different schedule from us since she had Holy magic unlike our Summoning. She was sad but she said that at least our lunch schedule was the same. I also introduced her to Malakir since I already did with Alex and she was surprised to know that I summoned Malakir after she told me what to do. ¡°Really?!¡± she asked shocked. ¡°Yep, you couldn¡¯t see him since I didn¡¯t know how to make him appear yet.¡± ¡°You got a really awesome summon there,¡± said Alex, ¡°as expected of Prince Zed.¡± ¡°You really have to stop calling me prince already,¡± I said to Alex. When lunch was nearly over, we said our goodbyes and to meet again tomorrow since we didn¡¯t have the same free time in our schedules. Alex and I walked to our Summoning class room feeling satisfied but not too full even though we ate five plates of steak and ribs and ten plates of desert. During our lunch, I asked Malakir if I could do the same and he said that I could but it was just too difficult to do right now but he said the he will teach it to all of us when we get powerful enough. I was already looking forward to be able to magically create my own food that will never make me full unless I stopped. Our Summoning classroom was outside in the forest at the base of the mountains. We were in a clearing surrounded by trees and a small orb in the middle of it. Again, like our morning classes, we stood with the noble children while the commoners stood opposite us. Clearly defining two opposing camps with the orb as the center line. At two, there was no teacher teleporting in but there was a massive gust of wind from above us. It had a long neck and it reflected light from its green scales. It was a lesser green dragon, one of the weakest of dragons. Its eyes were red as it stared at us while a figure jumped down from above it and the dragon disappeared. The figure stood up and it was a man with leather clothes. Unlike our other teachers who wore a robe and old, just like magicians, this one was fairly young, around twenty five, he had black hair that spiked to the left, a scar went from his temple to his right cheek, he had an eye patch on his right eye, his left eye was gold and his skin was dark brown. He exuded a feeling of confidence and pride. It felt like he had seen his share of battles and his scar and his eye patch were like a testament to that fact. ¡°I¡¯m Ralph, your Summoning teacher. If you thought that you would be simply casting spells just like the others you¡¯re completely wrong!¡± He shouted making us stand stiff and at attention. ¡°Amongst all the mages, we are the strongest in combat do you know why? Its because we have to subjugate the beasts we summon before we summon them. That dragon that I rode in, I defeated that with my bear hands!¡± He shouted turning his hands into that of a bear. ¡°This is half transformation, it is the most stable and balanced out of all the transformations you all will be undertaking. Each transformation is different, my first summon was a bear that is why I¡¯m able to do something like this. You too will be able to,¡± he said lowering his voice. ¡°That dragon would take an average of several mages to subdue but for us, only one of us is enough. You all have the capability but do you have the perseverance?¡± We all nodded, we all wanted to have the same power as this teacher in front of us. ¡°Know that my training method is harsh, half of you will quit before the end of the week. Are you still willing to take it?¡± We all nodded again. ¡°Very well then, run up that mountain,¡± he said pointing to Mount Asmodeus. We all fell silent, Did he just tell us to run up this 4,000 meter tall mountain! ¡°What are you all waiting for? Run!¡± he shouted spurring us all to dash. ¡°Don¡¯t come back until you get a scale from up there!¡± We ran and we ran all of us nobles and commoners running up the mountain, waving through the trees, tripping, getting our clothes ripped by trees or bushes. It wasn¡¯t a bad run but it was exhausting. An hour passed by but the top still loomed way above us. Half of the nobles already collapsed behind us, not having enough stamina. I was panting but Alex was barely panting. The commoners were ahead of us having more stamina than us. Another hour passed and I was barely out of breath until Malakir told me to inject my own mana into my muscles and organs. It was hard to do it as I was running but when I did, I felt my body get lighter and I knew that I could run some more. The commoners were already out of sight and I knew that Alex was just pacing himself to match me. Another hour passed, we already were at the limit of the summoning class, but the top was still far away. Alex and I were ahead of the nobles but the commoners were nowhere in sight. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Finally we entered a flat area and it was surrounded by green scales. So he didn¡¯t mean to run to the top after all! I thought with relief. ¡°We made it,¡± said Alex as he stood there trying to catch his breath. I was too tired to say anything so I just grabbed a scale and instantly I saw that I was back at the clearing. Moments later Alex also came and Ralph, our teacher came to us. ¡°You guys barely passed,¡± he said, ¡°the rest of the class that didn¡¯t make it back are no longer your classmates.¡± He said turning around revealing the commoners who passed that were sitting down catching their breath. We plopped down on the ground exhausted and smiled. ¡°Tomorrow you all will be doing the same thing, only this time with weights. Class is dismissed,¡± Ralph said as he grew wings and flew off. ¡°I¡¯m beat,¡± said Alex as he laid down. ¡°Me too,¡± following his lead. ¡°Took you long enough, I guess the nobles are really only good for sitting down while letting us do their work,¡± said a mocking voice. I looked up and saw a boy sneering at us. He had wild brown hair, blue eyes and brown skin. ¡°Serves you right,¡± he said leaving us there. The rest of the commoner group followed him out of the clearing. ¡°He hates us,¡± I said. ¡°Yep,¡± said Alex. ¡°What¡¯s his name?¡± ¡°No clue.¡± ¡°We need to pass this whole week.¡± ¡°We do.¡± ¡°How are you able to do this?¡± I asked looking at Alex, ¡°I had to rely on magic to be able to keep up.¡± ¡°My family trained me since two years ago,¡± he answered. I nodded and I said, ¡°we need a bath.¡± ¡°Follow me,¡± he said standing up. I followed him and he led me out of the woods. We walked towards a mansion that was just right next to where we came out of and he went inside. ¡°You were sent to the infirmary right when you got here so you don¡¯t know but this place is ours,¡± he said spreading his arms out. The place looked neat and tidy. The entranceway led to a set of stairs that went up and above us was a silver chandelier. To the right was a dining room and to the left was a room filled with chairs and sofas. ¡°Ours?¡± I asked after looking around me. ¡°Yes, I was chosen to be your servant so long as you are here. Seeing as how I was already supposed to be your knight, they just decided that it be better to get accustomed to each other immediately,¡± he explained. ¡°You¡¯re not my servant, you¡¯re my friend,¡± I said, ¡°how many times am I going to have to say that?¡± ¡°The bath is behind the stairs,¡± he said leading me to a passageway underneath the stairs. The bath was huge, there was a mist that covered the whole room as the light from the orbs filled it. The floors were tiled marble and in the middle was a Ravenex statue with water flowing out of the mouths of the heads into a pool of water. ¡°You can control the temperature with this podium,¡± he said pointing to a podium in front of me. I set the temperature to lukewarm and we proceeded to take of my clothes. ¡°Place the clothes here and someone will come to clean it and place it in our rooms,¡± he said pointing to an alcove to the right. We tossed our clothes there and jumped into the bath. We were enjoying our relaxing bath when a voice interrupted us. ¡°Excuse me for the interruption but we need Prince Zed to come to the Magus meeting,¡± said the girl that helped me earlier when I looked to who was talking. I blushed and said, ¡°wait for us outside, we¡¯ll be ready soon.¡± She bowed and left. When she did we got out of the bath and we dried ourselves in the drier that Alex pointed to me. It was a different colored tile from the marble, it was red to indicate that it was the drier and it dried the water that was still clinging to me. Alex did the same and he told me to take the stairs on the right as that leads straight to my room where my clothes were. I did that and was met back with the room that I once had in the castle. A king-sized poster bed was in the middle with a bookshelf to the right and a dresser on the left. Two long tables were set in front of the bookshelf and the dresser and on it were some more books. I took clothes out of the dresser and changed into the school robes that I found inside. After changing, I headed out the door to meet Alex standing there waiting for me. We both went down the stairs and met up with the girl waiting for us outside. ¡°Excuse me for not being able to introduce myself earlier but my name is Alice, number two of the Magus.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you Alice, this is Alex my friend and you already know me. Why am I meeting with the Magus?¡± ¡°You are the 13th member of the Magus, as such you must come to the meeting.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t informed of this.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t Sieg tell you?¡± she asked. ¡°No he didn¡¯t,¡± I answered. ¡°That¡¯s just like him,¡± she sighed, ¡°we usually meet during free time and we do what needs to be done during that time as well.¡± ¡°Alright, Alex I need to go to the meeting you can just do what you want to do then we¡¯ll meet back up.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going with you,¡± he said, ¡°a member is allowed to bring one person with him as backup or as help in anything that the member does correct?¡± ¡°Yes, you are correct,¡± she said, ¡°Alex can come too, Prince Zed, it is no problem.¡± With that Alex and I followed Alice as she led the way to my first meeting with the rest of the Magus members. -----------
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Chapter 10 - The Turning Point Hello everyone and thank you for reading this fiction. I have read been reading your comments and please know that I take into consideration everything that you have written. Hopefully this chapter makes everything make sense as to why things are happening. Anyway please enjoy the tenth chapter. Side note: we reached the 100 follower point! Thank you to all that followed and hopefully that I keep you entertained for a long time. -------------------- Alice led us back to where room with the counter and the pillars were, when we entered Sieg was inside waiting for us. ¡°You¡¯re late,¡± he said with a sneer, ¡°everyone else already went to do their rounds. I stayed back to make sure you knew what to do.¡± This guy is really getting on my nerves, I thought, If he keeps this up, I¡¯m not going to keep on playing the little kid, although doing it does have its perks. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell us,¡± said Alex. ¡°I¡¯m sure I told you,¡± he said, ¡°and what¡¯s with this kid, I only called for you and not another filthy noble brat.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± I yelled. ¡°I don¡¯t care if you bully me but dragging Alex into this is not something I¡¯m going to just accept. Malakir chain him up!¡± ¡°Yes master,¡± said Malakir making chains come up from the earth binding Sieg. ¡°You think you can hold me down!¡± he shouted starting to use his magic but it fizzled, ¡°what?!¡± ¡°Those chains are special, their made specifically to chain criminal mages,¡± I explained. I then proceeded using him as a punching bag while Alice and Alex just stared with their mouths open. I punched his left side, then his right, then his right cheek, then his nose, I punched every part that wasn¡¯t covered in chains. Then when he was almost about to faint, I had Malakir heal him then I resumed beating him senseless. Malakir is very useful, being a being that knows all magic, he can use all types of magic as well. Although he either has to agree or allow it but he hasn¡¯t refused any of my commands, at least just yet. After feeling satisfied from beating the poor fifteen year old, I let Malakir remove the chains and told Alice to take him to the infirmary and come back. Alice complied without any complaint and carried him with her wind magic to the infirmary. Alex and I were left there in the Magus room and I sat on one of the empty chairs and immediately it turned into something that fit me and made me feel comfortable. The grey stone chair, turned into a velvety blue soft throne with gold furnishings. ¡°Thanks,¡± said Alex after some time. ¡°It¡¯s no big deal, I don¡¯t like it when my friends are insulted in front of me.¡± I explained. ¡°Why are they even against us?¡± I asked. ¡°Its probably because of the riots in the south,¡± he said. ¡°Riots?¡± ¡°I heard rumors that the nobles in the southern reaches were doing whatever they wanted there. Most of the commoners live in the south so that¡¯s probably why.¡± ¡°Probably, more like ¡®most likely¡¯. If it¡¯s bad enough that their children do these things then the south must be pretty bad. I¡¯ll tell my father about this and see if he can do something about it,¡± I said glancing around and noticing a piece of paper on the ground. I got up and picked it up and got even more angry. On the paper was written: Thank you for the help earlier cousin Sieg, without your help I probably would not have been able to pass my run in my summoning class. The rest of us also send their thanks. That prince Zed and his friend got through too though. We probably should¡¯ve also cleared more of those green scale areas than just the ones we were sure he would be able to get to. Can we do that for next time? Your cousin, Nathaniel. That bastard Sieg and the kid Nathaniel, probably the one who spoke to us, they were both in it. Did they do something to the scales? There were a lot of them piled up in one area¡­ Did they use magic to pile the scales there and used the scales that they needed to go back? I thought. Alex was staring at me and I handed him the paper. He got as mad as me from his expression. He was about to say something when in came Alice and Principal Artemia. Artemia had her mouth open and was about to say something but I said, ¡°I know you mean to scold me for what I did to Sieg but before you do that you should first read this paper.¡± I handed her the piece of paper while trying to look as menacing as I could. If they¡¯re used to having a noble that doesn¡¯t care about them then that¡¯s exactly what they¡¯re going to get, I thought, no one gets away from hurting my friends. Artemia looked like she was in shock at my words and changed demeanor and took the paper and started reading it. As she read it, her expression changed from shock to unbelief. ¡°If this piece of paper is true, then Sieg is in very deep trouble,¡± she said turning to me. ¡°I can confirm the parts in which Alex and I had to run for very long and saw that there were a lot of the scales that we needed to grab in one area,¡± I said showing her the scale that I had gotten. ¡°We will need to investigate this matter at once, go back to your room and we will make sure that Sieg and Nathaniel are punished appropriately.¡± ¡°I hope that they do principal, I would hate it if they were unable to be punished for their actions,¡± I said my voice angry, ¡°I would also hate it if you lied to me, third prince of the Rigel Kingdom.¡± I started to leave and said with as much kindness as I could in my state, ¡°Alice just tell me the duties tomorrow.¡± I walked with Alex back to our mansion. Dinner would start soon but I wasn¡¯t in the mood for dinner. I tried to fit into this world, but it wouldn¡¯t work. I tried acting like a five year old but I was just becoming a pushover, someone to be bullied. I wasn¡¯t going to let that happen not anymore. If I continued, Alex and maybe even Sasha would have been pulled along with me. I wanted to make sure that they were safe. Even though my mental age is older than them, I haven¡¯t really done anything to make sure that I would be able to protect them. I decided that night to do all that I can to protect those that I loved from bullies and whatever life throws my way. That blessing is just going to cause me trouble so doing something about it would actually do some good. When we got back to the mansion, Alex and I separated. Alex went to the kitchen thinking that I might get hungry at some point so he¡¯ll make something, while I went to my room. When I got there, I searched for a paper and my magic pen and started writing a letter. In the letter I wrote about what happened during class and in the Magus room. I also added in my worries about the south and that he should do something to take care of matters there. Maybe send an envoy to see what is really going on. I also added in my suspicion of the Prime Minister. He kept on staring daggers at me so I made sure to write it down. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I thought that it was just misplaced anger but thinking rationally he might be planning a coup. I wrote all of these down and sealed them in an envelope with my magic. I went downstairs and headed for the front door. Attached to the front door is a nifty little magic device that sends letters and packages instantly. Similar to the pillars at school, these can only send small items though but from very large distances. I slid my letter through the slit on the device. It looked like a mailbox only grander in design and pressed the words ¡®send¡¯ next to it. Immediately, I felt a surge of mana coming from the device and a bright blue light blinded me and the mana disappeared. Knowing that this is how it works, I went into the living room and started talking with Malakir. ¡°I need to get stronger,¡± I said looking at Malakir. ¡°You¡¯re already strong enough, just getting stronger through small leaps is enough,¡± said Malakir. ¡°No, I need to get stronger. Strong enough that no one can harm anyone I care about,¡± I said with determination. Malakir was silent and then he said, ¡°If that¡¯s your wish. I will do what I can.¡± ¡°Thank you, then how do I get stronger?¡± ¡°First I need to know what you mean by stronger.¡± I thought for a little bit trying to think of a meaningful answer. I wanted to be able to make sure that no harm would befall them and the only thing that I could think of was, ¡°I want to be the strongest in everything. In this way, no one will be able to do anything to anyone I care about.¡± ¡°I see, but wouldn¡¯t this just make you be feared?¡± ¡°If it¡¯s the only way to make sure that they are safe then yes, I will take on the fear.¡± Malakir was silent and he said, ¡°Just like before, inject your mana to yourself. Don¡¯t worry about the pain you will feel, I¡¯ll take care of it. Just concentrate on injecting your mana.¡± I did as Malakir told me and not caring about the amount, injected as much mana as I could into all of my muscles, organs, nerves, hair and skin. Oh and did it ever hurt like hell. I was screaming as I did as I was told and felt that my body was being crushed all around by giant steel beams and was going to burst and kill me but Malakir kept it all in check by making sure that my body kept on getting healed as I injected my mana. It took only twenty minutes for me to be completely drained of mana but to me it felt like eternity. ¡°Since you¡¯re body is still developing, we will keep on doing this until your body has stopped growing,¡± said Malakir, ¡°this is the beginning of the most efficient way of becoming stronger. Later tonight, when your mana has recovered, you will do the exercises that we had done on the way here, only you will be doing it with ten orbs rather than two. You will not be alternating as you will be doing it at the same time.¡± ¡°Are you okay?¡± asked Alex, he came in when I started shouting but I didn¡¯t take notice as the pain was too much. ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± I managed to speak out. ¡°What are you doing to him?¡± asked Alex to Malakir. ¡°Making him stronger.¡± ¡°Does making him stronger mean making him break bad enough that he needs magic to keep going?¡± ¡°Alex, it was my idea in the beginning, don¡¯t interfere.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re doing this then I¡¯m doing it too!¡± he declared. ¡°No, you¡¯re too young for this!¡± I yelled. ¡°We¡¯re the same age! I¡¯m your knight whatever trial you take, I¡¯ll take it too.¡± ¡°Alright¡­¡± I seceded. I couldn¡¯t stop him, that look in his eyes was determination. Even though it was childish I felt that if I told him that I was going to be walking through hell, he would also walk with me. After a light dinner that Alex made, which was grilled chicken with a side of carrots. Alex and I went to my room and did the exercise that Malakir told us to do. We sat back to back and in front of me were ten, five inch diameter orbs that were dispersing their mana to the wind by my control. While Alex was meditating trying to feel the mana around him. The exercise was actually harder this time as Malakir told me to disperse the mana from the orbs while at the same time trying to keep the shape of the orbs as well as making sure that I take in the dispersed mana, thereby making sure that the orbs would last longer. It was midnight when the orbs finally disappeared without a trace of mana. Alex had gone to sleep on my bed earlier on. ¡°Good job,¡± said Malakir, ¡°keep on doing this and the runs won¡¯t be too difficult for you.¡± ¡°How does doing these exercises help?¡± I asked not really understanding what they would do, ¡°I mean besides the fact that my mana pool will increase because of this.¡± ¡°You¡¯re forgetting the fact that your mana pool does increase. With more mana, you can keep on injecting mana to your tired body allowing you to run longer.¡± Oh yeah I could do that, I must be really tired for not even thinking of such a simple thing. I nodded and changed clothes for the night. Laying on the bed next to Alex, I asked Malakir, ¡°Am I doing the right thing?¡± ¡°Who knows, I do not know the fate of mortals.¡± I nodded. ¡°All I can say is that with my help, you will be the strongest mage the world has ever seen. Although you can be a bit of a pushover, but that can be fixed with time,¡± said Malakir after some time, ¡°but then again, your kindness might actually be something that can change things.¡± My ears perked up and I looked at Malakir on top of the dresser. ¡°At the very least, you may be able to fix this misunderstanding between the commoners and the nobles. I may just be a book but even I can tell that something is not right for the children to be doing this.¡± I nodded and said, ¡°Its because of the Academy, my family has no power within the grounds and so the children can do what they want. They might even be just doing what their parents want them to.¡± ¡°Then those people don¡¯t deserve to be called parents.¡± I nodded and then said, ¡°They could be slaves too.¡± ¡°What makes you say that?¡± ¡°Nothing to lose, doing everything to gain freedom. Some of them might be in that condition.¡± ¡°You may be right,¡± said Malakir. And with that I went to sleep thinking about what I had said. Some of them might be slaves to the system, I thought. ----------------
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Chapter 11 - Changes Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoy this next chapter. ------------------ I woke up early the next day. I sat up and saw that my body returned to normal from last night¡¯s injection of mana. I felt lighter and stronger but I was still very sore. I slowly injected a small amount of mana into my body and it felt like my body could stay in this strengthened condition longer. The exercise from last night forcefully made my body get used to having mana injected and stored within them. My muscles aren¡¯t able to generate mana but with this exercise, they can store mana for later use as well as strengthen them. I then had a thought, What if I injected holy magic instead? I asked Malakir this and he just said, ¡°Your body is not old enough yet, if you do that your growth will be stunted as the magic is permanent. Using mana first will allow your body to develop in the best way because the changes will only be temporary. That being said, I think we overdid it last night. Does your body feel any pain at all?¡± ¡°No, I just feel a little bit sore.¡± ¡°Its probably the bracer that¡¯s helping you. Since injecting mana into yourself can count as magic.¡± ¡°But isn¡¯t that a stretch?¡± ¡°Not really, again magic is the manipulation of mana. Just by manipulating pure mana you are consequently using magic.¡± I nodded and started getting out of bed to get ready for the day. I made sure not to wake Alex as the sun wasn¡¯t even up yet, changed clothes and asked Malakir about a little experiment that I had just thought of. ¡°Malakir, would it be alright if I tried to convert all of my mana into the different types and see how fast I can convert into all of them?¡± ¡°Why would you want that?¡± ¡°I think if I got used to shifting my mana, I would be able to confuse my opponents and surprise them with something they weren¡¯t expecting.¡± ¡°Go ahead but start with a small orb. If you can change your mana to all of them within five seconds, do it with two orbs. If you can do that within another five seconds, increase the number of orbs by one. Then just keep repeating that every morning until you can get to 500 orbs.¡± I stared at him and he said, ¡°You had the idea, I¡¯m just going to tell you how to do it. Now get started.¡± I sat down and produced a small mana orb in front of me. I then transformed it slowly into a fire orb, then water, then wind, then earth. Just for the primordial mana it took me one minute to go through all of it. I then transformed it into light, dark, arcane and nature. Two minutes it took to go through the spectrum mana. I did the same with the supreme and it took me four minutes. Eight minutes it took me for the ancient. I takes twice as much time every time I try have it become more pure, but if I have it be less pure it seems to be very short. My mana is inherently Ethereal, being the second purest form of mana. Having it go back to it took sixteen minutes from the ancient mana. In total it took me close to a half hour to go through all of the affinities¡¯ mana types. I didn¡¯t bother with Time and Space as I first needed to be able to use my magic that I can use proficiently in combat. I went through all of the affinities again, this time going as fast as I could without letting things get out of hand. This time it took me twenty minutes. A full eleven minutes was shaved off but it was still too far from the five seconds that Malakir told me to get it down to. This is going to be tough, I thought. Alex woke up in the middle of my exercise but he didn¡¯t notice anything as he was too tired and went to his room probably to go change. He came back and knocked on my door and said that breakfast was going to start soon. I came out and he said that he was sorry for sleeping in my bed and I told him that it was fine since we were friends. We went to the cafeteria and ate quickly at our floor and headed to our first class of the day. I didn¡¯t bother listening to the lectures that morning as I was too busy focusing my attention to the small orb that I had hidden underneath the desk. I was continuing what I was doing that morning in class and before lunch started I was able to shave off five more minutes. We met Sasha at our lunch table and she started talking about her class. We listened as she complained about a boy our age that was apparently berating me for being so weak. Since he saw me being fooled by Sieg. I got mad at the mention of his name and told Sasha all about what happened yesterday. At first she was shocked that I would do such a thing but then she said, ¡°Ha that guy¡¯s going to be so surprised when I tell him!¡± Lunch ended and Alex and I said our goodbyes to Sasha and we went to our summoning class. Alex and I were the last ones to come and when Nathaniel saw us he shouted, ¡°What did you guys do to Sieg?!¡± ¡°He got what he deserved,¡± I answered. He ran up to me and was about to hit me when I punched him first. I was faster than him and stronger seeing as he got through yesterday through cheating. He fell back and was about to come up and hit me again when a voice shouted, ¡°Stop! Settle your differences later but right now stop!¡± It was Ralph. Instead of jumping from his dragon he walked up to us from the entrance. ¡°We¡¯re starting the lesson,¡± he said carrying a small sack. He dropped it and it opened up revealing grey stone rings. ¡°Pick one of these up and put them on.¡± We did as he asked and instantly I felt my body get much heavier. ¡°With the help of some of my friends we made these for you. You are to wear it every time you are at class. Outside of it you may take it off but keep it in your person always.¡± I tried to stand up but it was difficult as my body felt like it was carrying a large stone on my back. I injected mana into my body and I was able to stand up, albeit I was rocking a little bit. I was one of the few who were able to stand up. Alex could barely stand beside me and a few others too. Nathaniel saw me and with a shout he stood up glaring at me. ¡°Those that can stand, run up the mountain. Go now.¡± We started walking step by step as our bodies slowly got used to the weight. The ring itself weigh five pounds but the enchantment made our bodies feel twice as heavy. ¡°Those of you that are on the ground, you have until they are out of sight to get up and follow them. Those that don¡¯t you¡¯ll follow those that had to drop out from yesterday,¡± we heard him say. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! The flat ground was still alright as we didn¡¯t have to lift our feet to much but when we got to the incline it got harder. The further in we got, the more obstacles we had to go through. A few of us were already crawling on the ground because they fell at some point and couldn¡¯t get up anymore. I tripped and almost fell crashing to the ground when I caught myself with a rock that was beside me. Using it as a crutch, I stood up once more and continued walking. Nathaniel was closest to the mountain so he was in the lead when we saw him disappear. We started running up in earnest as we knew that we were near the end. It took us a little over two hours to get to this point and we saw the same green scales scattered about. I remembered this area from yesterday as something I passed by early on. Yesterday it didn¡¯t have any scales and that made the paper that much more reliable. I grabbed one of the scales and was instantly back at the clearing. ¡°You did well,¡± said Ralph, ¡°much better than yesterday.¡± Alex appeared beside me and started to take his ring off when Ralph said, ¡°Keep it on until class ends, you may take it off afterwards.¡± Alex had to stop and stood next to me. A half hour later and my body was now used to being able to stand with the weight. Walking is still a chore but manageable. I realized that I was only able to do this with magic injected and so I let some out leaving only enough to be able to slowly get used to the enchantment and be able to move with it without the help of magic. When class ended there were only twenty of us left. We started with close to a hundred but the trials of yesterday and today reduced our numbers tremendously. He wasn¡¯t kidding about the harsh part. ¡°Tomorrow you will not be running up the mountain, instead you will participate in combat with each other. It¡¯ll be single combat and the winners continue on for the next day. The losers will do another round of combat to find out who will be removed and who will continue. Of course you will fight while wearing these rings and magic will not be allowed. Class dismissed.¡± He left and we all started heading to separate directions for free time. Alex and I headed to our mansion when a voice shouted, ¡°Just you wait Zed, I¡¯ll avenge my cousin for what you did to him tomorrow!¡± Nathaniel was the one shouting and glaring at me with his eyes and then he left. When Alex and I entered our mansion, Alex removed his ring while I kept mine on and we entered the bath. After our bath and changing our clothes to another set of our uniform, we headed back to the Magus room. When we entered eleven sets of eyes stared daggers at us. ¡°You¡¯ve come,¡± said Alice. ¡°I¡¯ve come and I¡¯m only here to say one thing. I¡¯m not joining this group, I can clearly see that you all do not approve of me and honestly, I think it¡¯ll be a hassle to be a part of a group that doesn¡¯t even want me to be a part of it.¡± With that Alex and I started to leave but before we did I remembered and said, ¡°Stay out of my way and I¡¯ll even help you. But get in my way and I¡¯ll be sure to do the same as I did to Sieg.¡± We left and headed back to our mansion. Alex and I continued our exercises and then afterwards headed to dinner. The principal came and found us on the way and asked, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you want to be a part of Magus?¡± ¡°That group thinks of me as a dog that bit its owners hand, they wouldn¡¯t want me. I could feel it from their eyes.¡± ¡°No, no one in the school doesn¡¯t want you in their group.¡± ¡°Stop the lip service Artemia, the 3rd prince has spoken and you will not change my mind. Besides, I¡¯d rather it be this way rather than be locked up and having to take care of other people¡¯s problems just because they couldn¡¯t themselves. This way, I¡¯m free to do what I want whenever I want.¡± Artemia couldn¡¯t say anything and just left Alex and I to head to eat our dinner. It was true, I didn¡¯t want to be chained to the group as I wanted to use all of my time to strengthen myself and I didn¡¯t want to have to much distraction from it. After dinner, we went back to our mansion and continued our exercises. I also told Alex that he will be cooking dinner every time now as his was much more delicious than the ones at the cafeteria and this way we can eat and quickly resume our training. Alex was still unable to feel magic so he was still meditating. I, on the other hand, was able to reduce the time of switching the mana down to one minute. It was hard work getting it down to such a number. After getting the time to one minute, Malakir told me to continue what we were doing last night. I injected mana into myself and it didn¡¯t hurt as much this time. I still felt hurt by it but it seemed like my body was slowly getting used to the pain of injecting all of my mana forcefully. My body barely felt like it weighed any when my mana depleted. After it recovered I created twenty five inch diameter orbs and dispersed their mana and took in the dispersed mana. It was midnight when I finally got done with my training and Alex was also already asleep. ¡°Is it alright that I keep on training for so long?¡± I asked Malakir. ¡°No, but since you are training with mana, you can train for as long as you need. Every time you replenish your mana, your need of sleep gets pushed back and you will need less and less of it. When you get powerful enough, sleep will not be needed and meditating will suffice.¡± I nodded and changed clothes and slept next to Alex. I feel like we¡¯re going to be sleeping in the same bed for a while since Alex just started his training. Nathaniel bears a grudge against me, I thought, he¡¯s also very strong. He might actually be stronger than Alex. Alex was barely standing when we got the ring but Nathaniel looked like he was able to stand perfectly. Well, if he wants a fight, then it¡¯s a fight he¡¯ll get. And with that I slept and the next day started. -------------
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Chapter 12 - Duel Hello everyone hope everyone likes this next chapter. Thank you to for reading and also those who are following. -------------- Waking up early the next day, I continued my training of changing my mana orb into all the affinities. Before heading to breakfast I was able to bring it down to half a minute. I was also able to keep the ring on and move pretty well even without half of my magic. I could run but I would need to have used magic on myself to do it. Alex was thinking of not wearing the ring but because he saw me doing it he also followed and did the same. He was able to move fine but if he tripped or fell down he would need my help to lift him up. Before we even got to class he already fell down twice. The other students laughed at him for falling down on flat ground but I just glared at them and they went on their way. Again, I ignored class and did my own training in hiding and was able to only get down to twenty seconds before lunch started. We ate lunch with Sasha and the boy told her the he wouldn¡¯t believe it and said that we should meet him this Saturday when we¡¯re all free. Even though we lived in school, we were given days off on the weekends. We told her that we¡¯ll meet with him and we ended our lunch and Alex and I went to our class. We wanted to get there early so that we would be able to get used to our body¡¯s movements before the fights. Alex and I were walking around, making sure that we could use our bodies. Of course, I stopped the flow of mana into my body as magic wasn¡¯t allowed. I gently increased the weight and it wasn¡¯t as bad as before. I couldn¡¯t run but I was pretty sure that I was the only one, aside from Alex and maybe Nathaniel that could walk. Even then I would probably be the only one who could fight. Before long, everyone was here and all twenty of us were going to fight each other so that we can go to class tomorrow. Ralph came and he said, ¡°Know that you all are strong, if you lose just come to me and I¡¯ll make sure that you can continue your studies with another teacher. You all just had the luck to have me as your summoning teacher but I am not the only one, I¡¯m just the harshest.¡± ¡°We will begin the fight,¡± he said, brining out a piece of paper, ¡°Everyone stand to the side, when I call your name come to where I am and you will begin fighting.¡± ¡°Jared and Victor! Come up! You guys are first,¡± he shouted. Up came a tall black haired, brown skin, black eyed boy that looked solidly built and a black haired, fair skin, blue eyed boy that looked scrawny with his robes on. All in all it looked like a very uneven match. The two boys went in front of Ralph and stared at each other. They looked like they were able to walk without trouble. ¡°Begin!¡± he shouted. The tall kid swung his right arm going for a punch while the scrawny one curled up on the ground which surprised the tall kid. He wasn¡¯t able to stop and so he fell down on the ground while the scrawny kid kicked him when he stood back up. ¡°Stop, Jared wins. Victor you lose, next time try not to use full power,¡± he said lifting the kid named Victor up. It was very anticlimactic and boring but it showed that we could win this through ingenuity and not just through power. The fact that we had to wear these rings that doubled our weight and that most of us only had at least three hours of practice with it meant that we were all pretty much fighting without being used to our own bodies. It seemed like this class was to teach us about other ways of winning than just through power. And with that thought I discovered that these lessons had other meanings than just increasing our strengths. The first day was a stamina test, to see if we could run for as long as it was possible. I¡¯m not able to confirm it but judging from that paper that I found, on the first day the scales were probably scattered on the way up the mountain. There must have also been some markings on those scales to differentiate them from each other so that he can figure out who went the farthest. The second day was the same as the first day only we knew how far up we had to run and we had to run with burdens. That was probably our strength test, to see if we were able to carry twice our own weight while running¡­ or crawling. Today is probably a test of our ingenuity. Ralph probably is teaching us how to fight if we were unable to use any magic and we are very fatigued and weak. As I was thinking that it was finally Alex¡¯s turn which was the ninth match. Nathaniel is standing there looking at me looking very pleased with himself. Seems I¡¯m fighting him after Alex, I thought. Before Alex went to fight, I stopped him and said, ¡°Don¡¯t just fight, try to win by coming up with something.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± he asked. ¡°This is a test to see if we are creative. Show him something that the opponent will not expect.¡± ¡°What are you doing over there? Alex it¡¯s your turn!¡± shouted Ralph. ¡°Go and good luck,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll win,¡± he said. He went ahead and I took a look at his opponent. I didn¡¯t catch his name but he looked tough to beat. He was muscular, not too much but he looked like he was a son of a bodybuilder. He had a boyish face with a mop of silver hair. His skin was bronze and he had blue eyes. It was tough looking at him as a five year old. He looked like a dwarf but he wasn¡¯t stocky enough, and I¡¯m sure that he is definitely human. ¡°Begin!¡± shouted Ralph when Alex got near enough. Alex looked like he wasn¡¯t ready and the opponent rushed him. Alex fell down without even doing anything and he fell down hard. Alex¡¯s opponent stood up and began punching Alex. Alex blocked with his hands and kicked him hard. His opponent was pushed back and Alex stood back up. His opponent was taking a lot of time to get up but Alex just stood there waiting. Chivalry? I thought. When the kid finally managed to stand back up, Alex kneed him in the stomach and he fell down once more. Alex was moving as if he wasn¡¯t bothered by the extra weight. ¡°Alex wins,¡± said Ralph as he helped the other kid up and said something to him that I couldn¡¯t hear. Alex came back and said to me, ¡°I don¡¯t think if it¡¯s a clever idea but wouldn¡¯t being able to move around easily be clever too?¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Because we wore the rings longer than everyone else.¡± I thought about that and thought that it did make sense. He plopped down on the ground and leaned up to a tree and I saw that he looked exhausted. ¡°Are you okay?¡± I asked concerned. ¡°I¡¯m alright, its just making it look like that I could move like you is taking its toll.¡± I nodded. He did wear it longer than most but he still wore it for a shorter time than I did. When Ralph called my name and Nathaniel¡¯s we both went up. I watched Nathaniel and he looked like he could walk the same as I did. Did he also wear the ring the whole time? I thought, if he did then this might be a problem. I had full confidence in beating someone who wasn¡¯t used to their new weight but against someone who did? I wasn¡¯t that confident, luckily I had an idea of how to win. We stood across from each other and he said, ¡°I¡¯m going to make you pay for what you did.¡± ¡°And what exactly did I do?¡± I asked feigning ignorance. ¡°You know what you did!¡± ¡°Alright enough, begin!¡± said Ralph. Nathaniel ran up to me while preparing his right hand for a punch. I leaned towards his punch and punched him in the gut. That caused him to retch and pull back a little but then he kneed my in my chin with his right knee. I fell backwards a little bit but was still able to stand up. That knee did not feel like it came from a five year old. It was probably all of the extra weight making our hits that much stronger. I had to make sure that he didn¡¯t hit me a lot as I don¡¯t know how much my body can take from this. I forced myself to a run and feinted a punch to his head which caused him to block but then I kicked him in the gut instead. He was pushed backwards but he was still standing. What is this guy made of? I thought. His eyes showed hate and anger and he once again ran towards me. He raised his right hand for a punch and as I was about to block it he pulled it back and rammed into me. A tackle! He tackled me straight towards a tree that was right behind me and I felt crushed between his weight and the tree. I was trapped, he pinned me to the tree and began punching me. I blocked with my hands but I knew that if I didn¡¯t do something I would lose. When he was winding up for a punch a head-butted him and he was pushed back a little bit. I was freed if even a little bit and I dropped down to my knees and tackled him back. I tackled him to another tree that was way behind him but unlike how he pinned me I distanced myself afterwards. He stared at me for a second and he was even more angry. He started running towards me and right when he was about to get to me I started my plan. I dropped down to my knees and spun around sweeping him off his feet with my leg then I came up and punched him aiming for his nose. I stopped short of hitting him and I said, ¡°You¡¯ve lost, give up.¡± ¡°The winner is Zed,¡± said Ralph. I changed my fist into a palm signaling that I was willing to help him get up but he ignored it and said, ¡°I don¡¯t need your help.¡± He got up on his own and he walked away. ¡°Class hasn¡¯t ended yet but those that won, you can go to your free time. The rest of you. You¡¯re going to fight for the last spot for tomorrow so give it your all. We¡¯ll start once Nathaniel has recovered a bit.¡± Alex and I walked back to our mansion, took a bath and continued our training. As we were eating dinner, I asked Alex, ¡°Can you teach me how to use a sword?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t but there¡¯s an instructor who¡¯s going to come and teach me how to next week. I¡¯ve studied with him before and he will gladly teach you too.¡± I nodded, looking forward to learning how to use a sword next week. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Today¡¯s lesson made me think of what would happen if I couldn¡¯t use magic and I was very tired and wounded. I didn¡¯t know if there was anything like martial arts in this world but by learning how to use a sword I would probably also learn how to fight without one. After dinner, we continued training and I was able to reduce the mana shifting time to five seconds. Elated, I told Malakir and he told me to do the same with two orbs. It was the hard, it was like learning how to play a piano. One hand does something while the other does another thing. Trying to manage the shifting sometimes ended with the magic almost going out of hand but Malakir stopped it just in time. Alex still couldn¡¯t feel the mana around him but he said that he felt something, he just wasn¡¯t sure of what it was. I told him that it might have been the mana and told him to focus on it once he felt it again. Alex stayed up till midnight like I did as he wanted to feel it once more but he wasn¡¯t able to make much progress. I, on the other hand, was able to progress a bit. The shifting I was able to do with two orbs but it took me forty minutes to go through one set. Although if I concentrated only on the task it would¡¯ve taken twenty minutes. I was also able to improve the number of orbs that I can disperse at a time. I went from twenty five to thirty five. I asked Malakir why I was able to get an increase of ten instead of the five from yesterday and he said that it might have been because I no longer was using magic to move. I completely forgot about it. I was moving normally but I still had the ring on, meaning that I was able to move easily even though I had twice my own weight. I was pleased about that fact and just continued with my training. As I injected mana into myself I felt that I was able to inject a lot more than usual. Thinking that it had been a long time since I last saw it, I said, ¡°Status.¡±
Status
Name:Zed RigelRank:Acolyte
Age:5Level:5
Race:HumanGender:Male
Titles
3rd Prince of Rigel Kingdom
Health:375 / 375Health Regen:8 / Sec
Mana:4000 / 4000Mana Regen:77 / Sec
Stamina:525 / 525Stamina Regen:22 / Sec
Strength:25Agility:50
Vitality:37.5Willpower:125
Intelligence:175Wisdom:175
Leadership:50Luck:15
My stats didn¡¯t change at much than they used to but that might just be because of the ring. I took it off and saw my status again thinking that there might be some changes.
Status
Name:Zed RigelRank:Acolyte
Age:5Level:5
Race:HumanGender:Male
Titles
3rd Prince of Rigel Kingdom
Health:750 / 750Health Regen:16 / Sec
Mana:8000 / 8000Mana Regen:154 / Sec
Stamina:1050 / 1050Stamina Regen:44 / Sec
Strength:50Agility:100
Vitality:75Willpower:250
Intelligence:350Wisdom:350
Leadership:50Luck:15
I was dumbfounded, my stats were significantly higher. I couldn¡¯t believe that I was really only level five with these stats. I told this to Malakir as Alex was already sleeping and he said, ¡°Of course, I¡¯m the one training you and your summoning teacher is good too. Try injecting mana into yourself and look at your stats.¡± I did that and I really couldn¡¯t believe my eyes.
Status
Name:Zed RigelRank:Acolyte
Age:5Level:5
Race:HumanGender:Male
Titles
3rd Prince of Rigel Kingdom
Health:2250 / 2250Health Regen:22.4 / Sec
Mana:0 / 8000Mana Regen:154 / Sec
Stamina:6300 / 6300Stamina Regen:86.67 / Sec
Strength:210Agility:180
Vitality:181.67Willpower:282
Intelligence:350Wisdom:350
Leadership:50Luck:15
All of my mana was gone but my physical stats had a humongous boost. If I calculate this right, I can make myself stronger while making sure that I can use magic. After playing around with it a little bit I was able to find the most balanced increase while keeping my mana to be more than half full. I then went to sleep seeing as it was past midnight and needed to rest for the next day. ------------------
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Chapter 13 - Realm of Summons Hello everyone, here''s the next chapter and thank you again to all those that are reading and hope that you enjoy this one as well. ------------ After going through the usual morning, Alex and I were at our summoning class again. I no longer felt burdened by the ring but Alex still needed some time to get used to it perfectly. Nathaniel was here so that means he won the loser division. He was talking with his friends that remained. ¡°Hey Nathaniel! How does it feel to be the king of losers!¡± shouted Alex beside me. Nathaniel glared at us and was about to say some thing when Ralph came and told us to pipe down. ¡°You all did wonderful the past couple of days. Today will be the last one before I actually teach you anything. If you complete it, you will have received your rank of acolyte.¡± ¡°Everyone come over here and we can begin,¡± he said standing next to the orb. Everyone went closer to him and we all stood around the orb. I stood to the left of Ralph and Alex stood next to me while Nathaniel stood to the right of Ralph. ¡°We will now travel to the Realm of Summons. This place will allow you to meet your fated companion the easiest. This will be the easiest thing that I will give you so be thankful for that.¡± We were all excited, Malakir never told me anything about the Realm of Summons so I was very excited to be able to go there. ¡°Place your hands on the orb and we will enter their realm.¡± We did as we were told placing our hands on the orb and when Ralph placed his hands on top of ours it felt like I was being pulled into the orb and my surroundings dimmed. After a while, our surroundings became brighter and no longer were we in the clearing. We were now in a ruined building. The roof was collapsed and we could see a red sky above us. The stone walls around us looked like they were cleaved roughly, leaving large gaps that led to the outside. ¡°Go out and take a look around the place. There is no danger here but make sure that you all are separated, your summons are beings you should meet by yourselves,¡± said Ralph as he sat down on the collapsed roof. Alex and the rest went to different directions leaving me with Ralph in the room. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you going outside?¡± he asked. ¡°Because I already have mine, Malakir show yourself.¡± Malakir did and it surprised Ralph. ¡°A codex, you have a rare one Zed. Well even though you already have one it might be a good idea to go outside and see the realm. You won¡¯t be able to come back here any time soon and you might see a creature you want to bind.¡± I nodded and left the building. Outside it was a strange place. The sky was red and there were two suns in this realm. The trees looked strange under the red sky. Their leaves were a bright red color and the branches and trunk were mahogany. There were no shadows in that realm which made things more eerie. I started walking with no set destination thinking that I could just stroll around and come back when I¡¯m done. As I was walking, I noticed that there was no wind. It was as if the wind truly died. There were two suns but it was neither hot nor cold. The earth I walked on seemed to be crushed as I walked along it. It¡¯s as if everything was dead, I thought. After walking a while I soon reached a lake. The lake was still and I couldn¡¯t see anything inside it. Across the lake was a waterfall but surprisingly there was no sound and mist. The water looked like it was a part of the still lake as if frozen in time. ¡°Malakir what¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°We are in the Woods of Time master. Here time is either still, slow, or quick. Nothing lives in still time yet everything also lives in here.¡± ¡°You¡¯re confusing me.¡± ¡°Right now time is still for the woods. You can say that everything here is dead but you can also say everything is alive because this is merely a stop in their flow of life.¡± ¡°So we¡¯re in a paradox right now, where everything is both alive and dead. Does that include us?¡± ¡°No, only the woods itself is affected by the changes.¡± I nodded and continued walking. I climbed up the cliff next to the waterfall and saw a cave where the water was coming from. I entered the cave and Malakir cast a lighting spell, illuminating the area in front of me. The water came from further in and I followed it. I felt drawn to whatever was in front of me. There were stalactites and stalagmites all around me. Every now and then there was also a glint of a gem lodged within the walls of the cave but I ignored it and continued walking. Soon enough the cave opened up and I was greeted by a giant sloping chamber. The chamber glowed blue with the light from Malakir¡¯s spell. The stalagmites and stalactites in here glowed in a red color almost like blood. On the walls were green mushroom-looking plants with flowers above them. The flowers ranged from tall to short and had many different colors. Each petal was different in color. One of them had enough petals that I thought every color in existence was on it. The scene was breathtaking but what was even more breathtaking was what was in the middle. It was a small rocky plateau and on top of it was a giant white golem. The room sloped downwards so I was able to see every detail of the golem. It looked like it could stand five meters tall if it stood up but as of now it was sitting down. Its head was semicircular in shape having no neck. There was only one eye and it was dim and no ears, mouth, or nose could be seen. Its body was armored and there was a watch on where the heart would be. Its arms laid down on the ground. They were also looked like they were armored and two swords were laying beside the hands. On his shoulders were small spikes that jutted outwards. Its legs were also armored while its feet looked more like boots instead. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked Malakir. ¡°A timekeeper. Master these creatures are also summons but they can only be subdued. Combat is not how you subdue them but rather the trick is to make them come to life. I will not tell you how as you yourself need to be able to find out how to do it in order to subdue it and make it one of your summons.¡± I nodded and ran up to where the golem was. Looking at it from up close, I could tell that if it stood up it would be very intimidating. I began searching for something that would activate the golem. Turning things that I thought would turn. Pressed things that looked like they were buttons. I even tried tapping the clock to see if it would do anything. I worked looking for a way to make it move and I didn¡¯t even realize how long I have been working. Probably no time at all since time was still but I wasn¡¯t so sure since I was moving. Right when I was about to give up I noticed a hole. I peered through it and thought that I saw something that looked like its core. It was hard to tell as the hole was only two inches in diameter but it looked like a blue octagonal crystal. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. When I moved my head away, the hole wasn¡¯t much of a hole because it was also shaped like an octagon. I searched for something that might fit it and I found it under a pile of rocks that I had made from searching earlier. It was blue in the inside but it was white on the outside. The blue part is most definitely inserted, I thought. I was trying to figure out what would happen if I inserted this as couldn¡¯t see any way of being able to remove it later if nothing happened. Suddenly, I remembered that when I summoned Malakir that I injected my own mana into him making him become something else entirely. I injected a generous amount of my own mana onto what I found and inserted it onto its spot. Immediately, the area around it changed color into black and it spread outwards covering the golem in half a minute. Thinking that it was the same as it was with Malakir I said, ¡°I name you, timekeeper, Chronos , may you serve me well.¡± ¡°Yes¡­ master¡­¡± said a voice that sounded like it hasn¡¯t been used in ages. The golem¡¯s eye suddenly revealed a red light and it stood up holding its swords. ¡°I¡­ Chronos¡­ shall serve¡­ this master¡­ till¡­ the end¡­ of time¡­ My¡­ powers¡­ are¡­ at your¡­ command¡­¡± said the golem bowing down as it slowly glowed a black light and became a small black orb that flew within me. ¡°Congratulations master, you are now an adept!¡± I was shocked at this and took a look at my stats.
Status
Name:Zed RigelRank:Adept
Age:5Level:5
Race:HumanGender:Male
Titles
3rd Prince of Rigel Kingdom
Health:750 / 750Health Regen:16/ Sec
Mana:8000 / 8000Mana Regen:154/ Sec
Stamina:1050 / 1050Stamina Regen:44/ Sec
Strength:50Agility:100
Vitality:75Willpower:250
Intelligence:350Wisdom:350
Leadership:50Luck:15
Other than the change in rank my stats stayed the same. ¡°So having another summon increases my rank?¡± ¡°Your powers are considered summoning so the only way for you to increase your rank is to have more summons at your disposal.¡± ¡°So an Acolyte ranked summoner can equal a God-ranked Fire mage?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes. The ranks are just a general way of understanding another mage¡¯s power, it does not guarantee that person¡¯s level of strength at all.¡± ¡°How do I summon Chronos?¡± ¡°Just call out to him and he will come.¡± I nodded and asked, ¡°Is there a way to see how many I can summon?¡± ¡°Simple, just say ¡®summons¡¯ and hold out your ring. It works the same way as status.¡± I did that and saw my summon screen.
Summons
Malakir
Race:Codex of MagicLevel:???
Chronos
Race:TimekeeperLevel:1
Number of remaining contracts:2
I was shocked that something like this existed. I should probably start investigating this, I keep on putting it off, I thought thinking of what other things I could see a screen of. After seeing that I could see a screen of my summons, I exited the cave. Outside, it looked like time was back as I could hear the waterfall and see the mist. The wind was blowing again and it seemed less eerie as the sky was still red. I walked back to the ruined building and I saw that I was the only one everyone was waiting for. ¡°Took you long enough,¡± said Nathaniel. ¡°Alright now that Zed is here we can go back,¡± said Ralph. ¡°Place your hands on the orb everyone and when we get back you have to show us what your summon is if you got one.¡± We did as he said and again the same feeling of being dragged into the orb was felt. Soon enough we were back at the clearing and Ralph said, ¡°alright Alex you come up here and show us what you got.¡± ----------------
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Chapter 14 - Show and Tell Everyone thank you again for reading and following. I hope you enjoy this next chapter as well. ----------------- Alex nodded and stood in front of Ralph. We were all in a circle a little bit away from the orb that we had just used. Alex, being in the center, closed his eyes and a flash of light appeared. When the light disappeared, it was replaced by a cute creature. It had white fur with black stripes. A short black tail was behind it. Its ears were short and were perking up. Its nose was triangle shaped pointing down and whiskers grew right below it. It was a white cat, or more like a white cub of some large cat type creature. It meowed really cutely and Nathaniel couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Hahaha, how is that supposed to be any help!¡± ¡°Nathaniel quiet. That summon is a White Chaos Tiger,¡± said Ralph, ¡°Right now all of your summons are in their child form and they will grow with you. It may not look like much right now but when it reaches adulthood, it would be a match for a greater dragon.¡± I was shocked, I heard about the dragons as magic beasts. They are different than the race of Dragons in that they are not as intelligent nor sentient. They were indisputably the king of all magic beasts. If Alex¡¯s summon is that strong when it gets older then I can¡¯t even begin to imagine how strong the Dragon race actually is. The cat meowed again and climbed up Alex and rest on his shoulders. It rubbed its face on Alex¡¯s side contentedly. Hard to imagine something as cute as that to be really powerful, I thought. ¡°Next, Jared.¡± Alex went back and Jared, the winner of the first match yesterday, replaced him. He closed his eyes and fire surrounded him. I feared that he was going to be burnt but when I was about to do something, the fire disappeared and in front of him was a flaming gorilla? It definitely looked like a gorilla. Its face was exactly the same but its eyes didn¡¯t have any irises but rather were fire. It had a two large canines that reached almost halfway down his neck. Around its muscles were veins, but they looked like they were on fire as they trailed around him. That was where the resemblance to a gorilla stopped though. From the waist down he didn¡¯t have legs but rather it was fire. The gorilla like creature was floating in the air with fire for legs. ¡°A Fire Spawn, one of the greatest fire elementals,¡± said Ralph, ¡°make sure to keep it away from water.¡± ¡°Next, Darren.¡± Jared went away and the Fire Spawn followed behind him, and Darren replaced him. He had blonde hair, fair skin and brown eyes. He looked scrawny even though our robes usually hide any deficiency in weight, except for those like Jared. Darren stood in the middle and a purple light surfaced. This light wasn¡¯t as intense as the others, it felt gentle and kind. When it disappeared it was replaced by a fairy. ¡°¡­ A Fairy Queen¡­ the most powerful summon for support. You¡¯re lucky kid, they are rare that there are only seven of them in existence. For one to be yours is a great honor. Take care not to offend the fairies.¡± The Fairy Queen looked exactly like a queen. She was very regal wearing her green robe and a wood staff on her right hand. She was flying with her near transparent wings. She had her ginger colored hair flow down up to her waist. Her ears were elf-like that they pointed backwards and up. She had fair skin and as I couldn¡¯t see very well from my position, beautifully colored eyes that seemed to change color every now and then. ¡°That Darren kid will be famous,¡± said Malakir, ¡°He will be important to all summoners as he is someone who has a connection to the Realm of Summons.¡± I nodded thinking of the burden of having a Fairy Queen as a summon. Darren looked really happy as he stood next to Jared and Nathaniel. They were talking really close so I guessed that they were friends for a long time. After Darren, it was exactly the same thing. Ralph called us to show our summons but there were some who weren¡¯t able to. There were four of us that didn¡¯t have any summons as they were unable to find them. Ralph told them to go to the faculty office and handed them each a piece of paper. He was sorry that they didn¡¯t have any but it was the decision of their summons. He said that it might be because they weren¡¯t strong enough or they lacked a condition that their summons had for them. Nonetheless they left looking sad and we just continued with the rest. The next two did have their summons, a Wind Devil and a Golden Slime. The Wind Devil was a bird-like creature. It was made of swirling wind and at times you would not be able to see it flying. It had a proud look on its face and it belonged to a girl named Janice with short red hair, green eyes and fair skin. The Golden Slime was exactly as it sounded. It looked like a gold blob of jelly with eyes. It moved pretty fast for something that looked to move slow as it climbed up the shoulders of the girl who summoned it and looked at all of us. The girl was named Anne, she had brown hair, red eyes and fair skin. According to Ralph, the Wind Devil was a lesser wind elemental and the Golden Slime was a mutation of the regular slime summon. The fact that summons could mutate made me think that summons were almost exactly like animals, except they were more powerful. When I mentioned this to Ralph he just said, ¡°Animals can also be summons. In our realm we can only find animals that can use Holy magic, but in the Realm of Summons, the chances of finding a creature that can use other types of magic is greater. The Realm of Summons is just like ours and only summoners like us can enter and leave freely.¡± We all nodded after this explanation and it was Nathaniel¡¯s turn. He walked up acting all smug and looked at me and said, ¡°I bet mine is bigger than yours.¡± He closed his eyes and a black light appeared and when it went, it was replaced by a wolf pup. Its fur was a spiky and blue in color. Mist came from all four paws. Small canines protruded from its mouth. Its face looked like it was saying, ¡®don¡¯t bother me¡¯. It looked at Nathaniel and he picked up the pup and he held it out saying, ¡°Look at how majestic my summon is!¡± The pup looked like it didn¡¯t like what Nathaniel was doing and had an expression that seemed to say, ¡®why are you doing this human?¡¯ Stolen novel; please report. ¡°A Stormwolf,¡± said Ralph, ¡°Its power is on par with the White Chaos Tigers.¡± I was stunned, are all cute looking summons supposed to be powerful? I thought. Nathaniel went back to his spot with the Stormwolf on his shoulders that seemed content to just be laying down. ¡°And with that we are done,¡± said Ralph. ¡°Wait,¡± Nathaniel spoke up, ¡°Zed hasn¡¯t shown us his yet.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already seen his and I can assure you his is much more powerful than yours.¡± Nathaniel didn¡¯t seem like he would give up and said, ¡°I can¡¯t accept this, why does he get special treatment!¡± ¡°If you really want to see, I¡¯ll show you,¡± I said with an edge to my voice. I walked up and said, ¡°Show yourself Malakir.¡± Malakir did and I said, ¡°Happy now?¡± ¡°Heh, it¡¯s a book, a book can¡¯t help you!¡± ¡°That book is a Codex of Magic, the only one of its kind. It knows everything about magic and can cast any spell. Do you still believe that it is weak?¡± said Ralph. Gasps could be heard from around us. Alex looked proud while Nathaniel just became even more annoyed. Thinking that he wasn¡¯t going to stop, I said, ¡°Chronos come out.¡± Instantly, the area around me felt like it froze. Bit by bit, pieces of Chronos appeared and assemble itself into the golem. More gasps could be heard and even the summons stood wide eyed at what was going on in front of them. Once Chronos finished appearing, he said, ¡°Master¡­ what is¡­ your¡­ wish?¡± His voice felt like it was getting used to talking but it was still a little bit hoarse and choppy. ¡°Nothing, I just needed to show you to everyone.¡± ¡°I see¡­ Chronos¡­ is proud¡­¡± ¡°A timekeeper,¡± said Ralph with a gaping expression, ¡°never in all my years have I thought to see a timekeeper. They are the only creatures capable of manipulating time perfectly. Even your Codex will have difficulties in manipulating time, but this timekeeper does it just as easily as we do breathing. Kid, how¡¯d you activate it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a secret.¡± Ralph nodded and told us that we were to keep our summons out so that we can get more accustomed to them and dismissed us. Alex and I ran as fast as we could before Nathaniel would start something as I didn¡¯t want to deal with his childish tantrums. When we got to the mansion, Chronos wouldn¡¯t fit through the door and he said, ¡°It is no¡­ trouble¡­ I can¡­ enter easily¡­¡± After he said that, his whole body shook and parts of himself folded onto itself and he slowly shrunk and shrunk until he was a tiny version of himself. No longer was he a five meter tall golem, now he was barely a foot in height. He was able to enter easily and we went to do our routine¡­ or at least tried to. Asher, the White Chaos Tiger, was going to the curtains, furniture, and walls, and scratched his claws onto them. Every time we were about to catch him, he just ran away to do the same somewhere else. It got to the point that Chronos and Malakir had a little talk with Asher and he no longer did any of those things. Chronos helped a lot by rewinding the time of the claw marked house and returning it back to how it was before. Alex and Asher were at the kitchen making dinner, while Chronos, Malakir and I were at the living room. ¡°How exactly do I rank up? I know that the more summons I have, my rank will increase but isn¡¯t my magic Ethereal?¡± ¡°When you were given your ability to see your status, the gods only knew that you were a summoner. If they had known that you were Ethereal, then you would only be able to rank up through your Ethereal powers.¡± ¡°How does one exactly rank as an Ethereal?¡± ¡°Control of mana. Being able to shift your mana into all the others is a sign of an Adept rank as an Ethereal.¡± I nodded at that and continued my training. At dinner, Alex, Asher and I were eating when I said, ¡°Chronos, can you help us with our training?¡± Alex looked up and we both looked at Chronos who was standing near the doorway to the hall. Chronos said, ¡°Training?¡± ¡°Chronos could help,¡± said Malakir, ¡°he can speed up your training time thereby making you both that much stronger and faster.¡± ¡°Speeding up¡­ I can do¡­ speeding up¡­¡± said Chronos. After dinner, we all went to my room and Chronos started by using his magic in the room. It didn¡¯t feel any different at all but Malakir said, ¡°Time flows differently now. One hour in here will be one minute outside.¡± Alex and I couldn¡¯t really understand that as it just too hard to think about. Especially for Alex since he didn¡¯t have an older mental capacity. We trained for what seemed like eternity but when we were done, it was only midnight outside. I was fairly getting used to telling time without a clock in my room as the stars outside my window allowed me to tell when it was midnight as I was used to the pattern. Malakir told us that we were training for a total of ten days but it didn¡¯t feel like that. Neither of us felt tired and he said, ¡°I had Chronos change your perception of time as well. I also kept you both sustained so that you wouldn¡¯t die from starvation or lack of water as you both can¡¯t do it yet.¡± Alex and I were shocked and happy that this amazing thing was happening to us. ¡°Chronos can you also help us with our sword training next week?¡± I asked. ¡°If master¡­ wishes then¡­ I would do¡­ so.¡± ¡°Great,¡± I said and Alex and I changed clothes. Alex got in my bed as we were both used to it already and we both slept peacefully. Asher got up in between us and laid there. Chronos sat at the foot of the bed on the ground and Malakir was at the desk. The night ended and we were awakened by dawn for a new day. The start of our summoning lessons. --------------
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Chapter 15 - A Lesson of Affinities When we woke up and started changing, I noticed that Chronos was just sitting there as if he had no energy. ¡°Are you alright?¡± ¡°Chronos¡­ is fine¡­ cannot¡­ do last night¡­ again¡­ for next¡­ month¡­ need to¡­ regenerate¡­ mana¡­¡± ¡°Time magic is very useful, but it has its downsides. Pure time mana can only be regenerated naturally. Even then it takes quite a bit of time to do so. He won¡¯t be able to do the speeding up again like last night until next month, if we go by his words,¡± said Malakir. ¡°Will he be alright?¡± ¡°He will, he just can¡¯t use time magic for as long as last night. He can still use time magic.¡± I nodded and after getting Alex, we went to our morning routine. Malakir was hiding again, but Chronos was following behind us and Asher was on Alex¡¯s shoulder. Our classmates wanted to touch our summons but the commoners were pushed aside by the nobles who wanted to be up front. I shoved my way through the nobles and had the commoners touch Chronos, Alex did the same. I wanted to fix the discrimination in this school even if I can only do it in my classes. Of course after the commoners had enough, I gave the nobles their turn. They were all pretty happy and the atmosphere at my morning classes was no longer as dark as before. Lunch came and Sasha wanted to hold our summons. She said that Chronos was cute while Asher was cuddly. Chronos didn¡¯t mind Sasha or any of the others that touched him, but Asher was actually lenient this time. In our earlier classes, Asher was alright with girls to touch him but if it was a guy other than me or Alex, he would growl softly at them. Sasha wanted to compare stats with us so we did.
Status
Name:Zed RigelRank:Adept
Age:5Level:5
Race:HumanGender:Male
Titles
3rd Prince of Rigel Kingdom
Health:750 / 750Health Regen:2.5 / Sec
Mana:8000 / 8000Mana Regen:12.5 / Sec
Stamina:1050 / 1050Stamina Regen:5.5 / Sec
Strength:50Agility:100
Vitality:75Willpower:250
Intelligence:350Wisdom:350
Leadership:50Luck:15
Status
Name:Alex RammertRank:Acolyte
Age:5Level:5
Race:HumanGender:Male
Titles
Rammert Knight (Trainee)
Health:1000 / 1000Health Regen:5.0 / Sec
Mana:750 / 750Mana Regen:1.5 / Sec
Stamina:1250 / 1250Stamina Regen:7.5 / Sec
Strength:75Agility:75
Vitality:100Willpower:50
Intelligence:75Wisdom:75
Leadership:5Luck:5
Status
Name:Sasha ImadulRank:Acolyte
Age:5Level:5
Race:HumanGender:Female
Titles
Princess of Lunaria Federation
Health:500 / 500Health Regen:10.0 / Sec
Mana:500 / 500Mana Regen:15.0 / Sec
Stamina:500 / 500Stamina Regen:12.5 / Sec
Strength:30Agility:25
Vitality:100Willpower:50
Intelligence:150Wisdom:150
Leadership:10Luck:7
Out of the three of us, Alex was the most balanced. Seeing as he wants to be a magic knight its perfect for him. I was shocked at the rate of regeneration that Sasha had and she said that all Holy mages have high regeneration rates. Stats wise I was better than Sasha but she had a much higher rate of regeneration. ¡°The result of training,¡± she said. ¡°Every mage has different stats,¡± said Malakir, ¡°Holy mages have the highest regeneration rates but their stats are lower than most. Chaos mages have balanced stats and regeneration rate but they can increase it tremendously when the need is dire.¡± Malakir explained the differences between mages to us and we listened intently. ¡°A fire mage has high intelligence, making his spells more powerful but at the cost of regeneration. Wind mages have a small mana pool and a slow regeneration rate but their stamina and speed can rival a swordsman¡¯s. Earth mages have the highest health out of all the mages but they are slow and their spells are a little bit weaker than a fire mage¡¯s. Water mages are the most balanced out of the Primordial mages.¡± ¡°In the Spectrum, everyone is entirely different. Their stats are different even those who use the same magic. Arcane mages are the most efficient and accurate. Nature mages are the most powerful but they are more often clumsy and inaccurate. Dark mages are famed for their surprise tactics with spells while Light mages are famed for their sustainability. Out of the Spectrum, only Light mages are able to heal wounds.¡± ¡°In the Supreme, I¡¯ve already explained the Holy and Chaos. Healing mages are the most resilient. Their power though is reflected through their faith. The more faithful the mage to the gods, the more powerful the healing as well as their resiliency. Summoners though are the most peculiar. Their stats are the most erratic as it changes depending on their own power. This is why they are considered the most powerful mages.¡± ¡°In the Ancient, its similar to Summoners but weaker. Form mages have the least amount of mana which is why most Form mages are also warriors. In this way they become unstoppable. Void mages are experts in concealment. They are much more powerful than Dark mages when it comes to surprise tactics. Inner mages are just as erratic as Summoners. Their powers depend on themselves only. Almost all Inner mages are very powerful warriors as compared to every mage, Inner mages have almost no mana to use. Spirit mages are the most similar to Summoners. They borrow the powers of a nearby spirit to help them, just like Summoners bring out their summons. The difference is that Spirit mages have to rely on the environment to bring out their potential. They are considered the most wise as they have to think about every action they make.¡± ¡°There is no use in saying this but for academic reasons. In Legendary, their stats are the most bizarre. Space mages really don¡¯t need the concept of stats as their spells, even the weakest, are very powerful. Time mages have all the time in the world to become what they want to become. Ethereal mages have all of the advantages of each magic and none of the repercussions. They might have difficulty in trying to do a spell from the same affinity, but they are more than capable of handling any from the lower ones.¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. I knew that Malakir just told us about the Legendary affinities because I had it. Alex and Sasha do not know about it yet and I plan to tell them at some point but now is not the time. We left and said our goodbyes to Sasha and went to our summoning class. All of us had our summons out when Ralph came. ¡°We¡¯ll begin the lessons but before that. All seven of you have made me proud. You all passed the tests that I had you do. Tell me, did any of you understand what the pass couple days were about?¡± I raised my hand and when he called me I said, ¡°The first day was a test of our stamina. To see if we were able to keep on running as far as we could without knowing when enough was enough. The second day was a test of our endurance. We had to do the same thing as the first day only we did it with twice our own weight and we knew how far we were going at that time.¡± I continued, ¡°The third day was to see if we were capable of outsmarting our opponent even if we were tired. The last day, yesterday, was a test of fate? To see if we would be able to find our fated summons.¡± He nodded and said, ¡°You are correct except for the last one. You¡¯re a smart one for getting all of that though.¡± I smiled and Nathaniel was staring daggers at me. ¡°The test yesterday was to see if you would be able to handle yourselves in an unknown land. A test of survival. Yesterday was the easiest as we were using an easy way of finding your summon but the next time it will not. You will be searching there for your next ones on your own. Yesterday was just a glimpse of a small fraction of what it means to be a summoner and you all passed,¡± he explained. ¡°What are our summons?¡± he asked us. ¡°Companions,¡± I said. ¡°Friends,¡± said Darren. ¡°Pets,¡± said Jared. ¡°Allies,¡± said Janice. ¡°Family,¡± said Anne. ¡°Minions¡± said Nathaniel. ¡°Comrades,¡± said Alex. He looked at Jared and Nathaniel as theirs were the only ones different then he shook his head. ¡°They are a part of you,¡± he said, ¡°they are you. How you see them is how they will see you.¡± ¡°How are summoners different from the other mages?¡± he asked. ¡°We have our summons to fight for us,¡± said Nathaniel. ¡°Wrong. Those that think like that are the weakest and do not understand what a summoner is. We fight with our summons, they help us be able to do things that we can¡¯t do ourselves.¡± ¡°I will teach you a spell to demonstrate this point.¡± ¡°Sho¡¯ral come,¡± he said and the green dragon appeared behind him after a swirling wind revealed him. ¡°We summoners have very few spells compared to the other mages. Without a summon, we cannot be considered a mage. Now, the first spell ¡®Assimilate¡¯.¡± When he said that word, Sho¡¯ral, the dragon disappeared and the air around Ralph became heavier. ¡°This is assimilate. Its power depends on your rank. It increases your stats by an amount proportional to the summon you used. At your current rank, you can only assimilate 10% of your summons powers. As you increase in rank, it will increase by another 10%.¡± ¡°Zed, since you have already reached the Adept level, your assimilate is stronger than your classmates. And you will also be able to use the second spell, ¡®Merge¡¯.¡± With that nothing visible changed but there was an air of superiority coming from him. ¡°Merge allows you to gain a portion of your summons abilities. You don¡¯t see it but my skin is now as tough as a lesser dragon¡¯s. Normal steel will not be able to pierce me.¡± He released the spells and Sho¡¯ral appeared behind him. ¡°Our spells only get stronger when we rank up, to do that we must gather more and more summons. But you must be careful of what you pick. Once you contract with one, you are forever bound to it.¡± ¡°How many summons do we need to reach god-rank?¡± asked Nathaniel. ¡°It differs from mage to mage, but if you need it for reference, I have thirty under that I have contracted.¡± Everyone gasped but I just remained indifferent thinking, the road is long. After that we had no more questions and we listened to his instructions. To be able to use the first spell. He told us to gather our mana into ourselves and form a link with it to our summon. Once the link was established we would then cast the spell. Alex and I got it on the first try. I used Malakir as Chronos seemed to still be regenerating his mana. I felt power coursing through me and I hastily wanted to check my stats.
Status
Name:Zed RigelRank:Adept
Age:5Level:5
Race:HumanGender:Male
Titles
3rd Prince of Rigel Kingdom
Health:1000 / 1000 (250)Health Regen:5.0 (2.5)/ Sec
Mana:6000 / 10000 (2000)Mana Regen:62.5 (50.0) / Sec
Stamina:2000 / 2000 (950)Stamina Regen:14.0 (8.5)/ Sec
Strength:60 (10)Agility:110 (10)
Vitality:100 (25)Willpower:500 (250)
Intelligence:800 (450)Wisdom:1000 (650)
Leadership:50 (0)Luck:20 (5)
My stats went overboard. This was just 20% of Malakir¡¯s total stats added to mine. Thinking about it being 100% would make me be very strong. I then cast the spell ¡®Merge¡¯ as Ralph said that our spells require us only to connect to our summon and we can then use our spells. I felt power coursing through me and thinking that I wanted to see what was affecting me I said, ¡°Affects.¡±
Affects
Ravenex Bracer
Cancels all magic interference
Assimilate
Summon:MalakirDuration:1 hour
Merge
Summon:MalakirDuration:1 hour
Grants the following skills:
Mana SightCost ReductionMana AbsorptionSecond Pool
Allows to see the flow of manaReduces mana cost by 10%Regenerates mana by absorbing from the surroundingsCreates a second pool of mana of the same size
Wow, having Malakir really is a plus. These affects on me are too much. Once everyone was able to use the spell, Ralph said, ¡°Until your rank is Sage, you can only use your spells on one summon at a time. Make sure that you choose the correct summon to supplement your skills correctly.¡± Class was dismissed early because we were all able to do it fairly quick so Alex and I went back to our mansion. When we got back, we started our training once more. It was just at about 6pm when we heard a commotion outside. We stopped training and went outside. We saw a smoke in the distance and people were yelling and screaming. We ran to where the smoke was and we were caught off guard when we got there. The Academy had a giant courtyard that was perfectly maintained as it served as a great spot for the students to relax on the benches or under a shade of trees or maybe even sitting beside the many fountains and admiring the view. The smoke came from that courtyard and now it was ruined. Fountains were broken with water spouting for several feet up in the air. Some trees were burning while others were uprooted and laying on the ground. Benches were crushed by some of the trees while others were just simply crumbled. It was chaos, the courtyard would take a long time to bring it back to its original condition. Magic was flying in the air almost hitting a crowd of students running away. It looked like there were two groups that were fighting each other but the smoke was making it difficult to see anything. ¡°What do we do?¡± asked Alex. ¡°What else? We have to stop them.¡± ¡°But wouldn¡¯t the Magus just come and do it, its their job after all.¡± He was right but, ¡°They interrupted our training.¡± ¡°Yeah, alright I get it,¡± he said smiling. ¡°What are you smiling about?¡± I asked confused. ¡°Nothing,¡± he said looking away. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± I said and we went to confront the two groups. -----------------
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Chapter 16 - A Squabble of Mages We ran into the smoke and as it cleared we were able to see who they were. They were students just like us. They were shouting at each other and also throwing some fireballs also. The ground between them was scorched and there was a small crevasse between them. ¡°Take this you filthy commoner!¡± shouted someone from the left. A fireball sailed through the air to be blocked by a fierce blowing wind. ¡°Is that all you got! A mere gentle wind made by a commoner takes down a menacing fireball. You nobles aren¡¯t that strong!¡± shouted someone from the right. From that exchange the left was a group of nobles fighting against a group of commoners on the right. ¡°Stop this!¡± said a voice behind me. I turned around and saw Alice along with the rest of the Magus. I nodded towards them acknowledging that they were here and went to one side and sat down. I intended to just watch and see what happens now that the campus police are here. Alex frowned but followed me and sat down. Asher was sitting on his lap and Chronos was sitting right beside me. It was a peaceful sight seeing us with our summons out and sitting there without a care in the world, if only there was no smoke, ruined courtyard, and the constant spells exploding intermittently as well as the shouting. Alice and the Magus started to talk to the two groups but they wouldn¡¯t hear from them and also started flinging spells towards them. Fireballs, Wind Blades, Earth Waves, and Water Blasts came towards the Magus group and towards us as well since we were behind them. We were ready to assimilate with our summons so that we can escape when the Magus group stopped all of the spells with their own. Lightning Dragons, a Nature magic spell, struck at the Water Blasts causing a mist to surround us. Resounding Earth, an Arcane magic spell, caused the ground to vibrate and stopped the Earth Waves from moving forward. The Fireballs grew smaller until it disappeared. It was difficult to tell, but I had a suspicion that a Spirit mage asked the fire spirits to get rid of the Fireballs. A small tornado surrounded the group, causing the Wind Blades to not deal any damage. It was difficult to tell the name of the spell that created that. It could have been from Wind magic, Light magic, or Dark magic. The nobles and the commoners couldn¡¯t believe their eyes and casted more and more spells. The Magus group, getting more confident from being able to block the opponent¡¯s spells, proceeded to get closer to their opponents to stop them. When they were close enough, the commoners and the nobles ran as they used their spells, trying to stall for time so that they wouldn¡¯t get caught. The Magus group chased after them and soon they were all out of sight. Alex and I got up from our spot, sad to see that the show was over and went back to our mansion to continue training. That night was quiet as screams could be heard all through the night even until dawn of the next day. Today was a Saturday, meaning no school for the next two days. We had planned with Sasha the day before on meeting by the school gates at 9am. Alex and I wore clothes that we thought would be best to wear outside school grounds. Alex wore a short sleeved red tunic and black pants with black boots. While I wore a white short sleeved tunic with yellow linings and blue pants with brown boots. Asher and Chronos were coming with us. Asher was sitting on Alex¡¯s right shoulder while Chronos transformed into becoming the same height as us so that he could follow more closely. We walked to the gates, passing by the ruined courtyard that was being repaired by the same group that caused yesterday¡¯s incident. It didn¡¯t seem like they were happy with being assigned work with the other group as I caught someone say, ¡°Why do I have to take care of those commoner¡¯s fault?¡± When we got to the gates, we saw Sasha and another boy. He was the one Sasha was talking about. His name was Kaiser and he had blonde hair, brown skin, and blue eyes. Just by looking at him and having an older mind, I just knew that when he grows up he would be one of those players. As it so happens, Kaiser looked like he was flirting with Sasha. Alex and I stopped walking when we saw that. Alex had an expression of fury while mine was just shock. I mean she was cute but I didn¡¯t spend much time with her so I didn¡¯t know whether I liked her like that or just as a friend. Sasha spotted us and called us over. When we stopped in front of her she said, ¡°Guys, this is the guy I was telling you about. Kaiser, meet Prince Zed and Alex.¡± ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you your highness, Alex¡± he said nodding to us in turn. ¡°Just call me Zed,¡± I said. ¡°Alright I will,¡± he said. ¡°So you don¡¯t think I¡¯m strong?¡± I asked remembering why we were here in the first place. ¡°Nope and please don¡¯t show me your stats. I find battle is the perfect way of finding out who¡¯s more powerful.¡± ¡°Really,¡± I said raising an eyebrow, ¡°are duels allowed?¡± ¡°Only at the proper place. Follow me, I¡¯ll take you all there,¡± he said. We followed him to a dome like building outside of the school. The school had buildings in four directions with the dome in the middle. Our section was the east side. When we graduate from here, we would go to the north side. When we graduate there, we go to the west side and finally we go to the south side for the rest of our school years. The dome was used as the tournament area of the academy. This is also the place where they do the yearly tournaments. The dome itself had hundreds of duel areas and in the middle was a large duel platform used only for the yearly tournament. We entered the dome after using our rings as identification and followed Kaiser inside. Inside the dome were other students ranging from the age of 5 to the age of 10. Magic studies end when you are 10 for the Rigel Kingdom, after that you learn on your own out in the world. It was a way for the Kingdom to have capable mages to work for the military as well as making sure that they had a stable supply of capable people in all aspects of the nation. As we were walking through the dome, I watched Kaiser flirt with all the girls we passed and they all blushed after talking with him. Alex beside me just kept on getting even more mad but he kept quiet since I wasn¡¯t saying anything. I was just curious to know if he was doing this on purpose or not. If he wasn¡¯t doing this on purpose then it would confirm my suspicion of seeing an enemy of women in front of my eyes before he became that person. We also made small talk and gossiped about what happened at school. Sieg apparently was alright even after I gave him a beating but because they found out that he was bullying me, they stripped him of his Magus status and Alice became the leader. Sieg locked himself in his room and hasn¡¯t come out ever since. Nathaniel visits him every day and I thought that maybe because Sieg hasn¡¯t returned to normal that Nathaniel hates me so much. The perpetrators of yesterday apparently started their fight when one of the commoners was bullying a noble out in the open. This caused the nearby nobles to attack the poor kid who then ran and found his friends and brought them to avenge him. Which then turned into the nobles finding their friends to avenge them as well. It became an unending cycle in which nearly the entire school was fighting amongst itself. Of course there were some that just stayed away or just watched like I did but more than half the students were involved and they all had to stay and fix the damage they did. The school apparently was also going to tell the children¡¯s parents but was stopped by the Magus group saying that this was still under their jurisdiction and that the faculty has no say just yet. The school and Alice pretty much debated the whole issue until the school relented. Alice then became known throughout the entire school as the ¡®Silver Tongue¡¯. Of course, all of these were just rumors and I have no idea if they are true or not but Sasha thinks they are. Soon enough, we all entered through a doorway that led to a room with chairs facing a window that showed another room. ¡°Sasha, Alex, watch us from here. Zed and I will go to the other room and begin our duel.¡± We did as he told us and I followed him to the room shown by the window. There was a door to the left of it and we entered through there. The room was empty of anything and looked like the size of a gymnasium. We stood a part from each other leaving about twenty feet between us. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°I¡¯m a holy mage and you are a summoner. Since I only have enhancement spell let¡¯s fight with only our fists.¡± I nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll begin,¡± he said nodding to the window. I saw Sasha do something and I heard a voice say, ¡°Duel will now commence in 10¡­ 9¡­ 8¡­¡± The voice started counting down and I saw that Kaiser was already using his spells. I started doing mine and assimilated with Chronos. My assimilation with Chronos was very different than with Malakir.
Status
Name:Zed RigelRank:Adept
Age:5Level:5
Race:HumanGender:Male
Titles
3rd Prince of Rigel Kingdom
Health:1500 / 1500 (750)Health Regen:7.5 (5.0)/ Sec
Mana:6000 / 8000 (0)Mana Regen:12.5 (0.0) / Sec
Stamina:2500 / 2500 (1550)Stamina Regen:15.5 (10.0)/ Sec
Strength:100 (50)Agility:150 (50)
Vitality:150 (75)Willpower:250 (0)
Intelligence:350 (0)Wisdom:350 (0)
Leadership:50 (0)Luck:15 (0)
Affects
Ravenex Bracer
Cancels all magic interference
Assimilate
Summon:ChronosDuration:1 hour
Merge
Summon:ChronosDuration:1 hour
Grants the following skills:
ShiftEfficiencyTime ManaArmor of Time
Allows to consciously slow a target¡¯s movements for 2 secondsReduces cost of spells and skills by 10%Allows the use and regeneration of pure time manaMakes bodily deficiencies to take twice as long to take effect
My stats were more warrior oriented with Chronos while Malakir was more for magic. When the count was zero, we both ran towards each other aiming to punch the other¡¯s face. He moved faster than Nathaniel but his punches didn¡¯t hurt much. Sadly, he was able to dodge my punch but just barely. I then proceeded to do an uppercut with my left and just before he was about to jump backwards I used ¡®Shift¡¯ on him and he slowed down enough for me to do some damage. ¡°You broke the rules!¡± he shouted laying on the ground. ¡°I didn¡¯t, this is just an enhancement that I got from assimilating with my summon,¡± I said using sophistry on him. Kaiser seemed to just accept it and ran to me. I was expecting a punch but he surprised me by dropping down and sweeping me off my feet. This is exactly what I used on Nathaniel! I thought. I landed hard on the ground, but since the duel was still on, I rolled over and away from him and stood back up. He grinned and motioned his hand as if he was egging me to just run up to him. I did just that but before he could do anything to me, I used ¡®Shift¡¯ again and within that two seconds I put everything that I had on my punches. He fell down and I pummeled him some more. Satisfied, I got up and saw what I had done. I barely had time to examine it when a voice said, ¡°The winner is decided. Healing of participants will begin now.¡± I was suddenly surrounded by a flash of light and all of my wounds were healed. Kaiser, who was almost unrecognizable earlier, looked exactly the way he was when I first met him this morning. He opened his eyes, stood up and said, ¡°You are strong. Stronger than me.¡± He stared at me intently and said, ¡°One day. One day I¡¯ll be stronger than you.¡± He left after that and I followed him to where Sasha and Alex were waiting. He said goodbye to them and went out on his own. Sasha looked worried so I told her to go see if Kaiser needs any help. She looked happy when I suggested that and she went chasing after him leaving me with Alex. ¡°Zed, she¡¯s your fianc¨¦e are you sure about this?¡± he asked. ¡°I don¡¯t really like her or anything. She is cute and probably will be very beautiful in the future but if I don¡¯t see her as someone I would be able to live my life with.¡± ¡°If you say so,¡± said Alex and I thought I saw him smile but it might have been my imagination as it was gone the next second. Alex and I got out of the room and went to eat lunch at the Dome. Since the Dome was still a part of the school, we were given our food for free. We decided to watch some of the matches going on in the Dome while we ate, so we had the food be delivered to the royal box as we watched all of the fights. There was one fight in which both were magic knights as they were using swords as well as magic. It seemed they enhanced themselves and were very knowledgeable about using a sword as I saw some very interesting sword techniques. In the end, a boy with a short sword won the match and helped his opponent up. That was the only match where we saw magic knights as the rest were all mages. The Fire mages were the ones that won the most battles but they were also the ones who lost the most. It was also interesting to see a fight between a Form and Void mage. The Form mage made various weapons to strike at the Void mage, but the Void mage just turned them all into dust and shot swords he created from the ground. The Form mage was vastly superior in creating things but when a Form and Void mage were fighting, the Void mage would win because he would just turn to dust anything that got in his way. Before long, we even ate our dinner at the dome so we proceeded to go back to our mansion. We continued our training and nothing of note happened through the night. Sunday came and went by peacefully and we trained ourselves in our mansion the whole day. None of us were prepared at the changes that next day. Who would have known that the events of the weekend would bring about that decision? -------------------
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Chapter 17 - New Rules Hello everyone and thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy this next chapter and please know that if you have any questions that you want to ask I will try to answer them. ------------------ I woke up Monday morning and started my training. I was able to do a lot more and feeling confident I did three times as much as Malakir was telling me to do and I felt exhausted but also had a great feeling. ¡°Stop, don¡¯t do anything more than what I told you to do earlier,¡± said Malakir. ¡°Why not? This way I can get stronger much faster.¡± ¡°You will but at a cost.¡± ¡°How so?¡± I asked. ¡°Magic is as powerful as it is addicting. You may not have noticed it but continuous use of magic has made you be different from your age group. The same can be said for the students of this academy.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°Magic requires one to have a great understanding of the affinities to be able to be used. As such it causes changes in the mage¡¯s mentalities to be able to allow one to be able to use his magic at the most efficient way. A great example of this are the High Elves, they are arrogant and prideful simply because they live with the help of magic. They are alive because of their dependency to it. This reliance, has caused them to change their views of others as well as the way they think.¡± ¡°Humans, compared to the other races, are easily susceptible to the changes that magic does to them. Your friends act and think as if they are older why. This is because magic is forcing them to be older in mind. You have not noticed but mages are feared in the human race. Since the beginning of your race¡¯s history in terms of magic, each and everyone is feared.¡± ¡°One of the reasons why the noble family has no power over the academy is because the commoners do not want anything to do with mages. Of course the opinions are mixed but as far as my knowledge goes, this has been and will continue for a very long time.¡± ¡°Exceptions such as your family and Alex¡¯s exist because they have had a history of being able to use that magic for the good of the people. But those of common birth? I know of records of these mages to be persecuted by friends and families resulting in their own deaths or the deaths of those around them.¡± ¡°Remember, magic is feared and respected. Magic is helpful but it has its consequences. To help stop the fear of mages, Magus, the God of magic, has enforced rules upon it that cause its users to mature faster. It was a great idea that was accepted by all races to stop anymore unfortunate incidents to happen.¡± ¡°In hindsight, it merely caused isolation. The past is the past but now, commoners with magic are isolated. This is why most mages are either in the military, helping with the academy or a part of a noble faction. The commoners isolate the mages¡­ even if they are their own blood.¡± I sat there silent. Listening to Malakir made me think of the past events. Rico, the Prime Minister, was probably scared of me since I could use magic. My father can¡¯t so he is able to talk with my father normally. There is also the probability that there is a coup but I¡¯m not certain about that matter yet. The riots in the south may be due to the influx of children with magic. I heard that the academy usually has 100 to 200 new students but this year, there were more than 1000 of us. His explanation also made the actions of the people around me make sense. I didn¡¯t think anything of it as I thought it was natural but then again why would a five year old flirt? I took what Malakir told me to heart and made sure that I did not overdo it with my training. I once again ignored my teachers and then lunch came. Sasha, Alex and I were sitting at our table. Alex was glaring at Sasha but Sasha ignored him and looked to me and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for running away Saturday.¡± ¡°I had to make sure that Kaiser was alright. Even though I¡¯m your fianc¨¦e, running away at that time was inexcusable.¡± ¡°Its alright,¡± I said, ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, what is your relationship with him.¡± ¡°He¡¯s my brother, he was born from a different mother and was disowned. I¡¯ve only recently met him and wanted to know as much as I could.¡± Alex and I were shocked to learn that Sasha had a brother, even if it was from another mother. ¡°Is his mother a noble?¡± I asked already knowing what the answer would be. ¡°No, his mother was a commoner,¡± she said, ¡°She was chased out of the palace when they found out that there was an illegitimate prince. He has no last name right now, but I would like to give the throne to my older brother when my own father passes on. It¡¯s his right.¡± ¡°Is your kingdom alright with having me as your fianc¨¦e?¡± I asked after some time. ¡°My father told me that it was alright,¡± said Sasha. ¡°I see. Next time bring Kaiser along.¡± She was startled and said, ¡°I can¡¯t, no one can know that he is related to me. He wanted it that way so that he and his mother would not be hunted down.¡± ¡°We won¡¯t tell anyone right Alex?¡± ¡°Your secret¡¯s safe with us Sasha.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± she said wiping her right eye. We then separated and went to our Summoning class. Ralph was there and he told us to sit down in front of him until everyone was here. I didn¡¯t ask why as he looked like he didn¡¯t want us to say anything and just listen to him. Soon, everyone was here and he started speaking. ¡°You all know what happened last Friday. Because of that it was a massive headache for the faculty to think of what to do. They¡¯ve finally come to a decision.¡± We sat there waiting for him to continue. ¡°Wear these,¡± he said holding out a sack. He dropped in on the ground and out came some gold rings. ¡°All students are now required to wear these rings at all times. It will prevent you from using any magic and if you try to remove it, you will be found,¡± he said with an edge to his voice. We didn¡¯t say anything and just each took a ring and wore it. I didn¡¯t feel any change on me but it might have been because of my bracer that cancels any interference. After wearing our rings, he told us to run up the mountain again. We were all able to get up higher this time. About fifty or so meters up when we grabbed a scale and was back to the ground. Class was dismissed and Alex and I went to the front gates, waiting for the sword instructor that he said was going to come today. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. I told Alex what Malakir told me that morning and he looked a little bit scared. I reassured him that the changes weren¡¯t that malicious as if they were Malakir would¡¯ve done something to make sure that we weren¡¯t hurt by it. That seemed to calm him down and I asked him what the instructor looked like. He looked scared when I asked him that and started to describe him. He was apparently a prodigy within the Rammert Knights. He rose up the ranks through his skill with the sword and magic. Alex spoke of him as a hero, mentioning his achievements which included killing a band of dragon race pirates that were terrorizing the northern seas. He was blonde haired, green eyed and fair skinned. His name was Arthur, a commoner and was only a Guardian ranked swordsman but his expertise in strategy and his achievements made him earn the nickname, ¡°Iron Guard¡±. Why such a great man would be teaching us was apparently because Alex was assigned going to be my knight. Our fathers decided that Alex would be trained by the best so that I would be well protected. The sun was down when we finally saw him. He wore a black armor with white designs on it which in the darkness made him very menacing. He was riding a on a white horse when he stopped in front of us and got off. He knelt down and said, ¡°Pleased to make your acquaintance Prince Zed. I have come to teach your servant, Alex Rammert, the way of the sword.¡± ¡°Rise, sir Arthur. We have been expecting you. Please follow us to the mansion,¡± I said making him follow us. When we got to the mansion, Alex led his horse to the back where the stables were. I didn¡¯t even know we had that as I wasn¡¯t able to properly explore the mansion. Arthur and I went inside and sat at the living room waiting for Alex to come back. While waiting for Alex I said, ¡°Sir Arthur is it alright if I join your teaching Alex?¡± ¡°My lord?¡± he asked confused. ¡°I wish to be able to hold a sword and protect myself with it as well. It wouldn¡¯t sit well if my knight knew something I didn¡¯t,¡± I said explaining myself in a way I believed he would agree. ¡°Of course my lord,¡± he said bowing down, ¡°you are free to join us. I would be honored to teach you.¡± Alex came in and I said, ¡°We can begin tonight no?¡± I stood up and Arthur did as well and said, ¡°Yes we can.¡± I told Alex to lead the way to the training hall. It was just behind the living room but you had to flip a hidden switch to be able to open the entrance. The room was almost as large as the baths. It was even connected to it on the right side wall. On the left were some suits of armor going from full plate to chainmail, from leather to robes. They were all neatly lined up. Shields hung from the wall of the entrance we used. There were many styles, some rounded, some star shaped and some others squared. In front of us were all sorts of weapons of different sizes. At the top were the most beautiful and deadly of them all while at the bottom were wooden counterparts. There were swords, axes, daggers, bows and arrows, lances, spears, and many others. The floor was soft to the touch, made to soften the impact in case of falling. All in all, it was a pure combat training room. Arthur looked just as impressed as I was at the sight. He carefully inspected each and every weapon as well as the armors. When he was done he said, ¡°Is this a training room or is it an armory?¡± ¡°Both maybe,¡± I said. ¡°Before we get started, I first need to know what you know about fighting with a sword,¡± he said as he grabbed a pair of wooden swords. ¡°This will let me figure out your strengths and weaknesses so that I can teach you better in the future,¡± he said handing us one of the swords. ¡°Face each other and begin combat.¡± Alex and I stood apart from each other. He put his sword in front of him and stood in some stance and held the sword with both hands. I, not knowing what to do with a sword, held it backhanded as it felt the most natural. Holding it out in front of me just like Alex, I leveled mine parallel to the ground with one hand behind me. He ran towards me raising his arms and swinging the sword down. I parried the sword and along with the momentum that I had, spun with my right foot and elbowed him with my left. He saw my movements and jumped back in time to avoid it. As I was still recovering from my spin, I was wide open and saw Alex¡¯s sword coming straight towards me. He was stabbing it to my face and I blocked with my sword. One hand at the pommel and the other at the tip of my sword. We were both struggling for dominance when he forced all his weight on me which caused me to lose balance and fell down with a thud. My eyes closed from the feeling of falling and when I opened them, Alex was standing pointing his sword at my head. ¡°Zed you¡¯ve lost,¡± he said. He removed the sword and replaced it with his hand. I grabbed it and he helped me up. ¡°That was a wonderful fight, thank you,¡± said Arthur clapping, ¡°Rest now, tomorrow I¡¯ll give you your training plan. Alex where is my room?¡± Alex pointed to one of the doors that I thought led to the baths but it actually led to a room. There were two doors, Alex pointed to the leftmost door. As Arthur went through the left door, Alex and I went through the right door and in front of us were the baths. We took a bath and ate dinner. We called Arthur but he said that he had already ate and he needed to be able to finish the schedule and that he was sorry about it. When we were done eating we went back to my room and continued our training. After our training we slept and soon enough the sun was rising calling us both for another day. -----------------------
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Memories of the Past - His name was... Not a new chapter to Aliad per se but it can be. This will be the side stories series of Aliad called "Memories of the Past". Hope you all enjoy this short side story. --------------- ¡°Damn it!¡± shouted someone, ¡°Another failure.¡± This man was the leading scientist in the field of Neuroscience. He started of with finding a way to be able to allow all humans to be able to learn knowledge at a very fast pace. He created a machine called Omnigear as when a person wore it, he or she would be able to learn all the information that was installed within it. Needless to say this caused all schools to be of no use and were demolished and replaced by office buildings or turned into parks. He was widely acclaimed as a great person but also scorned as some people were able to use it for their nefarious needs. They twisted the machine to be able to brainwash others to do their own doing. Many wars happened as a result of this and more than half the population of the world died within decades. The lines of countries were also changed, some grew larger, some grew smaller, and many others disappeared from the face of the world. The man was currently in a process to try to fix what he had inadvertently done. In front of him was a person who was brainwashed by a group of people who wanted this scientist dead. On his head was another Omnigear only it had a different aim in mind. The scientist had a hypothesis that if one is able to place information with this machine then there is also a way to remove information. Sadly the experiment was not a success and the man was currently dead as the Omnigear heated up and caused the man to die. Our scientist then left the experiment room leaving his assistant to handle the clean up. This man was nothing compared to our scientist. He was mediocre, unmotivated, simple. That was the main reason he was hired. He had nothing to lose or gain from betraying the scientist. Although he was simple, he was gentle. He felt sad for the dead man as he was used for the human experimentations. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. He proceeded to do his work, erasing any trace of the man¡¯s existence and brought him to his home. The scientist was too proud himself to do anything with the body so he instructed his assistant to bury the body in his own backyard after cremating him in the room created by the scientist under his assistant¡¯s home. The assistant was just about to cremate the body when the roof above him came crashing down. It crushed the cremator and caused an explosion that blew him away. The roof was crushed by a plane with an insignia of a group that wanted the scientist dead. It was a bird, a strange bird that you wouldn¡¯t be able to see on Earth. The assistant laid there on his back. His legs were crushed by debris from the plane. His arm was cut from one of the shattered wings of the plane and his body was badly burnt. He laid dying for a man that caused the death of his assistant and countless others. He knew what he was doing but he couldn¡¯t do anything about it. He was powerless to do anything. But even if he did, his true nature was simple. He cared not for wealth or power, he just wanted to enjoy life. His life didn¡¯t allow that. He thought about what his life was and how it became this way. Life was unfair to him but that is life. And then he breathe his last¡­ Oh and his name was¡­ --------------
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Chapter 18 - Ashura Hello everyone, I hope you all enjoy this next chapter as I did writing it. Thank you to all who comment I enjoy reading it as it motivates me just as much as following and rating does. Enjoy! -------------------- Since I woke up earlier than Alex, I started training right away when I stopped and asked Malakir something that bothered me. ¡°Why were Alex and I able to train our mana last night? I didn¡¯t notice as I was so used to the routine.¡± ¡°I cancelled the effects of the rings for a little bit until both of you were done.¡± I nodded at that and continued training. We ate breakfast with Arthur that day. Arthur was wearing a worn brown tunic and worn white pants. He had a small tuft of hair going to the left of his head while the rest were to the right. Looking from afar, he looked worn out as if he didn¡¯t have any sleep. In retrospect, Alex and I wore our uniforms and were well rested. Our breakfast was eggs and what looked to me like bacon but they were more reddish and tougher. Asher and Chronos were playing outside while we ate our breakfast and talked about last night. Malakir as always was next to me on the table. ¡°Zed, I think you are well suited to the Ashura style,¡± Arthur said while eating a piece of the bacon. ¡°Ashura style?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a style of fighting with the sword developed in the Lunaria Federation. It uses a small curved sword as its main weapon but it can be used with any other one. Were your movements last night natural?¡± ¡°I just went with the flow. Alex was slashing downwards and I just did the most natural thing to me.¡± He nodded and said, ¡°Speaking of Alex, next time don¡¯t go easy next time. Its hard to tell how much you¡¯ve grown if you do that.¡± ¡°Sorry master,¡± Alex said as he dropped his head down in a bow. I stared angrily at Alex and when he noticed me he backed away a bit and said, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to hurt you!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t get you for this today,¡± I said going back to eat. Alex looked relieved and so glanced at him and I said again, ¡°Today.¡± That got him, he looked a bit worried thinking that I was going to get back at him someday. After breakfast, we went to our first hour of classes and I ignored the teacher as always and Alex this time was doing the same. I didn¡¯t know what he was doing but I knew that he also was not listening because our teacher shouted at us and kept his eyes on us the whole time. Our classes no longer had that horrible tension like last week. It was now more kind and accepting. There was even a group of nobles and commoners that looked to be friends now. The second hour was the same as the first, only this time she did not catch us ignoring her. She was going on and on about the Lunaria Federation and their inception when she said the word, ¡°Ashura.¡± I stopped ignoring her then wanting to know more about ¡°Ashura.¡± ¡°The Ashuras were a clan that united the Lunaria Federation. Along with the clans Luna and Mahesva, they were able to unify the many islands that now consist of the Lunaria Federation.¡± ¡°Why we are talking about them is because they developed the first of a long line of mage knights. The Ashuras were famed for their military prowess especially their elite troops they called ¡®Ashura¡¯s Shadow¡¯. Not much is known about this group only that they were the first to combine the powers of a mage as well as a warrior.¡± ¡°During that time, warriors and mages were considered different from one another. That there is no way to combine the two. The Ashuras showed the world that it was possible and proved their effectiveness. Right now the Rigel Kingdom has the strongest group of mage knights known as the Rammert Knights. Led by the father of our very own, Alex Rammert, they continue to protect the kingdom from any outside threat. Now, let¡¯s talk about the Luna clan¡­¡± Once she started talking about a different clan I immediately toned her out. Could the Ashura style that Arthur told me be from the Ashura clan? I continued trying to think of possibilities even until lunch at the cafeteria. We met with Sasha at our table and she looked a bit sad. ¡°What¡¯s wrong Sasha?¡± I asked concerned. ¡°It¡¯s just, I really want to have lunch with my brother and you guys. I know you two started it out by fighting but once you get to know him, he¡¯s a really nice guy,¡± she said quickly that I almost couldn¡¯t understand what she was trying to say. ¡°Why don¡¯t we eat at our place? That way Kaiser can eat with us and we can get to know him more,¡± I said compassionately. ¡°Thank you!¡± she exclaimed hugging me. I patted her on the back and said, ¡°It¡¯s only natural that I do this for my fianc¨¦e. You didn¡¯t have to make it sound like a big deal either. I would¡¯ve done it if you asked.¡± She released me and said, ¡°You would¡¯ve?¡± her face looked shocked as if I had just told her that I was going to marry her. ¡°Yes, plus I can¡¯t say no to your cute face,¡± I said with a grin. She blushed and said softly, ¡°I¡¯m not cute¡­¡± ¡°Who told you that you weren¡¯t?¡± I asked with a bit of an edge to my voice. ¡°The girls in my class. They don¡¯t know that Kaiser is my brother since he wanted to make sure that I wouldn¡¯t get in trouble,¡± she said looking down with a sad expression on her face. ¡°You¡¯re cute, you¡¯re beautiful, you¡¯re my fianc¨¦e,¡± I said these things while holding her hands and holding her face and turning it to look at me, ¡°if anyone else says anything like that just tell them that you¡¯re my fianc¨¦e.¡± Her eyes moistened and she dug her head to my chest and I naturally hugged her. She cried loudly that I thought the people on the ground would be able to hear her. She must¡¯ve been bullied by those girls for her to cry this much, I thought. Alex just sat there looking at us with an awkward expression on his face when I turned to look at him. He caught my eyes and he looked away blushing. After Sasha calmed down, we ate a quick lunch since the period was ending soon and we went our separate ways to class. I was determined to make sure that Sasha wouldn¡¯t have to cry like that again and started planning some things. Our summoning class again was another run up the mountain only this time we had to drag a cart with us. The cart had no wheels meaning that it would have to drag along the ground which would slow us down considerably. Everyone had a struggling expression as we dragged those carts while trying to avoid any rocks or steep inclines. When we got done and were back in the clearing, Ralph had a grinning expression while the rest of us were winded and tired. Ralph left as he dismissed the class and Alex and I went back to our mansion. Some of our classmates were too tired that they couldn¡¯t get up anymore so they stayed behind to rest longer. Alex and I walked to the mansion as we were pretty tired. Our robes were sweated through and the breeze made us feel a little colder. Arthur was outside sitting on the ground when we got to the mansion. He got up and said, ¡°Don¡¯t take a bath but change your clothes and rest. It seems you two have had a rough day. We¡¯ll begin your lessons after we have dinner. Don¡¯t worry about cooking, for tonight, I¡¯ll cook.¡± Alex flinched and looked like he had something to tell me but he didn¡¯t so we went to our rooms and changed. Since we were going to start sword training, I decided to wear a white tunic and loose brown pants. I went downstairs when Arthur said that dinner was ready. Alex was already sitting down wearing a red tunic and blue pants. He had a defeated expression on his face and I looked at the table. It was beautiful. There was a whole chicken bathed in a white gravy like sauce. A white soup filled with carrots, cabbages, and many other greens. There looked like there were enough to feed ten people. I sat down and said, ¡°Arthur did you make all of these?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve had my fair share of travelling around the world so I¡¯ve learned how to cook.¡± ¡°They look delicious,¡± I said grabbing a piece of the chicken. Alex looked at me worriedly and I just ignored it and took a bite of the chicken. It looked delicious but once I tasted it, the chicken tasted terrible. I struggled to swallow since Arthur was now staring at me and he looked proud of himself. I swallowed and struggled to say, ¡°Its delicious you should be a cook.¡± He laughed and said, ¡°Thank you for your kind words but I like the life of a knight more. Eat up I made sure to have enough for you two.¡± I glared at Alex and he shrugged his shoulders and put on a sorry expression. Alex and I ate very little dinner that night and explained to Arthur that we had a lot to eat at lunch. To which he said, ¡°Such a waste.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He then took the rest of the food with him to the kitchen. When he was gone I said in a hushed but edgy tone, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me that his cooking tasted terrible!¡± ¡°There wasn¡¯t any time to do it!¡± said Alex as if he was being confronted by a dragon. ¡°You are going to regret not telling me about it sooner!¡± putting more anger in my words. ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± he said shutting his eyes, ¡°He¡¯s always had terrible taste. I don¡¯t think he even knows that his food actually tastes horrible!¡± I glared at him and left because Arthur was going to be waiting for us in the training room when he was done. When we got to the training room we waited for Arthur to come and I stood there glaring at Alex. The tension in the air was terrible until Arthur came in. He saw the both of us standing far away from each other and shrugged. ¡°So Prince Zed do you know anything about Ashura?¡± he asked as he was grabbing the two short swords we used yesterday. I repeated what I had heard about in class this morning. He seemed to be thinking about something after I was done as he stood there with his head slightly down and his arms crossed with the swords under one shoulder. He looked up and said, ¡°That is generally it.¡± ¡°The Ashuras were famed for their military but saying that they were mage knights is a lie. The Ashuras were purely a warrior group,¡± he said spreading his arms each holding a sword and shook his head a little. ¡°How do you know this?¡± I asked. ¡°I have connections with the Ashura clan,¡± he said giving us each a sword. ¡°Alex continue the training plan that I had set up for you for the Stagaire. I will be working with Prince Zed to show him the basics of Ashura,¡± he said looking at Alex. Alex just nodded and went off to the other side of the room and held the sword with his right hand above his head and back. His left hand was stretched in front of him almost guarding his body. I wasn¡¯t able to observe anymore as Arthur took my attention as he started talking about the Ashura style. ¡°The Ashura style is a close combat style of sword fighting. Mainly infighting as the style requires you to be up close to your opponent to be able to use it perfectly.¡± He started teaching me the stance that I had to take for most of the moves of the style. It relied on me holding the sword backhanded or with a reverse grip in front of me while my other hand was bended behind me. My knees and torso were bent and looked like I was about to leap at any second. He told me to memorize this position and began showing me where I can attack and how I can attack the opponent. After being satisfied he left me to continue practicing and went over to check on Alex. Alex¡¯s style was different than mine. His style consisted of a series of slashes and parries while mine were stabbing and piercing. His eyes looked determined and he looked really cool learning that style as I looked at him. Soon enough Arthur told us to spar against each other. ¡°Alex don¡¯t hold back this time. Even though he¡¯s a prince and you are his knight, right now the both of you are students of mine.¡± Alex nodded and faced me in the same stance as I saw him earlier. His eyes looked like they were filled with fire as he looked at me but also apprehension as if he was struggling to find it in him to hit me. I adopted the stance for the Ashura style and hopefully conveyed my feelings of wanting to fight Alex through my eyes. I was apparently successful as I no longer saw apprehension. I smiled and Arthur said, ¡°Begin!¡± I dashed as quick as I could towards him and he slashed at me downwards. I parried and used the momentum to twist and was about to elbow him when I was pushed back. ¡°You¡¯re too open!¡± shouted Alex. I couldn¡¯t see behind me but I then knew that it was over as I saw the wooden sword touch my neck. I was shocked. Shocked that Alex was holding back a lot if I was beaten this fast. ¡°Alex, release him,¡± said Arthur. Alex released me and went back to his spot. I looked at him as I rubbed my neck. If Alex wasn¡¯t my friend and he had a real sword¡­ ¡°Prince Zed, if it¡¯s too much please tell me,¡± Arthur said looking at me with concern. ¡°No,¡± I said biting my teeth and making an angry expression, ¡°Let¡¯s continue¡­¡± I was determined, my life can be easily taken away from me. I didn¡¯t want it to happen again. I needed to be able to protect myself. Arthur must¡¯ve seen my determination as he nodded and said, ¡°Begin!¡± We sparred at least ten more times after that. Each one ended in my defeat when Arthur said, ¡°Enough.¡± Alex helped me up as our last match ended with me on the ground and Alex¡¯s sword against my throat again. I grabbed his hand and Arthur came towards us. ¡°Alex, you¡¯re swings have become sloppy. Correct that until next week,¡± said Arthur holding out his left hand. ¡°Yes master,¡± said Alex as he gave back the sword he was holding. Turning to me Arthur said, ¡°Prince Zed, it is only natural that you lost so many times. Alex has been training under me for some time so he is far more advanced than you. That being said, your moves were excellent for a beginner. I think that if you master the movements that I showed you earlier, you would be a little bit more of a match against Alex. You¡¯re sword style is his weakness.¡± As he said this he reached out his right hand and I gave him my sword and said, ¡°Thank you¡­ master.¡± ¡°Prince Zed, you do not need to call me master,¡± said Arthur laughingly. ¡°But you are teaching me and Alex also calls you that, it is only natural that I also call you master.¡± ¡°Is that so? If that is his highness¡¯ wish then I have no reason to object. Go and rest up. Tomorrow the both of you will be just practicing what I had told you to practice.¡± ¡°We will be doing a sparring match each week to see how well you¡¯ve grown. Hopefully by then, Prince Zed will be a match for you Alex,¡± said Arthur as he went to place the swords away and left to his room. Alex and I went to take a bath. When we got in the water Alex said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I looked towards him and he looked like a kid that just broke his mother¡¯s favorite vase. I half swum half walked towards him and said, ¡°It¡¯s alright. This way I can protect myself and it¡¯ll make your job that much easier.¡± ¡°B-but,¡± he raised his head and was about to say something else when I said, ¡°This is something that I want. Are you going to let your prince not have something he wants?¡± He looked down and went quiet. Since the atmosphere was a bit too gloomy for my taste I said, ¡°I still haven¡¯t forgiven you for yesterday and today.¡± He looked up confused and was helpless to do anything when I forced him down the water. I kept him there for one second and he came back up and said, ¡°What was that for!¡± ¡°For holding back and not telling me that Arthur had no taste,¡± I said looking smug and swimming away. He grabbed my ankle and made me sink down. Our relaxing bath turned into a game as we got rid of the tension. When we finally finished playing around and changed clothes, both of us were in my room and not even an hour passed by when Alex said, ¡°I can do it! I can do it now!¡± I looked at Alex confused when Malakir said, ¡°He¡¯s able to manipulate the mana around him now.¡± I was pleased at his accomplishment and went back to training as Malakir told Alex to create an orb of mana. Everyone was capable of manipulating mana directly, they just needed to be taught how to do it. Ethereal mages have the best aptitude for it but everyone else can do it if they were persistent enough. Soon it was midnight and we both slept at my bed. Alex drifted to sleep earlier than I did and as I stared at him I was happy to have such a good friend. Tomorrow was a new day but who knew that they would come that day. Why those people would come visit me at my mansion must¡¯ve been Finda¡¯s way of saying that trouble will always follow me. -----------------------------
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Chapter 19 - Revealed? Distress? Author''s Rant: Hello everyone and thank you for your support. I read your reviews and comments and they help me see my mistakes. I''m trying to fix them but I''m also not wanting to stop the story''s advancement. I appreciate your criticism as they help me be a better author. This is the first time I''m doing this so I think mistakes are bound to happen but I plan to not make as much as I can. Thank you for reading my rant and bearing it so now I introduce the next chapter. Things are heating up some more and I hope everyone continues supporting me and enjoy reading. -------------------------------- That day started the same way as yesterday. Breakfast with Arthur then heading to class. Lunch was different though. Sasha, Kaiser, Alex and I went to the mansion to eat our lunch. Kaiser had a happy expression on his face as we went there. Arthur was out somewhere so Alex went to the kitchen to cook. Sasha went with him saying that she wanted to have her brother eat something she made. Kaiser and I sat at the dining table. He sat across from me wearing a satisfied expression and said, ¡°Thank you for this Prince Zed.¡± ¡°Its nothing,¡± I answered, ¡°How¡¯d you know you were a prince?¡± ¡°My mother told me,¡± he said looking somber, ¡°she¡¯s taken care of me since we were chased out of the palace. We fled to a small village on a tiny island. There, we weren¡¯t troubled by the aristocrats and we lived our lives peacefully.¡± He continued, ¡°When we found out that I could use magic, my mother was ecstatic and told me then that I was a prince. At first I was mad at my father for leaving us to that state but my mother kept on insisting that my father wasn¡¯t at fault. She loved him.¡± I listened very quietly at his answer. I tried to understand how it must have felt to live life like that. ¡°How did Sasha know that you were her brother?¡± He lifted his head to the right and showed me a tattoo. It looked like a three pointed crown. ¡°All members of the royal family are engraved this tattoo whether they are of common birth or not. Its engraved with magic so it is not easily reproduced.¡± ¡°Does Sasha have one as well?¡± He leveled his head and said, ¡°Yes, I caught sight of it when she brushed her hair when we were talking on the first day. I wasn¡¯t sure of it was her so it took a while before I finally told her that we were siblings.¡± ¡°She was happy when I told her,¡± he said grinning, ¡°but then she said that she would give the throne to me.¡± He became somber again and he said much more quietly, ¡°I want to tell her that I don¡¯t want to take the throne. It¡¯s the nobility¡¯s fault that my mother was forced to leave.¡± His eyes became filled with anger when he said, ¡°Its their fault that my kind mother was forced to reduce herself into a prostitute!¡± I was shocked to hear this. Who would¡¯ve thought that I would know someone personally who was a child of a prostitute. I didn¡¯t look at Kaiser with disdain but rather I looked at him with pity. I couldn¡¯t do anything for him¡­ I was powerless¡­ ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t know why I told you that,¡± he said recovering, ¡°not even Sasha knows.¡± ¡°Don-¡± I started to say when Sasha and Alex came to the dining room bringing in the food with carts and saying, ¡°Lunch is ready!¡± There was an assortment of vegetables and greens. Ribs were made for us to eat and there also was a specialty dish from the Lunaria Federation. It looked like fried rice made with some sort of soy sauce and I could see chicken, crabs, and more vegetables on it. ¡°I¡¯m really surprised that your kitchen has a lot of ingredients,¡± said Sasha placing the food at the table. ¡°Our kitchen has a special magic device that gives you any ingredient that we may not have specifically,¡± Alex said as he placed plates and silverware, ¡°Its useful for when I¡¯m just missing one ingredient.¡± After they finished placing the food in front of us, we all began eating. Kaiser seemed to get in a better mood as lunch started when I heard a knock at the door. ¡°I¡¯ll get it,¡± said Alex standing up. ¡°So Sasha, I hear your engaged to Zed?¡± asked Kaiser as he took a bite from the fried rice. Sasha blushed a little and said, ¡°Yes.¡± He closed his eyes and said, ¡°I approve.¡± ¡°Zed looks like a nice guy, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll take good care of you,¡± he said when he opened his eyes and smiled approvingly. I was about to say something when Alex came in with a frightened expression and interrupted me by saying, ¡°Prince Zed, we have visitors. Its King Vayasu Imadul of the Lunaria Federation.¡± We all froze and looked at Kaiser. He had a scared look on his face and I pointed to the kitchen and he instantly ran inside. After confirming that Kaiser was well hidden I stood up just in time to see Vayasu enter the dining room. ¡°It¡¯s an honor to have you visit us, King Vayasu,¡± I said bowing down along with Sasha. ¡°No need for formalities,¡± he said laughingly, ¡°after all we are pretty much family.¡± I motioned for him to a seat and as he sat down I asked, ¡°May I ask why you are here?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t a father meet his daughter at school?¡± he said looking at the food, ¡°My what a nice assortment of food you have here, may I partake?¡± I motioned for him yes and Alex went to the kitchen to grab him a plate and some utensils. That is how the King of the Lunaria Federation joined us for lunch. As we were eating he said, ¡°So Sasha, how is school?¡± ¡°I-its fine father,¡± she said trying to calm her voice and face. ¡°Is that so? And there hasn¡¯t been anything strange that happened? Like for example a love rival?¡± he said accusingly. ¡°N-no one, Zed is all I care about!¡± she shouted grabbing my right arm and hugging it. ¡°Is that so? And you Zed, are you taking good care of my daughter?¡± ¡°Yes she is in my perfect care,¡± I said hugging her tighter, ¡°I¡¯ve already set an excursion for us this weekend.¡± Sasha looked at me and quietly said, ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Is that so,¡± he said nodding and took another bite from the rice. ¡°I will set some of my guards around you at that time. You won¡¯t be able to notice them,¡± he said finishing up his food. ¡°This has been a wonderful lunch, Sasha your cooking has improved,¡± he said smiling at Sasha. He stood up and said, ¡°If you¡¯ll excuse me I have to meet with Artemia.¡± With that he left, leaving Alex, Sasha and I at the table. Alex had a frightened expression the whole time but he made sure not to look at Vayasu as to not reveal it. Sasha hid her face behind me and tried to keep calm. I had no way to block myself so I had to fake my expressions. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Once the door closed, we waited for one minute before we started moving. Alex opened the kitchen door and Kaiser went back to his seat. Kaiser looked like he sweated a lot during our lunch with Vayasu. We acted this way because we knew about their relationship. If Kaiser was found by the Lunaria Federation¡¯s nobles, he would no doubt be assassinated. We had to make sure that he wasn¡¯t seen. During that lunch, I had a feeling that he knew that Kaiser was here and so he placed his guards as well under the guise of protecting Sasha. It might work but for how long, I thought. We didn¡¯t touch the rest of the food then and just cleaned up before it was time to go to class. We said goodbye to Kaiser and Sasha. Kaiser looked like he had seen a ghost but with Sasha at his side he should come back. Sasha was able to calm down when she led her brother with her to class. The afternoon and evening was the same as yesterday. Ralph had us run up the mountain until we were exhausted and Arthur made sure that we memorized the movements from last night. We did a little bit of our magic training but since we were tired from the events of the day during lunch we went to go to sleep early. Just then the door opened and Arthur came in and saw us. ¡°What are you two doing?¡± he asked in a grave low voice. ¡°About to sleep?¡± I answered trying to play it off as natural as possible. Alex was frightened next to me. His face looked as if his secret stash of things was finally found by his parents. ¡°I get that but..¡± he said trailing off and pointed to the both of us. ¡°We train together every night and its just easier this way. We can both go to sleep as soon as possible,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°Every night¡­ Training¡­¡± said Arthur trembling. ¡°Yes every night, magic training.¡± ¡°Magic Training?¡± he asked stopping his trembling. ¡°Yes,¡± I said demonstrating the exercises we usually did. He stood there dumbfounded and after I showed him he said, ¡°Alright I understand but you have to stop this when you get older. Prince Zed has a fianc¨¦e, as his knight you are to stop anything like this from happening.¡± Alex nodded shyly hiding his face and said, ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°He understands,¡± I said, ¡°Anyway why are you here?¡± ¡°Oh yeah right,¡± said Arthur as he recovered back to his usual self, ¡°this message came for you.¡± He walked towards me and I turned on the lights of the room. The room¡¯s lights are made from magic and so with just a thought I can turn it on or off or just dim it a bit. He handed me a letter with a wax seal of the Rigel Royal Family, a Ravenex, bowed and left closing the door behind him. I opened the letter and began reading it said: Dear Zed, I¡¯m sorry to hear that the class was like that but there is nothing we can do. The fear of magicians is something we can¡¯t just get rid of within our lifetimes. We can do things to alleviate it but we can¡¯t get rid of it. Your refusal of the Magus shocked me but if that is your decision I will support you. Know though that since you refused, all the human mages outside of the school will hate you for it. The Magus is a respected group that is almost a guarantee of becoming a member of the Magic council. By disrespecting them, you disrespected all the mages in the human lands. The situation in the southern lands is being taken cared of by Rico. I understand your concerns about Rico and will look at them but I don¡¯t think they are true. I have known him for a long time and I entrust you, my children, to him if something ever happens to me. I hope you and Sasha get along well. She needs someone like you to protect her and keep her safe. Your loving father, Aaron Rigel Father does not believe me about Rico but then again I may just be jumping to conclusions. The fact that I disrespected the whole mage community made me worried as I didn¡¯t mean for something like that to happen. The last words that my father added about Sasha tells me that he seems to know something about their issue. He probably won¡¯t tell me but since she was my fianc¨¦e I would already, without a doubt in my mind, protect her. I placed the letter next to Malakir and started to sleep. Alex was staring at me when I was reading the letter but after seeing me put it away and started to sleep he also did too. Many things happened that day. Vayasu visiting us just after we met Kaiser. Getting my father¡¯s reply and within it telling me to take care of Sasha. Arthur barging in was a small issue but I should remind him that he needs to knock before entering tomorrow. I¡¯ll be lenient as the message came from my father and he probably thought that it was urgent. In any case, something was going to happen soon. And it would involve Kaiser and Sasha in the middle of it. ----------------------------- Answers to some questions I received, copied and pasted the question : Q: Blessing of Julia increases regeneration by 200% isn''t his current regeneration really low? A: 200% just means that he has twice the regeneration increase. Q: About Blangvina and Magus blessings that is just with stats where a normal person gets 1 stat he gets 3 right a 200% increase? for Intelligence and wisdom strength and Agility/vitality? correct me if im wrong but i think with those blessing he should have way higher stats in comparison to his fellow students even alex i mean take what alex has and then add 200% A: He would get 2 as 100% of 1 means 1 and 200% of 2 means 2. His stats are high but not as high as Alex''s right now because Alex had training from before. Q: What you are implement already he has a tallent in both magic and combat from those blessings too right? he learns that stuff much faster? and how you gonna increase the stats by age and lvl? A: Yes, he will learn it much faster and the increase in his stats will be by adding age and level and then dividing by two. An average of the two numbers. ------------------
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Chapter 20 - Captured Hello everyone! Here''s the next chapter and hope you all enjoy the small time jump. This chapter will not be a start of tragedy just something that might be tragic. Tragedy usually means someone dying and leaving a scar on someone while tragic just means extreme distress or sorrow... at least in my understanding of it. -------------- A couple months passed by after Arthur gave me that letter. I assured him that it won¡¯t happen again. Alex and I slept in our own rooms after that. Arthur still kept on teaching us swordsplay. I got to the point where I could finally beat Alex once out of every fifty duels. I lost a lot of times but being able to beat Alex every now and then was alright. Alex was doing well in his magic training. Not as impressive as mine but he was still fairly impressive. He also grew a little. He grew a couple inches and was now taller than I was. He also gained a bit more muscle because of the training from Arthur. Sasha was the same as usual. We began dating the week I got that letter. I say we began because we never did before even though we were engaged. There was a small town nearby called Rouland and we went there every weekend, just the two of us¡­ and her father¡¯s guards. We spent each weekend being together and I slowly fell in love with her. Kaiser became famous at school. He was well known as the school flirt and when I told him this he said that he didn¡¯t know or noticed anything like that. Even though he was known as a player, he himself didn¡¯t know and was actually pretty shy about it. Ralph still kept his classes harsh. Running up the mountain was no longer a pain as he reduced the distance but after we would have to swim from one end of a nearby lake to the other and back all the while carrying some sort of floats. It was difficult to swim like that but he made us do it. He increased the number of floats every day so we never got used to it. Incidents such as the fight between the nobles and the commoners rarely ever occurred anymore. If any they were usually about petty things like stealing homework. The closest thing to the fight was when they accused each other of being cheaters. The answer key to some test was missing and the nobles blamed the commoners for stealing it. This resulted in a shouting match between the two and before it escalated it was stopped by the Magus. Speaking of the Magus, they gave me a letter almost the next day after receiving my father¡¯s letter. It had the same content that my father had already told me so I skimmed it and placed it away. In my case, I grew taller and have some muscles developing. Shorter than Alex, I stood at a height of 3 feet and 6 inches. Even though my blessings made me learn combat moves faster it still wasn¡¯t enough to match Alex¡¯s earlier training. I did however manage to use Acolyte ranked spells of all the affinities except for time and space. Adept level was what I was practicing right now. It was a Saturday and Alex, Sasha, Kaiser, and I would be going to Rouland and have lunch there. Right now it was nearly time to gather but I wanted to train as much as I could. I created a nice training spot behind the mansion that I created with magic. I made plateau as high as the trees around me and created a crater in the plateau. Along one side was filled with scorchmarks as it was my target area. I would create stone dummies from the earth and I would hit them with my magic. I was practicing the Adept level spell, ¡®Fire Wave¡¯. I gathered the Fire mana into my hands and when it was enough I casted it. The Fire mana burst into the ground and created a surge of flames headed towards one of the stone dummies in front of me. When it hit the dummy it burst and scattered rocks all around. This particular ¡®Fire Wave¡¯ had Nature magic on it. The Spectrum affinities uses the same mana as the Primordial affinities but with a small amount of Spectrum mana inside. This caused the ¡®Fire Wave¡¯ to have a burst effect. Satisfied, I gathered mana again for a different spell when I heard a voice say, ¡°Zed, its time to go!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± I called back stopping the flow of mana and running to my room. My clothes for the outing were already set for me and I just changed as quickly as I could. I went out the front door wearing a black and blue clean shirt and my new white pants courtesy of Sasha. Alex and the rest were outside waiting for me and as I entered their sight, Sasha wrapped her left arm on my right. ¡°You¡¯re late,¡± she said with a pouty expression. She wore a pink frilly dress and a haircomb made of a jadelike material that I gave her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said, ¡°I was training.¡± ¡°You¡¯re always training,¡± said Alex grinning. He wore a green shirt and brown pants. ¡°Don¡¯t make my sister wait so long,¡± said Kaiser with his hand pointed at me and his face threatening, ¡°I may approve of your engagement but that doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯ll let her go easily.¡± He wore a plain white shirt with black pants. After saying that we all started walking to Rouland as we talked about we could do there after eating. Alex suggested to watch a tournament that they were having. The tournament was a ranking tournament, the only way, a warrior could rank up. Alex and I didn¡¯t bother to do it as Arthur told us that if we would rank up only when he tells us we could. Kaiser suggested that we fight each other at the dome again. Of course saying also that Sasha was not allowed to fight. Sasha got mad at that and punched her brother saying that he was only afraid of losing to her. Sasha, after calming down, suggested that we separate after our lunch and do our own thing. She probably wanted to go sit at our tree and relax there. Since Sasha was my fianc¨¦e, naturally I supported her. Because of that we decided to do what we wanted after our lunch. Alex would go to watch the tournament, Kaiser would go duel some random people, and Sasha and I would go to our private spot and relax. We had lunch at the most popular restaurant in Rouland, ¡®The Knight¡¯s Decree¡¯. It looked a bit rundown outside but inside it rivaled a palace in decorations. Right now we were at the atrium behind the front doors where a counter was in front of us and a woman was behind it. We came up and she said smiling, ¡°Welcome to ¡®The Knight¡¯s Decree¡¯, what may we do you my lords and my lady.¡± ¡°We have a reservation under Rammert,¡± said Alex nonchalantly. Her expression changed to shock but then recovered and said bowing, ¡°Of course, right this way.¡± She left her post and led us through a set of doors through the left. The inside was as spectacular as ever. Sasha and I always started our dates here. The inside was separated into different rooms. Each room only had one table which ensured privacy from anyone. The restaurant was popular amongst couples, families and most importantly nobles. Since they usually catered to nobles, the interior designs would naturally look like a palace. It was owned by a noble who rose to that rank by being a merchant and was indebted to the Rammert family. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Just by using Alex¡¯s family name, we were always able to come here and eat for free. She led us to the Rammert private room. It was made specially for any member of the Rammert family under orders from the owner. It was made to be the largest room in the restaurant and had wonderful paintings decorating it. Vases filled with different types of flowers were to each side of a painting. The center was a large round table that could fit forty people at once. We stat close to each other. Alex sat to my left while Sasha sat at my right. Kaiser took the spot to the right of her sister. Before our host left, we ordered each our food. Alex ordered a steak, Kaiser ordered a fish, while Sasha and I ordered something akin to spaghetti for the two of us. She left bowing and closing the door and we descended to talking. Minutes later the door opened and in came our food. Alex and Kaiser ate with gusto while Sasha and I ate slowly. Soon enough they both finished and said they wanted to get started to what they were doing as soon as possible. We nodded and Alex left with Kaiser. When they left she softly said, ¡°Thank you.¡± I looked at her cute and happy face and I said, ¡°I should be the one to thank you.¡± We stared at each other for some time when bursting in came Alex. We looked at Alex and saw that he was ragged and tired looking. A small trail of blood leaked from his left temple and I immediately stood up going to him and guided him to sit at a chair and asked, ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°They took Kaiser!¡± he said after gasping a bit. Sasha brought her hands to her face and screamed. After making sure that Alex was leaning back to the chair, I ran to Sasha, hugged her while rubbing her back and said, ¡°Its going to be alright.¡± She calmed down after a while and I saw that a crowd was gathering outside our room. I looked sharply at them and they all left. I helped Sasha stand up, looked at Alex and said, ¡°Can you stand or do you need help?¡± ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± he said standing. I nodded and led us out of the restaurant and try to get a carriage to get us home. All the time as we rode back on the carriage I was thinking of who would take Kaiser. I didn¡¯t want to ask Alex yet since Sasha was crying while leaning on me. When we got back, I told Alex to go back to the mansion and helped Sasha to her dormitory. Her dorm mother saw us and took her from me and said, ¡°I¡¯ve got it. Thank you Prince Zed.¡± I nodded at her and ran back to the mansion to question Alex. It was a little over three right now and also a couple hours since Kaiser was apparently kidnapped. When I got to the mansion, Arthur was gone as he had to participate as a judge at the tournament. Alex was in the living room laying down on the couch, one of his arms over his eyes and the other pointed at the ground I stood across from him and asked, ¡°What happened?¡± He recounted to me what happened just minutes after they left. They got out of the restaurant and Kaiser invited him to have a duel. When he said no, Kaiser left running back to the school when people with black robes and cowls surrounded him and took him. Alex tried to chase after them but one of them stayed behind and slashed at him with a sword. Alex dodged but he didn¡¯t notice that he had another sword aimed at him. Alex got hit with the blunt edge on his left temple and he fell rougly on the ground. Alex was stunned for a moment but that was enough for the black robed men to run away with Kaiser. After finishing his story, Alex cried and I left, angry, heading to my room and wrote a letter. I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be able to do this on my own so I had to get help. I had to let the my father know so that I could get help on this matter. I wrote the letter and sent it and made sure that Alex¡¯s wounds healed by casting healing magic and waited for Arthur. My father will definitely help but it would take a while so I needed to get Arthur¡¯s help so that I could do something immediately. It was night when Arthur came back and saw us in the living room. He looked worried and I told him what happened. He looked shocked and he said he would help me. He grew to like Kaiser and his willingness to fight. ¡°I have friends nearby, they will certainly be of help,¡± he said going out the door, ¡°stay inside until I get back. When I do, get ready as we¡¯re going to rescue Kaiser from them.¡± He closed the door leaving Alex and I in the living room. Alex was sleeping on the couch and so I had Chronos lift him up and carry him to his room. While he was doing that I said, ¡°Malakir¡­ why did this happen?¡± ¡°They must¡¯ve found out¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s going to happen to Kaiser?¡± I asked, my eyes moistening. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Are they going to kill him?¡± ¡°¡­most likely¡­¡± ¡°I swear! I will save Kaiser! He doesn¡¯t deserve what happened to him, I will save him! Malakir will you help me?¡± I asked raising my voice and my anger raging. ¡°Its not our problem. This is an internal issue of the Lunaria Federation. There is no reason for you a prince of the Rigel Kingdom to do anything.¡± ¡°Malakir! I asked if you will help me!¡± I said angrily. ¡°¡­ I am your summon. You are my master, anything you wish is my duty to do so.¡± ¡°Then why do you question my actions!¡± ¡°Because this will cause an international problem.¡± ¡°So?! Kaiser is my friend more than that he is my fianc¨¦e¡¯s brother. Illegitimate or not this is my problem as well!¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°So again I ask, will you help me Malakir?¡± I asked my voice a lot more calm but still angry, ¡°I have to save him.¡± ¡°I will follow you even if the world calls you demon.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± I said gathering Ethereal mana around me. ¡°The first spell,¡± I said when the mana was enough, ¡°Advent!¡± ------------ Q: Will there be yaoi? A: No, just a confused Alex, trying to find what he wants Q: Is Alex a girl? A: Alex is a guy -----------------
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Chapter 21 - Rescue Hello everyone, please enjoy this next chapter! I went back to the previous chapters and fixed things to make it easier to read as well as fixed the status screens as some of them needed to be fixed. Note: My semester break is ending so I have to go back to school. The speed of updates will be slower as in I can only update once per day. I will make sure that I get a chapter per day up but any more than that will have to depend on my schoolwork. -------------------- Advent, a spell from the Ethereal mana. There are no Ethereal spells that I can learn. All of them I have to create myself. Advent is a spell I designed that does one thing. It allows me to cast any spell that I know without any preparation. All the mana that I have is converted as fast as possible into every mana type. This is a spell that only I can use not just because I have Ethereal mana, but also because of the training Malakir had me do. Ethereal is really amazing. This spell is merely Acolyte ranked, now that I have some Adept ranked spells, I can cast them at any time I want. I can aslo assimilate with Malakir or Chronos very quickly. I can change combat styles at any time I want. Another thing about this spell is that it has no drawbacks. Since its basically just an unconscious effort in changing my mana it can work at all times. I went to the training room and took one of the short swords there. It was made of steel and was double-edged. The Ashura style can go from a standard grip to a reverse grip. Adding my abilities while assimilating with Chronos, my close combat potential is great. I took the sword with me and waited for Arthur to come back. I barely noticed what time it was when Arthur went through the door. Outside it was dark so I must have waited for hours. Arthur stood exhausted in front of me. I stood up and started to say something when he said commandingly, ¡°Rest, you need it. I¡¯ll talk to you both tomorrow.¡± He left and walked towards his room leaving me there. I complied and walked up to my room. Chronos was sitting in front of Alex¡¯s room and said, ¡°Master Alex is going to be alright. I sped up his health regeneration.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± I said going to my own room. I entered the room and slept. The events of the day finally catching up to me. The next day, Alex, Arthur, and I were sitting at the living room. Alex looked alright for a guy that got hit by a sword on his temple. His eyes looked furious. He wore a silver chainmail with the Rammert insignia, a pointy mage hat with a sword going through it in the middle. Asher was no longer the kitten he was. A small tiger is what he looked like as he laid on the ground beside his master, Alex. Arthur wore the armor that he had when we first met him and held his helmet on his lap. His expression was entirely different than the ones I¡¯ve always seen. He had the eyes of someone who¡¯s killed many people for the sake of the kingdom. I simply wore the school uniform. I didn¡¯t want to wear armor as it will only hinder me and if I need protection from anything, Chronos and Malakir can just help me. ¡°We found where they are hidden,¡± said Arthur his face serious, ¡°They are hiding in an old fortress to the east of us. It¡¯s a short journey on my horse. You two¡¯ll ride with me.¡± We nodded and left to get Arthur¡¯s horse and we sped away outside the gates and headed towards the east. Amidst the gallop, Arthur said, ¡°We will enter through the back. My friends will keep them busy from the front.¡± We nodded as the wind whistled behind us. All three of our faces were furious and anxious as we got closer and closer to our destination. A few hours passed and we saw an outline of an abandoned fort. Around the fort were some trees and so we hid there as we approached closer. We were looking at the back of the fort. It seems to have been constructed with the forest behind it. The use of such a fort was beyond me as it didn¡¯t seem all that defensible. I could see two towers from where we were coming from. A large wall was between the towers and some small windows could be seen there. The sun was down when we got near enough that you could see the windows of the fort so it was helpful to infiltrate. When we got to the rear entrance of the fort, which was an old wooden door hidden near the tower on the right, we heard sounds of fighting in the distance. ¡°My friends must be here already,¡± said Arthur, ¡°quick! Go inside.¡± I tried to open the door but it wouldn¡¯t budge. Arthur broke it down with his body after lunging at it for several tries. Inside was dark as night so I created a small light and made sure that the light was hidden enough that no one in front of us could see it. We crept forward with me in the front with the light, Arthur behind me with his sword out and Alex at the back with a sword and shield that I never noticed until now. I was too focused on making sure that the light couldn¡¯t be seen that I got caught in a trap. It was a pitfall and I fell through the darkness. Arthur tried to catch me but the hatch that hid the pitfall closed before he could. Alex screamed with a look of horror as Arthur tried to catch me to no avail, ¡°Zed!¡± Darkness¡­ that was where I was. I created the light again, not caring what saw. I was in a room filled with skeletons. The walls were dusty and cobwebs were at every corner. Above me was a rectangular shoot with a hatch that I couldn¡¯t reach. ¡°Malakir, did you save me?¡± I asked moving my hands around me as I made sure that I was alright. ¡°Yes. Get ready, there are enemies.¡± I stopped what I was doing and peered into the one area that the light didn¡¯t cover. It was a narrow corridor with steps that led up. I assimilated and merged with Chronos, raised my sword into the Ashura stance and readied my left hand with magic. From the darkness came a black wolf with red eyes as it slowly walked forward. One paw in front of the other, its mouth growling low, the eyes staring at me angrily as if I disturbed its sleep. ¡°A Chaos wolf,¡± said Malakir, ¡°This wolf is able to use Chaos magic.¡± I nodded and stared at the wolf with unblinking eyes and fear. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. This is my first real combat, I thought. I gulped and the wolf lunged forward with its mouth wide open. I stepped close to the wolf and slashed at it with my reverse grip. It knocked the wolf away to the wall where it fell to the ground. It got back up and growled even angrier at me. There¡¯s barely any scratch on it, I thought. It lunged again trying to bite me. I stabbed towards the mouth of the wolf but it closed its mouth and its speed increased. Chaos magic! Its speed increased to twice what it was as it dodged my stab and entered into my stance. Its claws were poised to scratch at my chest when I used ¡®Shift¡¯. The wolf slowed down a bit leaving me with enough time to dodge its attack by jumping backwards. The wolf clawed at the air slowly but then its speed was back again and tried to bite my exposed right arm. I wasn¡¯t fast enough at pulling it back so it bit into my right arm up to the wrist. I screamed from the pain which caused me to drop my sword and I held its head with my left and casted ¡®Fireball¡¯. The head of the wolf burst into flame and it yelped allowing me to dislodge my bleeding arm. I fell backwards to the wall behind me and sat down as I looked at it and there were many bite marks. I began to heal it using magic as I stared at the flaming wolf. It rolled on the floor yelping. The flame spread from the head to the tail within the span of me getting my arm back and starting to heal it. My left hand travelled over my right arm back and forth as the wounds started to close up under the white healing light. The wolf rolled to stare at me with hate in its eyes as it died from my fireball. After healing my arm as much as I could, I stood back up and headed to where the wolf came from. The light I made followed me as I took each step. ¡°Malakir, are there any more of those wolves here?¡± I asked as I walked up. ¡°No, not anywhere near us.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you help me?¡± I asked stopping to look at Malakir who was floating behind me. ¡°You needed the experience and I knew you would be able to handle it.¡± I nodded and continued walking back up. After a while I saw a door at the end and ran up to it. I opened the door and I saw tables with shackles on top of them. Shackled skeletons were hung on the walls and some torture devices were littered on a table to the left. ¡°A torture room,¡± I said as I looked at all the dried blood on the floor, tables and walls. There was no one here but I could hear faint breathing to my right. I looked to where I heard the sound and saw a door. I crept up to the door and opened it slightly. There was Kaiser naked and bleeding a little from the new marks on his body inside a small closet. His breath was a bit ragged as I threw open the door, knelt beside him and cast healing magic on him. ¡°Malakir help me heal him,¡± I told Malakir as I healed his wounds, my hands travelling just above them. Malakir casted a stronger healing spell that enveloped Kaiser¡¯s body and I stopped healing him. The light covered only his body as if in a lover¡¯s embrace and when the light disappeared, all of his wounds were gone and his breathing was no longer ragged. I heard a thudding sound and looked to a door that I didn¡¯t notice. It was difficult to tell that it was a door as it blended into the decorations so perfectly. I was only able to tell since I was much closer to it than before. The door was situated right to the left of where I was on the right wall. It opened and I saw Arthur wielding a bloodied sword. ¡°Zed!¡± he shouted as he dropped his sword and hugged me, ¡°you¡¯re safe!¡± ¡°Nevermind about me,¡± I said getting out of his grip, ¡°I found Kaiser.¡± At that point, I pointed at Kaiser and he left and came back with a large robe. He wrapped Kaiser in it and said, ¡°This¡¯ll have to do. We have to leave now.¡± I nodded and followed him out the door he came in. I saw Alex and a group of people I didn¡¯t know as well as corpses, one of them was naked. ¡°Zed!¡± shouted Alex as he saw me and ran towards me, ¡°I was so worried.¡± He had blood dripping from his left temple down to his cheek. It wasn¡¯t his blood though as there was no wound. He hugged me really tight when he got close enough. ¡°Save the reunion for later we have to leave right now,¡± said Arthur, ¡°You all know what to do.¡± The group of people nodded and Alex and I followed Arthur out of the fort. Along the way, I saw various corpses in different positions and bloodstained walls. Finally we got back to where we entered and Arthur carefully placed Kaiser in front of him as he sat on his horse. Seeing as we didn¡¯t have enough space I separated from Chronos and summoned him. ¡°Chronos, carry Alex and I and follow Arthur back home.¡± ¡°Yes master.¡± He transformed into a a four legged tiger and crouched down. Chronos is really useful, I thought. Alex and I climbed up tiger-Chronos and sat as comfortable as we could over his new tiger body. Arthur galloped away and we followed behind him. As we were getting away from the fort, it burst into flames behind us. The sudden heat caused Alex and I to look and Arthur shouted, ¡°The army will be coming to check since I had to do some obvious movements. This was the only way to make sure that it doesn¡¯t happen again.¡± We didn¡¯t say anything as we just watched the fire cover to fort. Some of it collapsed, leading the forest to also burn. Soon enough the whole forest was burning and we were already far away heading back home. ----------------
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Memories of the Past - The Betrayed Hello everyone, here''s the next side story and hope you enjoy it. Also it seems that I still have one more day of break so the slow pace won''t happen until after tomorrow. Hope you all enjoy this side story. ----------------- There once was a time when seven beings appeared. One of them was called Ongarin, the God of creation, truth and wisdom. The place they appeared in was silent and dark. In his infinite wisdom, he ordered his fellow beings to create a world to fill this darkness. And so they did and they named it Arun. It consisted of one large continent and many smaller ones surrounding it. Though they created the world, it was empty and devoid of life. And so, under Julia, the Goddess of life, reproduction and healing, life itself was introduced into the world. Humans, Elves, and Dwarves lived for a time. After a while, the God of war, death and passion, became bored and so created his favored race, the beastmen. These beastmen ravaged the lands of the humans, elves and dwarves and upon seeing their plight. The God of magic, creativity, and intellect introduced the power of magic. With newfound powers, they were able to fight back the beastmen and subdued them. Upon seeing such fun, Finda, the Goddess of luck, trials and tribulations forced the world into a large trial. This trial caused the world to change and many other events to happen. The world split into five large continents and six oceans. The Elves became High Elves, Dark Elves and Blood Elves. The Dwarves who were above the ground became Dark Dwarves while those below became Stone Dwarves. Some were able to remain as they were and were simply known from then on as Dwarves. The humans that lived in the mountains grew wings to fly with. Those in the forests became part of the beastmen that they subdued. They created many different tribes ranging from the docile rabbitmen to the ferocious tigermen. Of course some humans stayed as humans as they lived in the plains among themselves. The most curious effect though, is the dragon race. Interference caused by Finda caused some dragons to become much stronger and be sentient. Dragons at the time were considered as large beasts but now no longer. There were few of them though so they lived in seclusion and in hiding. These were the races caused by the mischievous Finda. Who caused the continents and the oceans to remain as they are now. The northern continent is known as the Ice Front, an everlasting frozen wasteland, it harbored beasts of unimaginable size and mountains of extreme cold. This land became the favored home of the dragons. The eastern continent is known as the Plani continent. A mountainous and rugged land where the lesser and greater dragons reside along with the winged humans, Blood elves, and Stone Dwarves. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. The western continent is known as the Asura continent. A massive jungle land where a threat is always behind you. Humans, Dark Elves and the Dwarves live here. The central continent is known as the Lunaria continent. A land for all climates. A desert, thousands of islands, snowy peaks and pleasant plains. Most of the humans live here along with the greatest of the dwarven holds and the high elves. The southern contient is known as the Junx continent. It is a mysterious land surrounded by shadow and darkness. A land touched by &%& as it was his resting place. Oh yes, &%&, the God of Power, Destruction and Ambition. A story that took place after the creation of Arun. It is said that he coveted the throne of Ongarin. Which god or goddess said so is lost in time. When Ongarin heard this, even if it was a rumor, it was enough. Ongarin confronted &%& and attempted to kill him. Sadly, a God cannot be killed by another God. The most he could do was scatter his remains. As luck or as Finda would have it, &%&¡¯s remains landed on Junx and it became as it is now. A land shrouded in darkness. And so it was said that the world was removed of an evil God. But little did they know that &%& had left something for the world and to the Gods themselves. &%& vowed to find the one responsible for his death. &%& was Ongarin¡¯s sibling afterall. They were inseparable and whoever manipulated Ongarin was to be killed for Ongarin would never do this to his sibling. And so he sent his messengers, the Ravenex, birds with two heads, six wings and twelve tails, to search for clues to find whoever manipulated Ongarin. Alas, the unknown hand maneuvered and slaughtered them all. Having nothing to do but to gather power he looked for another way and saw it. A light from some distance. &%& knew that there was someplace in Arun that just had that same light only dimmer. &%& used his whole power to bring that bright light towards the dimmer one and fused them together. Satisfied, &%& slumbered and could only hope that what was done would work. That child would grow powerful and find the unknown hand for that hand was not a god¡¯s. Who then among the pantheon is actually a devil? ---------------------------
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Chapter 22 - Repercussions Hello everyone! Enjoy this next chapter! --------------- The sun was rising over the horizon when we reached the academy. The gentle and soft rays of light welcomed us home after our ordeal. Alex and I each took turns sleeping on the back of Chronos as we went back. One of us sleeping while leaning on the back of the other one. Arthur didn¡¯t sleep at all during the night. He made sure that Kaiser wouldn¡¯t fall down during the ride. Kaiser didn¡¯t wake up at all. He slept as soundly as a person could on a galloping horse. We didn¡¯t slow down as we entered through the gates of the academy. The sound of footfalls echoing through as we went to our mansion. Arthur stopped and dismounted quickly and gently carried Kaiser inside the mansion. I woke up Alex and we all went back inside. Chronos went back to his usual form. We saw Arthur lay Kaiser in the living room. He then turned towards us and softly said, ¡°Go to sleep, I¡¯ll explain to the principal why you three won¡¯t be at school today. So just rest.¡± He then went back to keep Kaiser company and we went back to our rooms. As soon as I entered my room, I half ran half walked to my bed and fell down on it. I slept immediately and soundly as the exhaustion of my first real fight and the trip took over. It was late in the afternoon when I woke up next. I got up groggily as I had been sleeping on my stomach. Thinking of my stomach, I immediately got hungry so I went downstairs to see if there was anything to eat. The mansion was quiet as I went to the dining room. I got bread from the basket we keep on one corner of the room and went to the living room just across. Arthur was nowhere in sight but Kaiser was still there sleeping peacefully. His wounds from the night before were gone and he still was wrapped in those robes that we found. I immediately went to my room and got some clothes for him to wear when he woke up and went back and placed the clothes near him. I watched him sleep peacefully and content when the door opened and in came rushing in Sasha. ¡°Kai-¡± she started to shout but seeing him peacefully sleeping and me signaling her to be quiet she stopped. She nodded and walked to sit next to me. The seat that I took was for one person but since we were still five two people could fit perfectly. When she sat down I held her next to me with my right arm. She leaned into the embrace and cried silently. After a while of talking she softly said, ¡°Thank you¡± a lot of times. Everytime she did so, I simply just said, ¡°I know.¡± We sat there quietly for another hour when Kaiser stirred a little. We instantly got up and rushed to his side. He kept on moving very small movements until finally he opened his eyes and cried. I left Sasha to take care of his brother and went to get him something to drink when the door opened. Wouldn¡¯t you know it my father the king came in along with Arthur at his side. My father was wearing a blue and white long sleeved collared button shirt and black pants. His hair was curled similarly to those from the Renaissance period in Earth. His expression was serious as he walked towards me and said, ¡°I know everything.¡± I tried to block his view of the living room and said, ¡°Everything?¡± ¡°I know what you did last night and I also know that you have found the prince of the Lunaria Federation,¡± he said his expression unchanging. He knew now, even though we tried to hide it. I glanced at Arthur but he just stood there not saying anything and not trying to do anything as if it was not his problem. I led them to the living room. Sasha and Kaiser heard the sounds of our feet and looked towards us. Both of their expressions were fearful as they also know that they have been found. ¡°I am not here to do harm to your brother,¡± my father said as he held his hands up as if in a comforting gesture. ¡°Arthur, take Zed to his room and then come back here.¡± ¡°Yes, your majesty,¡± said Arthur as he took me away. I looked back and gave Kaiser and Sasha an encouraging smile as I was led out. Alex was outside his door when Arthur and I got to the hallway connecting our rooms. Arthur led me to my room and Alex came in as Arthur left. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± asked Alex with a clueless expression on his face. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said sitting on my bed. Another hour passed and my father came into the room. He looked tired and worn out as he did so. Alex got up and bowed to my father and was about to go head out when he was stopped by my father, ¡°You need to hear this as well.¡± Alex came back to sit next to me and we both looked at my father as he walked closer to us. ¡°We are now taking care of Kaiser. We will protect him until he finds a place in the world,¡± he said when he stopped in front of us. I understood what my father was saying and said, ¡°As a pawn to get their lands?¡± I poured every ounce of hate that I was feeling into those words. My father just announced to me that my friend was going to be a pawn to be used and disposed of. Worse he is the brother of my fianc¨¦e! ¡°Yes,¡± he said with not a hint of warmth in his words. ¡°How could you do that to him? Hasn¡¯t he suffered enough?!¡± I shouted. ¡°He is the prince of large track of land that we need to have. Even if he is a bastard son he is still the rightful heir to the throne,¡± said my father in an angry tone. ¡°It is fortunate that you found him in this academy and fortunate that he is here. You two will make sure that he never leaves your sight.¡± I kept my anger in check as he just ridiculed my friend. I also kept Alex from trying to do something. When I was calm enough I said, ¡°Father, is there no way for you not to do this? He is my friend and I do not wish harm upon him.¡± ¡°This is all that I can do. The other countries cannot make a move against him anymore but he still needs to be protected.¡± ¡°Keep him in your sights,¡± he said as he walked out and closed the door. ¡°Alex we are going to do as my father wishes,¡± I said through gritted teeth. He looked at me shocked but then he saw my face. It was filled with anger and hate. Anger at the command that I had to do and hate that my friend will be used as a pawn to be disposed of at the earliest convenience. ¡°We will protect Kaiser, even if it is from my own family.¡± Alex nodded and we both silently went outside my room. Arthur was standing there and he knelt with both knees to the ground and his head down towards me and said, ¡°I was duty bound to tell your father, my king. I caused this situation so please, give me any punishment you deem fit.¡± I was mad but not mad at Arthur. I knew that if he did this, he didn¡¯t mean to do it so I said, ¡°Stand up, I know you didn¡¯t mean to. All this happened because we weren¡¯t strong enough. If this whole situation didn¡¯t happen, my father would not have interfered.¡± This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it He stood up and bowed and said, ¡°Thank you for your kindness, my lord.¡± We then all went to the living room. Kaiser was sitting with Sasha next to him. His expression was devoid of hope and Sasha was filled with worry. I walked up to Kaiser and placed one hand on his right shoulder causing him to look up and said, ¡°I will protect you, even from my father.¡± His eyes closed and he shook his head and was about to say something but I interrupted him and said, ¡°I will protect you. You¡¯re as much part of my family as Sasha is. I will not let you be a pawn.¡± His despairing expression became hopeful. He looked to his sister and her face was full of smiles. He looked towards Arthur and Alex and they too were smiling. ¡°We¡¯ll protect you too,¡± they said confidently. He cried and said, ¡°Thank you¡± repeatedly. Siblings alright, they do the same thing, I thought. As he cried we all huddled together comforting him. When exhaustion took him, I told Arthur to take him to my room and let him sleep on my bed tonight. Arthur did that and Alex went to the kitchen to make dinner for us since we haven¡¯t had anything to eat at all that day. This left Sasha and I to remain in the living room. After a while of silence she said, ¡°Thank you for saying you will protect him. I know its imp-¡± ¡°Its not impossible,¡± I said interrupting her words, ¡° I will do everything I can to protect your brother and you as well.¡± She hugged me after a while and started crying. I half carried half walked her to a nearby seat and we sat next to each other. She then began telling me about her past. Even though we¡¯ve been dating for a couple months now, she never did talk about it before and I never pushed the issue. She was considered worthless by the nobility in her homeland. They all thought that she could not rule and so had sent their own sons to be her fianc¨¦. Her father was also of the same opinion but he was reluctant to let her be married of to some noble¡¯s son because he wished to continue his own royal bloodline. Since I was of royal blood, he allowed my father to have myself and his daughter to be engaged. Her father had hoped to be able to manipulate me since I will be attending Asmodeus Academy where royalty has no power. She knew about his plan because he had told her before she got to the academy and met me. She kept it secret because she was told not to. But then meeting Kaiser and finding out that she had a brother that no one wanted alive made her confused of what to do. After telling me about her past I just hugged her tighter and said, ¡°I¡¯ll protect you.¡± She then proceeded to cry some more and I just held her tighter. I knew that I had just made a promise that would linger for a long time. Both our families have schemes in the shadows and I have people to protect from those schemes. They wouldn¡¯t dare to do anything to me as I was an important piece within their eyes but Sasha and Kaiser were expendable for them. Alex even was probably also an expendable pawn for them. I never knew that I would be involved in such trouble but since I am now, I have to do all that I can to protect those that I love. I have to protect Sasha from her father, Kaiser from both our fathers and Alex from my father. When she stopped crying, I carried her to the couch where Kaiser was sleeping before and laid her there making sure she was comfortable. I watched her sleep soundly and I said, ¡°Malakir¡­¡± ¡°Yes master?¡± ¡°Give me everything you know,¡± I said commandingly, ¡°I need to have the power to protect them. As I am now, I am powerless. Even if it is painful, even if it is difficult, I need to do it.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Malakir!¡± I shouted loudly enough to not wake up Sasha. ¡°There is a process¡­ as luck would have it there is a full moon outside that is required right now.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go,¡± I said moving to go outside. When we got outside, Malakir said, ¡°Follow me.¡± I followed him and I walked with Chronos who was waiting outside in his tiger-form. Apparently, Chronos can only change how he looks once per day so he has to remain in this form for a little bit more time. Malakir led us to a small clearing that I never noticed before. In the middle was a cut down tree stump and small rocks littered the edges. ¡°I had Chronos create this in the past,¡± said Malakir, ¡°in the hopes that you will decide whether to use it or not when you are older. But if you are determined then dismiss Chronos back within you and sit on the stump.¡± I did so, dismissing a summon was like absorbing the whole being into myself and locking it away, and walked to the stump. It had a cleanly cut flat surface and sat down. ¡°I do not know what you will be experiencing as this is a spell that was recorded but its effects are unknown. All that was recorded is that it will make you powerful in the shortest amount of time, only a handful have passed. Are you sure about this?¡± ¡°Even if I have to go through hell,¡± I said with my face serious. ¡°Then you migh get your wish,¡± Malakir said as he started glowing white, ¡°for those handful, have called it hell.¡± He then started glowing black slowly, then yellow, purple, brown, orange, all sorts of colors one at a time. Then the chaning colors sped up and I could barely tell the colors apart. My eyes were wide open at the sight but I held my breath and just watched as I knew that this was the spell working. The surroundings started to change color as well. The rocks on the ground each glowed a different color from each other. Then veins of light connected the rocks all around me. Soon the ground started to give off light that was enough to blind anyone looking at it but surprisingly I wasn¡¯t bothered by it. I could barely see anything though through the light. Then a sound, similar to rolling thunder, sounded all around me and the light disappeared. I felt that I was no longer sitting but rather nothing. I saw nothing, heard nothing, my senses were gone. I panicked but I couldn¡¯t move. My whole body was frozen and I couldn¡¯t do anything. Suddenly a small red light was lit in front of me. I couldn¡¯t tell what it was as it was too small but I thought that I saw some wings. "Hello," said a deep voice, "welcome to Hell." ----------------
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Chapter 23 - Stillness of Hell Hello everyone! Thank you to all who rated, favorited and followed. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I will be adding links to the next chapter and previous chapters once I figure out how to which should be tonight. ------------ I looked all around me for the voice. At least I thought I looked around as I couldn¡¯t feel my body moving. ¡°Over here,¡± said the voice to my left. I looked to my left but there was nothing. ¡°Not there, you¡¯re too slow. I¡¯m over here now,¡± said the voice with a hint of a laugh. The voice was coming from the right now so I looked there and still nothing. We kept on doing this for a minute or so until I just decided to ignore it and looked at the red light. ¡°Really? You¡¯re no fun, I¡¯ve been stuck here for centuries and then you come along and here I thought I would enjoy myself but now you¡¯re ignoring me,¡± said the voice as if it was pouting. I stared at the red light trying to make out more of its features as I ignored the annoying voice. ¡°Alright, I won¡¯t make fun of you anymore,¡± said the voice, ¡°How¡¯d you get here anyway?¡± I looked behind me as that was where the voice came from and started to speak but I couldn¡¯t. I couldn¡¯t feel my mouth opening nor hear it and I couldn¡¯t even tell if I was speaking at all. ¡°Speak with your mind, idiot,¡± said the voice. I didn¡¯t know how to speak with my mind so I just thought the words I wanted to say. ¡°I was sent here,¡± said a different voice. It was said almost immediately as I thought it out. The voice that spoke it did not sound like mine. It sounded more mechanical and hypnotic. ¡°Sent by who?¡± said the voice. ¡°My summon, the codex of magic, Malakir.¡± ¡°You summoned the codex?¡± said the voice with mild surprise. ¡°Yes,¡± I said nodding, or tried to nod. ¡°Interesting,¡± it said softly. ¡°What do you see?¡± it asked after a moment of silence. ¡°I see a red light behind me in a mass of darkness.¡± ¡°So this is what Hell and I look to you.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I am the red light and Hell to you is a place of darkness that strips you of your senses.¡± ¡°Hell changes in appearance depending on what I think it should look like?¡± ¡°That is the reason why it is unexplored. Oh and by the way, you are not dead¡­ yet. You have merely been sent to what you call Junx, the southern continent of the world known as Arun.¡± ¡°But Malakir did not use teleportation on me. It didn¡¯t look like space magic as it seemed to be all types of magic at once.¡± ¡°That is because it is a special kind of magic.¡± ¡°Please explain.¡± ¡°The gods, having feared their own creations to rival them. Which just goes to show you the creator is just as much afraid of his creations than his creations are of him. The gods kept hidden what they call ¡®False Rank¡¯.¡± ¡°¡®False Rank?¡¯¡± ¡°The eleventh rank, the rank that their creations can achieve to rival the gods themselves.¡± ¡°I need to reach that rank!¡± shouted my mechanical voice as I forcefully thought those words. I wanted to attain power that would rival the gods themselves to deter anyone from harming people I care about. ¡°A mere five year old wishes to get that rank?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°¡­ why not? I can give you that rank. I¡¯m bored in this continent anyway,¡± said the voice nonchalantly. ¡°¡­ are you planning something?¡± I asked questioningly, ¡°no one will do something like that without any price to ask.¡± ¡°Of course there is a price, but I won¡¯t tell you what it is. You¡¯ll know what it is when you do it. It¡¯s not something you have to find or do because I know you will do it anyway.¡± I was still skeptical and asked, ¡°Really? I can¡¯t believe you will do it.¡± ¡°I swear upon my name.¡± ¡°What is your name anyway?¡± ¡°They call me Devil, Satan, Lucifer, and many others, but that is not my real name. My real name is something that has not been uttered in a long while. They might¡¯ve even forgotten,¡± he said sincerely, ¡°but you do not need to know my name. Call me what you will for now.¡± ¡°Alright so how are you going to make me reach that rank?¡± ¡°Well first off, I need to know what you are capable of.¡± As he said that, the surroundings changed. From the darkness light shone and revealed that I was in a strange forest. The trees looked nothing like I¡¯ve ever seen. They stood at the highest around hundreds of feet tall. The tallest ones had a seemingly large circumference. They had long leaves almost a feet long. The branches were thicker than my body¡¯s arms and legs combined. The bark of the trees were of a dark purplish hue. The light slowly dimmed as if it was conforming to the forest that grew around me. Small grasses grew near my feet and around me. They had small thorn like spikes at their edges. I slowly began to feel things as well. The rustling wind, the smell of the forest, the taste of my own mouth as I also began seeing my body. It was the same as the time that Malakir sent me, only I wore different clothes now. I wore a dark purple robe with a small golden Ravenex on the left shoulder. ¡°Welcome to the Nameless Forest,¡± said the voice to my right. I looked there and saw a swirling mass of darkness. It spun around like a galaxy and in the middle of it was that same red light. It was smaller this time so I wasn¡¯t able to tell any details. ¡°Here, I want you to look for something.¡± ¡°What do I have to look for?¡± I asked my voice back to normal. ¡°Just walk and you will know what it is,¡± said the darkness. ¡°That does not make any sense at all!¡± I shouted angrily. ¡°It makes perfect sense so just go and look for it,¡± said the darkness commandingly. Seeing that the darkness was not going to stop until I did what it asked, I just walked randomly behind me. I decided that if I was going to be looking for something, that I will find that something as far away from this crazy darkness as possible. The grass crumpled as I walked over them. The only sounds that could be heard was my footfalls and the occasional gust of wind that rustled the leaves. My surroundings didn¡¯t seem to change as I walked but I knew it did as the darkness was no longer behind me. Before long, I started to feel lost as the area around me never changed and nothing else was going on. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. I started to panic and ran back to the darkness. Even if it was crazy and annoying, it was better than the silence of being alone in this strange forest. I ran and I ran but even when I took less the time that I was walking from before, I never seemed to change places. I was completely and utterly lost. I started to hyperventilate but after it started I began to calm down. There should be a way for me to find my way here, I thought, Magic is all powerful and is only limited by my own imagination. I have to make my own spells. I started to think of ways that I could find my way. I thought of things in my old world that I could use here. I thought of sonar and began trying to make a spell that would do just that. I had to think of which type of mana to use and combine them. Since sonar was sound, I chose wind mana but I had to think of some way to see what is sent back. I focused my mana all around me. Since I know what the surroundings look like I should be able to compare it. I had thought of sensing the mana around me to be able to see even with my eyes clothes. Since everything has mana no matter how small, I should be able to see. Adding the fact that my mana is naturally almost pure mana, I should be able to tell exactly what the figure is by finding out the differences. I slowly became aware of the mana within the ground, then the grass, and even the trees. I became aware of a radius of five meters around me, then ten, then a hundred, then a thousand. After reaching that, I began to distinguish the many different mana within a radius of five meters around me. The ground had an abundance of earth mana but it also had fire, water, wind, and surprisingly, void mana. The grass had water, earth, wind, and form mana. The trees had water, earth, wind, form, and inner mana. This made me think that each plant had water, earth, and wind within them. I stopped sensing the area around me as I had an unexpected thought. Things created by Form mana have no life, it may look like it but any living being created was only similar to a corpse. This was what happened when I first started to use Form magic. So what would happen if I also added the mana within it, I thought. I created a blade of grass similar to the ones on the ground. I added mana into it by storing the type of mana in the same places as the ones on the ground. After creating the plant, I became exhausted as a lot of mana was used to create it. I planted it on the ground and I sensed it create roots. The plant was alive! I thought, I can¡¯t let anyone know about this. After testing that, I returned back to sense as far as I could while my mana regenerated. When I reached a thousand meter radius around me, I could sense all the mana within them. I then changed the sonar spell that I created to have this detection ability and I finished creating it. I named the spell, ¡®Wind Sight. It was casted with Wind mana with Arcane mana that told me all the mana it came into contact to as well as return to me what exactly the objects around me look like. I gathered the necessary mana around me and a small gust of wind surrounded me. Then the wind swooshed away as far as my mana sense could reach and I saw that there was some sort of mana sphere surrounding me. It reached a radius of ten meters with me as the center. The sphere was made of space mana and was the cause of me returning in the same spot. I tried to think of a way to get rid of it with Void magic. I didn¡¯t want to touch it because it might teleport me and Void magic is used in close distance. I had to think of a remote way of using the magic. And I began practicing. I practiced it on a small blade of grass in front of me. I used void magic to disintegrate it when it was in my grasp and I watched the mana affecting it. The Void mana devoured the mana inside the grass and then the grass slowly lost its own form. I tried it again on a different blade of grass as I changed the amount of Void mana within it. I experimented with different combinations of Void mana and other types of mana to influence the the disintegrating effect. It ended with me combining Void, Nature, and Arcane mana. I could now use Void magic from afar as well as direct it to only disintegrate what I want. I called the spell ¡®Dispel¡¯ as it could even affect mana itself while not affecting what the mana is infused in. I used the spell on the sphere surrounding me and it broke. I was finally free. It slowly remade itself and I ran straight to a side that hadn¡¯t started fixing itself and got away. I kept on running and I found the darkness again. ¡°You¡¯re back,¡± it said as if it was expecting me. I paused to catch my breath and sat down tiredly. ¡°Did you find what I told you to find?¡± I nodded and said, ¡°Yes. I found the different types of mana in everything and how to get rid of the mana.¡± ¡°Good,¡± it said joyfully, ¡°Now we go to your next lesson.¡± The surroundings changed from the forest into a snowy wasteland. A tall mountain with no end in sight, completely covered with snow. A strong blizzard blowing through and starting to freeze me. There was nothing in this world but the mountain, the darkness and I. ¡°Learn how to live in this environment. It will change abruptly all the time.¡± And then the snows melted quickly and an extreme heat replaced it. The mountain began leaking magma as it slowly fell down. The sudden change in temperature made me feel weird and so I began to make myself colder with Wind and Water magic. As I began that, it became snowy again and I changed the temperature around me with Wind and Fire magic. ¡°Welcome to the Mountain of Frost and Fire,¡± said the darkness as it seemed to laugh. --------------------
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Memories of the Past - Her Test Hello everyone, thank you for all of your comments and reviews. I will make sure that I take them into account for the future chapters. I cannot change the past chapters unless I decide to rewrite them. That being said, please enjoy this side story on Sasha. --------------------- The Lunaria Federation. A land constituted of 8,000 islands interconnected by portals or by bridges. The central island known as Grix is where the capital, Ashumaru, is located. The island has tall hundred meter trees surrounding its borders with is beach. It is a natural defensive wall of trees that were magically altered to resist fire. These trees are what protects the Lunaria Federation¡¯s many islands from outside assaults mainly from pirates. Within this island is a castle. It stretched up almost as high as the trees surrounding it. The castle was made of tiered floors. The first floor was the largest while the topmost floor, the 7th floor, was the smallest. All the floors above the first had sloping roofs in between the lower floor and that floor. These roofs were tiled black while the outside walls of the castle were colored red with more and more golden designs as it travelled up. On the seventh floor, standing next to a window is a girl who was no more than five years of age. Her name was Sasha Imadul, Princess of the Lunaria Federation. She had just found a secret. Something she was not supposed to know. She was to be used as a pawn. She had heard her father¡¯s advisors talking about it and she knew that there was no way for her to do anything about it. She was standing at the window looking towards the only city of the island that surrounded her castle. She was to take her affinity test that day and she was very excited when she had woken up but then she heard this news and it saddened her. It took away her excitement of the day and she was very disheartened. ¡°My lady,¡± said a female attendant that went up to her while bowing, ¡°it is time.¡± Sasha merely nodded and walked with her attendant gazing towards whatever distance she could not minding where she would be taken. Soon, she was brought to a room in the basement. This room was hidden and unknown to everyone except the royal family and their trustees as it was used for a specific affinity test. An affinity test is usually used to determine what someone¡¯s affinity is but this test does a different one. It is used to give a special affinity. A special affinity is similar to the Legendary affinities as they cannot be tested regularly. A specific device must be used and this does exactly that. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Special affinities are affinities that are unknown or cannot be categorized easily. These affinities are also the most mysterious and the general population does not even know that they exist. If they did, they would merely abhor magic more for these affinities are ¡®special¡¯. Some would say that a Special affinity is the same as a Legendary affinity but they would be wrong. A Special affinity is gained only through one¡¯s bloodline. If one did not have the right bloodline they could not have it. Sasha already knew what to do as she was left alone in the basement. The testing instrument was an orb placed on a podium with three curving points that nearly touch on the tips. They surrounded the orb in three directions leaving only one open for her hands to be placed onto. She took the test to see if she did have the affinity for it and she lost her consciousness. When she woke up she looked at the orb with half open eyes as she struggled to get up and saw a white mass of energy with wings behind it. It was the symbol for her bloodline Special affinity, Divine Light affinity. She knew everything about this affinity. It had aspects of the Holy, Spectrum, and Ancient affinities. She had to hide her affinity from others as it was a rule for her family. She stood up and walked silently away from the room. As she left, the orb dimmed and it looked as if the winged mass was sad as even though it could fly, it was trapped to fly within the confines of its cage. And then the light disappeared and the orb was silent again. ---------------
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Chapter 24 - Mountain of Frost and Fire Hello everyone and thank you for continuing to support this story that I''ve written. I really appreciate the comments and reviews, no matter good or bad, as well as the followers, raters, and favorites. I hope you all continue to support me in the future as well. Some of you may also have noticed that I started writing another fiction too. I started writing this other one as to keep my creative juices flowing to make much more stories. Its called Arun online and it is a VR story. I hope you all take a look at it as well: http://www.royalroadl.com/fiction/1649 And with that please enjoy this next chapter. --------------------------------- The snowy wind blew around me blanketing the mountain and the surroundings in snow. The magma slowly became solid making the mountain seem larger. ¡°Feel free to make yourself at home, I¡¯ll be back to check on you after a year or so,¡± said the darkness as it slowly disappeared. ¡°A year!¡± I exclaimed incredulously, ¡°How long exactly is this process going to take?¡± ¡°An evening. It seems you need an explanation, time flows differently here. I am in control of what happens, I am sending you back to where you were sent once I am done and it will only seem like an evening has passed. As such, you will not age here nor will you change. This way you can train to your heart¡¯s content and worry not about the little things.¡± ¡°How can I trust you?¡± I asked suspicious about it. ¡°Because there is no other way,¡± it said as it disappeared completely. I was then left behind at the foot of a mountain with a frozen wasteland all around me. I guess I should find myself some shelter, I thought. I looked at the mountain more carefully and saw that it was filled with crags and stony ledges everywhere. There were some mounds of snow and ice spikes hanging down everywhere. I don¡¯t think it would be a good idea to use the mountain as it leaks magma from the top, I thought. I looked to the wasteland around me and it was filled with snow. The ground itself looked to be very chaotic as small to large cliffs were everywhere. I saw a cliff that looked more hospitable than the others. It had a curvature to it as I looked within. There was not a lot of snow on it as the cliffs blocked most of the snow. I went towards it and saw it get larger and larger. Inside, it looked to be as large as a fifty meter long gymnasium. There were less snow near the cliff face so I made myself a shelter of cave in the middle of the area. I carved myself something akin to an ant¡¯s nest only for a five year old with my Earth magic. It took hours to create myself a bedroom, common room and dining room. The rock was made of a special material that made it a bit hard to command it with my magic. I had decided to leave detecting the mana until after I was able to live here. Having finished my new home, I had to think of what to eat. I didn¡¯t see any animals nor any plants so I had to create them. I decided to form myself a pig with Form magic and I inserted it with different types of mana. Earth, water, wind as well as holy mana I inserted and created a plant creature that looked like a pig. It was inedible and leaked a strange green blood that I had to clean up and so I threw it outside my cave. Holy, water, wind, and form mana I inserted next and it became an ice sculpture that looked like a pig that seemed to split apart and make another copy of it. Seeing it as a failure, I again threw it out. After two tries, I was already running out of mana even if I tried to manage it completely. I tried one more time and this time I added Holy, water, wind, and spirit. The pig I created with Form magic then turned into a healthy pinkish color but it still stood there. I killed it and red blood flowed out making me satisfied that I made a pig from mana. Of course, it couldn¡¯t move or anything and the killing of it made me think that I had made the first slaughterhouse of this world. Of course there may have been some already in existence but this one I made had no resisting animals. After killing it, I merely burned it as I had no experience in preparing an animal to be eaten. I cooked it until I had thought it was enough with my fire magic and ate heartily. There was no taste as I ate the pig but it was to be expected since it was the first time I cooked a live animal. After eating my fill, since I made more pigs and experimented on them. I was actually able to make a pig that tasted like goat. That made me confused as to how it happened but this made me have an idea of making easy to form food to taste like anything I want. After my experiments, I felt the mana around me with Wind Sight. The rocks were filled with Water mana and Earth mana with Fire mana gathering below it. After observing for a while, the Fire mana suddenly bursted and replaced the Water mana. The air around me also changed to become hotter and when I went outside I saw the mountain leak magma again. I felt the mountain and I was able to notice that there was a balance of Water mana, Earth mana, and Fire mana all around me. The magma in the mountain was superheated earth from the top of the mountain that melted down and made the mountain much thicker when it cooled down. Then the fire mana inside makes the mountain thinner as it heats the summit and the cycle repeats. The mountain was an environment of extreme cold and extreme heat in a cycle of renewal. I tried to imitate it so that I would be able to control the temperature within my own body. While I was in extreme cold, I would heat up my body from the inside and when I was in extreme heat, I would cool myself from the inside instead. I did this for days until it became second nature to me. It was already a month since the darkness left me alone in this wasteland. I was able to create a seed that could taste like any meat I wanted. I also was in the process of creating a seed that was very nutritious as I was a bit worried in that regard. My body stayed the same but it looked as if it was a bit more resilient to temperature changes. Like the darkness said, I didn¡¯t grow at all since my hair stayed exactly the same. I finished the seed that I was making. It was a green seed that I hoped would have all the nutrition needed for a human. Since I had no idea what mana would be the most beneficial I simply added Arcane and Nature since Arcana mana when added to things increases a specific ability or effect that one wants. Nature mana when added to things will increase the power of an effect. In this regard, I added Nature mana into the Arcane to increase the benefits the Arcane mana would add to the seed that had Water, Earth, and Wind mana. Since I had no better guinea pig, I ate the seed and immediately I felt a burst of power within myself. I felt strengthened from the seed, I felt my mana recovering at an extremely fast rate and my fatigue from sitting down disappeared. An empowerment seed, I thought, instead of a nutritional seed, I made an empowerment seed¡­ it works I guess? I succeeded somehow, the results were not what I expected to happen but it should do something nutritionally since it empowers and I never felt any negative effects. I decided to then search around with my mana since the last time I did this was right before I started regulating my own temperature. The environment around me changed. It felt still the same wasteland and the mountain as well but now there was a mass of mana all around me. I slowly crept outside my own cave and saw them flying through the air. They were dragons! Dragons of a myriad of colors of blue, red, green, gold, silver and many others. When I looked to the ground there were also more dragons there. These dragons did not have wings like those in the sky but rather instead they had bulkier frames and even though they were far away, I could feel the shaking of the ground even if slightly. All of these were of course not of the Dragon race but rather looked like a group of greater and lesser dragons. Lesser dragons are as large as a small mansion but are more beast than men. Greater dragons are as small as a small hill and were of a higher intelligence than the lesser dragons. I watched them fly and climb the mountain ignoring the changing temperatures and making their homes within it. They were creating large caves for them to live in while those that can fly made caves as well as a area to land and take off. There was a clear separation of those that can fly near the top while those that cannot at the bottom. I went back into my cave and used Wind Sight to understand these dragons as much as I could. They stayed there for months and soon it would be nearing the time that the darkness will come back. During that time, I have had conflicts with the dragons. One time I was cooking a rather large pig as I was getting tired of eating seeds when a young lesser earth dragon visited my cave. It was large enough to only get its head inside of the cave as it tried to get the pig. This lesser Earth dragon had yellow brownish spikes and scales on its head. Its eyes were like large crystal balls as they stared at me. It had small fangs that leaked out of its large mouth. It saw me and the pig and it opened its mouth to lick its lips with its tounge. Feeling that I was going to be killed by this dragon I casted ¡°Earth Spikes¡± by manipulating mana in me as well as the surrounding mana. I learned to be able to use the mana around me when I wanted to cook the pigs. The Earth spikes that I casted came from all around the cave as it pierced the neck of the dragon. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.It roared as the spikes slowly dug into its scales but it wasn¡¯t enough. I then casted another spell ¡°Stop¡±. This was a time magic spell that I had not much proficiency in so it was only able to stop it for not even a second. But that was enough as it was stopped from struggling long enough for the spikes to get inside the scales. It roared and started thrashing about as it slowly died from the spikes killing it. It couldn¡¯t move anymore and just slowly died as it stared at me, it was unable to do anything as the spikes caused it to not be able to get its head out of the cave and that the cave was too small for it to try to get its claws inside. When it finally stopped thrashing, its head slumped down and died right in front of me. This was another creature that I had killed only this time I had no wounds as I was able to kill it from afar. I buried the dead dragon right where it was by using earth magic and fixed the spot that it had thrashed in. I went outside and saw that the dragons were actually living right where I was now. They all stared at me, large purple dragons that had scales that flared behind it. Large black dragons with veins of red all around it. More of those yellow earth dragons right in front of my cave and white bony dragons that flew in the air with their flimsy looking wings. Each dragon was staring at me and I knew that I had to run. There were hundreds of them and I had merely only killed one dragon due to luck. I ran back inside my cave and then they all started coming after me. I could feel the shock of the ground and I wondered why I wasn¡¯t able to hear them before. I was way inside the cave that I had no other way to run to and I could hear them tearing down the walls of the cave trying to get to me. Having no other way out, I started creating a new spell. I had to be able to affect a large area to get all of the dragons nearby. I had to make up a spell that would kill them as soon as possible once they were hit with it. I frantically thought of many different mana combinations and I settled on one. I clasped my hands together in front of me, both hands parallel to the ground then I combined Wind, Dark, Holy, Space mana and casted it. Furious winds gathered around my hands and small distortions could be seen within it, as if it was resonating with the raging winds. I slowly increased the space between my hands and more and more wind gathered and more and more distortions appeared still small in scale but more. My mana was draining at an alarming rate and when I almost had no more mana, I instantly clasped my hands together releasing the wind all around me. The cave walls slowly turned to dust revealing the surprised expressions of the dragons as well as glee to finding me. Their expressions turned to fear as they slowly disintegrated by some unknown force. Even the white dragons that were a hundred meters up in the air were affected and they too disintegrated. No sound was heard as they just disappeared quietly. It was a surreal experience as they died slowly without any knowledge of dying. This effect was different than the ¡°Disintegration¡± of void. Disintegration causes the target to break apart just like what I was seeing but it was different as what I was seeing now, even their voice was affected. This event made me think that each mana was interconnected. Even though I already knew that there was some connection between each of them, this just revealed to me that I had the possibility of recreating a specific affinity if I combine the right affinities. That was a couple months ago and soon it would be the time that the darkness would come. I¡¯ve been living underground since that incident, experimenting with the mana and creating my own new personal theories as well as spells. I had grown more powerful ever since the darkness left me here. I captured some dragons every now and then to experiment my newly created spells and I also created myself some armor as well as weapons from their bodies. For armor, I used their bones as well as scales to make myself lightweight but durable armor that protected me from their attacks. I had to use form magic to manipulate it as well as some Inner, Space, Time, Dark, Light, Holy, Arcane, and Nature mana. The armor itself was black in color, thanks to my Void magic in being able to separate the colors from the Earth dragon¡¯s scales, it covered nearly every part of my body from below my neck to my feet. Small blue spikes protruded from where I could bend my joints allowing me different ways to attack. For weapons, I made myself a sword and a sort of mana gun. The sword was made from the bones of the Earth and black dragons which were Chaos dragons. The bones of Chaos dragons were too aggressive as when I had tried to make them into armor they started to constrict my body and I had to generate enough wind between me and the sides of it just to get out. The sword was small to fit my height and could reach my elbows if worn reverse grip. A line of red separated the bones of the Earth and Chaos dragons. The side of the Chaos dragon was sharp while the Earth dragon side was dull. In this way, the aggressive nature of the Chaos dragon will be able to deal much more damage than the Earth dragon¡¯s. A small pommel guard protected my wrist made also from the Earth dragon. The mana gun was a prototype that I created even with its own holster. It had a long barrel for a pistol as that was the type of gun I created. This mana gun was made for close combat and would only be used if I had to. This would be my secret weapon. From this gun, I can cast several different spells at once but only if I had prepared them beforehand. Currently, I prepared one of my own personal spells onto it called ¡°Haunter¡±. It was a combination of Dark, Nature, Chaos, Inner, and Spirit mana. Once cast, it would send out a fast moving orb of black mana that once it hits its target the target would start hallucinating and attack itself. The hallucination would be the target being devoured by what it fears the most and only being able to notice it and nothing else. Also with my armor, I enchanted it as well and it is able to absorb mana from all around me, increasing my own personal mana over the limit. The armor also allowed me to slow time for two seconds as each piece of armor only allowed me to slow time for a quarter of a second. The armor would also repair any small damage made to it which also allowed me to be able to change its size to fit me once I get older. The sword was also enchanted to be able to make my body move faster for as long as I keep pouring mana into it. For now though I could only keep it up for one second as the mana cost was too high. I was unable to find a way to reduce the mana cost during my experiments but perhaps I would be able to do so in the future. I had just tested another of my spells on a captured black dragon when I heard a large explosion outside. I ran outside of my underground retreat and saw that the mountain was gone as well as the dragons. ¡°You¡¯re alive,¡± said a voice all too similar from behind me. I looked behind me and saw the darkness once more. ¡°It seems you learned many things during this one year. One more should be enough and I will bring you back,¡± said the darkness as he changed the scenery once more. The wasteland turned into a grand arena like area. There were seats that stretched as far high as a thousand meters and I was right in the middle of a stage that was surrounded by these seats. The stage was filled with blood and the smell of death was apparent all around. The lighting was red just like the sky which had a hint of black all over it. Spikes ringed the hundred meter wide stage clearly meant to make sure that whoever was inside the stage could not get out. Beastial roars rang in the air and suddenly the seats were filled with shadows that had no form. Large shadows also appeared on the stage where I was, only instead of an innumerable amount, here there were nine of them. ¡°Welcome to the grandest and most famous form of entertainment that Hell can offer you! Welcome to the Hell Arena where your bloodiest, most gruesome fantasies are fulfilled and this is all thanks to your champions, the Nine Generals of Hell!¡± shouted the darkness as if he were a game show host. Cheers and applause rang from the shadow audience while the large shadows just stood there looking just like a mass of shadow with no form. ¡°Here is the challenger, Zed Rigel. Will he succeed the trial that the ruler of Hell has given him or will he disappoint and become just another part of the darkness?¡± continued the darkness that called itself the ruler of Hell. ¡°You mean, these large shadows were¡­¡± I started to say as I pointed to each one of them. ¡°Yes they were also in your position,¡± said the darkness joyfully, ¡°I am bored easily so this is my only form of entertainment. Do this and survive and we both will give each other what we want. Or else¡­ I could use another shadow.¡± He started laughing from there and I just stared at the shadows and wished that I was fighting the dragons instead. ------------------------
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Chapter 25 - Opening Night Hello everyone, I hope you all enjoy this next chapter! -------------------- ¡°Anyway¡±, said the darkness, ¡°these nine generals I¡¯ll give to you if you beat them all as your summons. I will also give you some things from Hell that you won¡¯t find anywhere else.¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t know if I can trust you on that,¡± I said eyeing it. ¡°But there is no other way but to. Also, you may have not used your other summon as you wanted to train but for now you might want to use it.¡± I called Chronos out and he appeared back in his usual form right beside me. ¡°A timekeeper¡­ not bad you might make this interesting then. Well enough talk! You will fight each general one at a time. When you subdue it, it becomes your new summon. After each fight, I will allow you to rest until you get ready. If you lose or die, I will turn you into one of my shadows,¡± it said while I imagined it sneering if it could. ¡°Ninth General of Hell, Galahad makes his appearance!¡± it shouted as it disappeared. I heard a rumble from behind me so I looked at it. One of the shadows that was surrounding me slowly changed from just a mass of shadow into some form and the shadows disappeared. It changed into a human covered in silver plate armor. All around him floated swords of different shapes and on his back were two large claymores. He wielded those claymores and took a stance facing the tip of the swords to me. ¡°Aren¡¯t they supposed to be mages!¡± I shouted. ¡°I changed them, his magic was good but not enough. So I made him use swords instead, he had the build for it so it just made sense,¡± answered the voice of the darkness. ¡°Anyway¡­ Begin!¡± it shouted as large cheers and applause rang around me. Galahad leaped towards me and I immediately casted Assimilate and Merge on Chronos and ran away. I had barely dodged his sword swings when he got in range by dodging to the left. I turned around and saw that Galahad was already coming towards me. I shifted Galahad¡¯s time with my magic and my armor which allowed me to get inside Galahad¡¯s opened defenses. I slashed and stabbed my sword, which was like a dagger in size for now, at him but there didn¡¯t seem to be any effect. Having his speed back, Galahad dodged while bringing one of his swords to hit my exposed back. I used one of my new spells Magic Shield to block it. Magic Shield was a spell comprised of all the mana that I had complete control over and turning them into a spherical shield that surrounds me. It has complete defense to anything as it was built with multiple layers. The downside is that I was only able to use this spell for one second for a complete shield. The shield that I used was a manipulated Magic Shield as it only protected the area that his sword would hit, minimizing the mana that I had to use. Having blocked the blade, Galahad was now ten meters away from me and I started casting another of my spells, Distortion Binds. The space around me started to shift as strange colored chains appeared out of nowhere and sought out Galahad. Galahad tried to run away but he was caught. The chains bound him to the ground and made his arms unable to be used. Having been sure of my victory, I smiled but just then countless blades started pouring down at me. I had forgotten about his floating swords. I dodged and created walls out of the earth and Magic Shields as I couldn¡¯t slow down time around me so soon. Time and Space magic had restrictions of use, if I had used them consecutively I would have ripped the dimension apart causing something that I would not have been ready for. This knowledge was a result of my experiments with the dragons which caused the mountain to not have any more snow or fire. Galahad was freed because of his swords that continuously attacked the chains making me have to think of another way to beat him. He started running towards me and surrounded me with his swords. He inched closer and his floating swords also did. Then the all of the swords started glowing, then the swords started getting connected together encasing me in some kind of sword net. It was getting disastrous and so I had to use one of my self labeled ¡®Forbidden Spells¡¯. I started gathering the mana I needed all around me as I stretched my hands out as if courting death. The air slowly got colder and windier as I brought my hands to cross over my body. When my hands touched my body, the air got had a mixture of heat and cold and strong winds and then stillness. It was silent and quiet, I couldn¡¯t hear any of the swords or Galahad as he got near. When the silence was almost deafening, I spread my hands again and a massive explosion occurred with me right in the center. This was one of my ¡®Forbidden Spells¡¯, Primordial Burst. It gathered all the opposing elements and forced them to collide with each other at the final moment. This would then cause total destruction to a set area depending on the amount of opposing elements. When the dust settled, the arena was untouched and the shadows still remained, but Galahad was nowhere in sight. ¡°Sad to see you kill him but they don¡¯t die anyway so who cares! The winner of the first round is Zed Rigel!¡± said the voice. Boos rang out all around me as one of their generals just lost to a five year old kid. ¡°Galahad is now yours to command. His true form is actually a sword, he would be much better than that sword you have right now,¡± said the voice as the space distorted in front of me and a crimson sword appeared that would fit me just right. I took hold of it and I heard a deep strong voice say, ¡°I am Galahad, the Sword of Hell, use me as you see fit master.¡± I put my old sword into its sheathe and wielded Galahad. ¡°How will you be useful in a fight?¡± I asked Galahad. ¡°I have the ability to increase the might of your spells as well as your speed, master. While wielding me, I can also create swords to act as shields or as weapons to hit targets from afar.¡± I nodded thinking that my battle potential will have grown because of Galahad. ¡°I will now give you the option to rest or continue.¡± I thought about it but seeing that I haven¡¯t had any problems and that Chronos¡¯ assimilate and merge were still active I said, ¡°I can continue.¡± ¡°Alright then let the Eight General, Molx, make his appearance!¡± The shadow that was to the right of where Galahad had appeared from changed. The shadow grew in height to reach almost fifty meters as it took a large muscular broad shouldered humanoid upper body with a cloudy almost wispy lower body. The head had three eyes with one eye perpendicular to the other two in the middle. Its skin was blue and it had a white bushy beard. Golden rings lined his joints as his only clothing. It looked exactly like a blue djinn. ¡°Galahad what can you tell me about Molx?¡± ¡°Nothing, I have no idea master.¡± Molx raised its hands and sent out blue flames to rain around me. I dodged them all but the flames did not seem to emit heat. Suddenly, a fist appeared in front of me and I was punched all the way to the edge of the arena. Luckily, Galahad¡¯s swords appeared behind me just in time to stop me from hitting the spikes. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. I stared at Molx and started running to him when it disappeared. I naturally slowed down but then I felt my whole body being burned and punched away again. I twisted in the air to look at the Molx that appeared behind me and extinguished the fire by lowering the temperature leaving behind my momentum for Galahad to stop. Sure enough, his swords caught me and I was safe again from being impaled. I finally figured out that Molx can teleport but sadly I had no way to battle against it just now. I casted a modified Wind Sight to keep on going until I stopped it just to be able to detect where Molx was. Sure enough, Molx no longer could hit me with his punches. After several punches, Molx stopped trying to punch me and instead punched the ground. Cracks started snaking from the ground that he punched leading towards me. I jumped away from the cracks and fire erupted just from where I was. It broke the arena? Even one of my ¡®Forbidden Spells¡¯ wasn¡¯t enough to break it, I thought. Since the eruptions were easy to tell I was able to dodge fairly well. When nearly the whole arena was filled with these holes of fire, it stopped punching the ground and waited there unmoving. Thinking that this was my chance, I sent a wave of swords made by Galahad towards it. I infused these swords with my own Lightning Dragons making them much stronger. It smiled and brought its fist to pound the ground and instantly a strong rumbling resounded around the stage. In all of the holes, enormous pillars of black fire sprouted and devoured the swords that I sent towards it. These pillars then snaked down towards me and I lost a path to escape. Seeing the dangerous situation that I was in, I frantically started casting one my ¡®Emergency Only Spells¡¯. This included spells similar to the one when I killed all of those dragons before. I gathered Time, Water, Wind, Space, Void, Chaos, Arcane and Dark mana as I brought my right hand to look like I was about to grasp something. Within this hand a small ice shards started to gather. A bright white mist started leaking out from my hands surrounding me in a cool embrace. Right before the fire pillars reached me, I closed my right hand which then released a cool gentle breeze for me but a disastrously cold and merciless wind to my targets. I targeted the fire and Molx so they would be the only ones hit by this spell I called, ¡°Ice Age¡±. Just like the Ice Age, the pillars froze and broke and started disappearing. The sight of it was beautiful as the world in front of me slowly broke and revealed the smiling face of Molx as well as its slow change into fear and anger as his attack didn¡¯t do anything to me. The merciless wind continued and slowly, ice spikes formed from where I was standing to all directions around me. Everywhere the spikes touched, it would be coated in ice. Molx tried to flee but he didn¡¯t have anywhere to go. Just like his pillars of fire from before, my Ice Age would hunt him down, freeze him and break him. Soon enough the whole Arena was covered in Ice but it didn¡¯t affect any of the other shadows. Molx had no where to run anymore and struggled to fight against the Ice Age. His body slowly turned to ice as he struggled making a very nice ice sculpture for me. I didn¡¯t have time to appreciate it because just as he was finally turned into an ice sculpture, he broke into tiny pieces leaving only a small brief wind and the remnants of ice that had trapped his feet. The ice slowly melted and was absorbed by the Arena. It also got repaired back into how it was before Molx made cracks on it. When the Arena was finally back to how it was the darkness said, ¡°The winner is Zed Rigel!¡± More boos came and some shadow orbs came flying into the arena but was prevented from coming in by some strange shield that I never noticed. ¡°Why do you keep on completely destroying my shadows?¡± asked the darkness as if it was pouting. ¡°Because they want to kill me.¡± ¡°Fair enough. I¡¯ll give you a day¡¯s rest to take a look at your new summons. That being said, you cannot leave the arena.¡± As he said that the shadows disappeared, leaving me alone in the arena. ¡°Molx is now your new summon. Molx¡¯s true form is a ring similar to Galahad. I¡¯ll see you tomorrow.¡± ¡°I, Molx, am the Gatekeeper of Hell. Use me as you see fit master,¡± Molx said in a gentle tenor of a voice as a ring appeared and landed in my palms. The ring had a black diamond gem on the top while red chains in the form of a double-helix looped around it. ¡°Molx what is it that you can do?¡± ¡°I am able to command the spatial vectors of the world. I can make them converge and separate. This is what allowed me to break the Arena even if slightly. The flames I use are cosmic flame. By having me as a summon, I give you the ability to use pure Space mana as well as command over the cosmic flame.¡± I was impressed at the ability of Molx. Molx had great potential when it comes to fighting whether in close range or far away. Since I now had two more summons, my rank would have increased but I was too tired to do so right now. I wanted to go to sleep as I have had two fights back to back. Since I couldn¡¯t leave the Arena, I made myself a home from the ground beneath me. It took longer than it should to make a simple one room house as the ground was not exactly made of pure Earth mana. It was chaotic and there was some parts of it that was just bizarre and demonic. I guessed that it was the demonic energy that exists that I have no control over and just made sure that the house I made was built out of mana only. The house was simple enough that it only had one room and a small dining room. Since it was too small, Chronos had to stay outside. Inside, I made more of those seeds which I will now call Battle Seeds and placed them in a bowl on the table. After exhausting my mana I felt exhausted a bit but I still had some stamina. I wondered a bit about that and thought, Is there a way for me to convert my stamina into mana? It¡¯s the same kind of energy only stamina is like physical energy and mana is similar to mental energy. Having no other thing to go on, I tried to convert my physical energy to mental energy. Nothing was happening as I didn¡¯t even know what the correct flow was. Giving up on the idea for now and thinking of asking Malakir about it when I came back, I went to go to sleep on the bed. --------------
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Chapter 26 - Gifts, and Battles, and Rewards, oh my! Hope you all enjoy this next chapter! ------------------ I woke up and saw that there was a dark red sky outside. I didn¡¯t know how long I¡¯ve been sleeping but at the very least I was rested. Since I had no need of the old sword that I had, I made sure to make some gifts to give Sasha, Kaiser, and Alex. Arthur is strong enough that I don¡¯t need to give him anything. The dark red sky turned into a brighter shade of red when I had finished. I made Alex a necklace with the power to heighten his senses as well as make his body much more durable. The necklace was made of the earth around me and I managed to add some dragon bones to it. In the end, the necklace had a claw shaped pendant that had a black lustre on it. For Kaiser, I made him two bracers similar to mine. I had no idea how to recreate the effects of my Ravenex bracer but I compensated as much as I could. The bracers would resist magic used on him to a certain degree and would also suppress poison or disease. It¡¯s not complete immunity but just a stronger one. The bracers would also allow him to use Holy magic to a much stronger degree. I designed the bracers to look and feel exactly like his skin so that no one would be able to tell that they were there. I had a hard time deciding what to give Sasha. I knew that I was going to give her the best one that I could possibly make right now but I had no idea as to the form that I would give her. I at least knew that I would give her something that increased the power of Holy magic, protect her from a sure death, and something that would summon the nearby spirits to aid her. I had the capability but I was bothered as to the form. I could give her a ring, but that would not work exactly right. It came down to a decision between a bracelet and a necklace. The bracelet won the debate and I made one to look like it had golden filigree as a chain and it had a rose design. I ate a Battle seed to recover my mana and talked with my new summons. The most useful merge was with Chronos as he was able to allow me to slow down time. With my armor, I¡¯m much more able to make sure that I avoid the most dangerous of hits. Molx had the most useful assimilate as the stat increase was much more compared to Chronos. Galahad actually was much better but if I Assimilate with Galahad, I lose the chance of having Galahad summon infinite swords. It also did make me lose Galahad as a weapon so I decided that until I get another sword, I would continue using the sword I made. I had finally reached the Intermediate level but I can¡¯t use the new spell for summoning. I can¡¯t just create a spell for it because the spells of an affinity uses pure mana of the particular magic. I can recreate the effects but for magic like summoning, it will be much weaker. The same can be said for pure Inner, Spirit, Void, Form, Healing, Holy, Chaos, Ethereal, Time and Space. The others can be recreated and still be in full power but any of the other affinities and it had to be purely that mana or else it will not be as powerful. It was an hour after I had finished making things for my friends when the house I made disappeared and the darkness appeared beside me. ¡°Stop playing house¡­ its boring, fight the shadows it¡¯s a lot more fun,¡± said the darkness. The shadow audience appeared once more and the seven remaining generals slowly appeared. ¡°Now then, the Seventh General, Cassiopeia, makes her appearance!¡± shouted the darkness after they all fully formed just as yesterday. A shadow to my left slowly grew and revealed a large four legged silver scaled monster with spiky tails and a long scaly neck that arched up to show a dragon head. As this spectacle was happening, I used Assimilate on Galahad, Merge on Chronos, Wind Sight, and Advent. I was going to go at them in full power from here on out. ¡°Begin!¡± shouted the darkness as it disappeared. I jumped forward dodging her tail as it surged towards me. She reared back her head and breathed fire. I froze the fire with my temperature control spell, Tempera. Having extinguished the fire I used, Ice Age. Since I had Advent on me, all of my spells were always primed for use and I wanted to end this quickly. The ground around me slowly turned into ice and she became an ice sculpture. Just as the ice was about to break, she broke free and was just about to bite me when I Shifted her and slowed her down with my armor. I had Molx make Cosmic Flames surround my sword as I cut off her neck, killing her. The body shuddered a bit and I looked at the cut. Instantly it separated and it grew two more heads. A Hydra! I quickly dodged the attacks of the two new heads. One of them breathed fire while the other poison gas. The combination of the two burned me a bit but I was saved since my armor was made from the bones of dragons, it was naturally resistant to fire. Seeing that my magic had no effect on her and that cutting off her neck is a bad idea, I had to quickly find a way to kill her while dodging all of her attacks. As the tail came for another swing at me, I slashed at it which successfully cut it off. But just as soon as I did, it grew two more which knocked me flying to the edge of the Arena, about to hit one of the spikes. Molx saved me just in time by bending the space of the spike making me avoid the sharp spike which might have resulted in my death. Since also her tail could regrow I had to sheathe my sword as I was afraid of what else might grow if I also cut if off. I was able to dodge much faster but this fight would not go anywhere if I couldn¡¯t kill her. Having no other recourse, I pulled out my gun and held it in both hands. I didn¡¯t know if this would work but it should since the spell that the gun will release is much faster and stronger than the one that I could cast. I dodged a tail swipe to my feet by jumping. Then another one aimed at me by slowing it down and creating an air cushion to jump off from. A head was about to bite into me but I used a Magic Shield to push it away. Then came another head and I aimed my gun at its open mouth. I pulled the trigger, knowing that my fate would rest on what happens next. I was pulled back because of the recoil and a large orb of purple energy erupted and flew straight into her open mouth. The mouth swallowed it and was just shy of hitting me as the recoil allowed me to dodge it. I landed on the ground softly and kneeled on the ground. I looked up and saw the hydra slowly moving towards me, eyeing its prey as it smacked its two sets of lips. Its over, I thought, but just then the hydra looked like it¡¯d seen a ghost. It looked at its body and breathed out poison gas and fire which didn¡¯t do anything. It then started biting itself over and over as the parts regrew. It even bit one of its heads off but then the head just regrew and it continued eating and whacking itself with its tail over and over. Hours passed by as I stood there watching the hydra tried to kill itself. It now had 144 legs, 200 tails and 500 heads. It had grown to heavy for it to stand and so it just laid there as it mutilated itself. I had grown to be scared of the spell Haunter. The sight in front of me as it kept on going for hours is now ingrained into my head as the most gruesome sight to behold. Stolen novel; please report. The hydra¡¯s body was then surrounded by darkness and it disappeared. The darkness then appeared in front of me and said, ¡°¡­ you broke her.¡± ¡°You broke the Broodkeeper of Hell¡­ There is no turning back for her anymore¡­ she can¡¯t do her job as a General so we shall now use her as food from now on.¡± I shrugged and he said, ¡°For the feat of breaking one of the general¡¯s of hell¡­ I will give you her egg.¡± A large silver egg drifted in front of me as it appeared out of nowhere. ¡°This will give birth to a summon that grows along with you, but it will only hatch once you are out of here. Since you still have some fights, I will keep hold of this until you win. Also her form when she hatches will be up to you.¡± The egg then disappeared into tiny white dust. ¡°We will continue. The Sixth General of Hell, Shiade, makes his appearance!¡± One of the shadows became as tall as the average human but this one had wings. He had black armor with black wisps of smoke coming out of the slits of his eyes as well as the joints. His wings were black as night as he used them to fly in the air. He had no weapon but his gloves had claws. He swooped down from the air and just as he was about to hit me I slowed down time but he was still coming in fast. I was barely able to dodge his claws but I felt the pain of being scratched. I had dodged his attack by a hairsbreadth but I still felt the pain and blood oozed from inside my armor. It ignored the armor, I thought as I quickly applied healing magic as I ran away. I then casted Tempest, a spell made from Wind, Nature, Arcane, Chaos, Dark, Light and Spirit mana. The spell would create massive tornadoes that would not interefer with each other¡¯s strength but rather increase them. As they touched the ground, lightning jumped from tornado to tornado as each one hit the flying Shiade. His flight would be adversely affected within the storm of the tornado while it avoided affecting me. Shiade was tossed all around as he was hit with the lightning as he steeled himself and flew straight towards me. He looked as if he was riding the winds and I had to do something. I used Distortion Binds to stop him in midair and had Molx use Cosmic Fire to travel the chains towards him. The fire burned Shiade as lightning struck him and charred him to death. Seeing that he was well burnt, I was suddenly hit from behind me and when I twisted, I saw Shiade in perfect health with both claws in an x-pattern. Blood oozed from my back inside the armor and I healed myself as I was pushed forward a bit. The Tempest had already died down and he was finally able to fly freely in the air again. He swopped down towards me one more time and I readied my gun and shot at him. He dodged it and kept on coming closer as I kept on shooting. When he was close enough I slashed at him again but he dodged but then the Assimilate and Merge broke so I Assimilated with Chronos and merged with Molx. I had Galahad surround us with swords pointing towards Shiade and I coated them all with Cosmic Fire. I jumped away and ate one of the Battle Seeds as I was about to run out of mana as Shiade was shish-kebabed by thousands of flaming swords. I distorted the space around Shiade with one of the skills Molx¡¯s merge granted me, Distortion. It was effective as I was able to feel with my Wind Sight and Distortion that he was trying to get away by using something. Having been unable to keep up the distortion, Shiade was able to get away but not after suffering countless burns and stab marks. He was still able to move but he looked much weaker now. We ran towards each other, me with my sword out and him with his claws extended outward as we were surrounded by Galahad¡¯s countless swords once more. I dodged his right swipe by bending down and I stabbed towards his chin. He pulled his head back and swiped with his left. I blocked it with a Magic Shield and used Distortion Binds on him as the swords flew towards us. He was trapped but he still put up a struggle as some of the binds broke and I used Cosmic Fire on him. He screamed from the pain as I jumped back and he was stabbed again and again. I cast the spell, Cursed Empowerment on him. It gathered large amounts of Chaos mana and small amounts of Dark, Inner and Spirit mana. This spell would increase his power by several times but it would come at the cost of a lifespan of nearly ten seconds. The empowerment this spell caused was the strongest that I had observed and also the most disastrous. His screams became louder as his body got stronger at the same time as his pain perception got sharper. He didn¡¯t last two seconds when his shouts finally died and all that was left was a charred corpse. ¡°The winner, once more, is Zed Rigel!¡± shouted the darkness as it appeared. I ignored the boos from the audience and listened to what the darkness had to say. ¡°Shiade is now your new summon and his true form is an eye. He will now bond to one of your eyes so that he can exist outside of hell. My creatures are fragile after all.¡± As it said that the charred corpse slowly changed into dust and it all flowed directly into my right eye. I screamed at the pain that my right eye was experiencing but then after a few minutes it stopped and I heard a voice say, ¡°I am Shiade, Watcher of Hell. I am now yours to command master.¡± ¡°What can you do?¡± I asked. ¡°What I see, you also see. I see the truth of the world and can bend these truths. What once was true is now false and what once was false is now true.¡± I nodded as I looked towards the ground. I could see the Earth mana now and not just see it with my Wind Sight. I could actually see it with my own eyes as it flowed from one point to another. I could also see Earth mana with a sinister movement to it. Earth mana usually flowed solidly and orderly but this one was erratic and moved wherever it wanted. That must be the Demonic Earth Malakir was talking about, I thought. ¡°Now we begin the next match!¡± ¡°Wait I haven¡¯t rested!¡± I argued. ¡°What once was true is now false and what once was false is now true,¡± the darkness said repeating what Shiade had just told me. ¡°This is not fair!¡± I shouted eating one of the seeds. ¡°Its not. I¡¯m just bored and those seeds of yours can keep you going for a long time. Mind giving me one to use for my harem?¡± the darkness asked as one of the shadows changed. ¡°The Fifth General, Marduk, the Gladiator of Hell, makes his appearance!¡± -------------------
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Chapter 27 - Spirit of Hell Hello everyone and thank you all for reading, rating/reviewing, following, favoriting, and commenting. You guys are awesome! We now have someone to thank for proofreading. Give it up for the wonderful Anna! She has kindly accepted the task of proofreading this work that you all love. Hope you all enjoy this next chapter! ------------------- One of the shadows grew shorter until it was the height of an average human. Marduk had white hair, moustache and beard. His eyes looked solemn and old. He wore a tallow robe with red stripes. ¡°I am Marduk,¡± he said. ¡°Begin!¡± shouted the darkness. I jumped towards him with my sword ready to slash through his torso, but he stopped it with his hands. ¡°Child, I do not wish to fight,¡± he said. ¡°Why should I believe you?¡± I said as I cast Distortion Binds, pulled my sword, and ran away. The chains avoided him as he stood there and said, ¡°Because I still retain my humanity.¡± He walked slowly towards me and I tensed. I readied my sword in front of me and prepared to cast spells once he showed any hostility. ¡°I tire of being his plaything; I submit,¡± he said bowing. I raised my eyebrows at this, and the darkness said, ¡°Really¡­? After all this time, this is what you give me?¡± ¡°My fate after this fight is clear: I will lose my humanity and become an obedient lapdog to my new master. But I could not kill a child no matter what,¡± he said, continuing to bow. ¡°¡­ You were the hardest to bind¡­ Fine have it your way¡­ The winner is Zed! Oh and by the way as a punishment for you Marduk. I am sealing your full power until Zed can get rid of it.¡± As he said that, Marduk turned into small glowing countless white orbs that combined to form a necklace. It was made of gold and the pendant was a skull on top of a shield. ¡°He¡¯s yours,¡± said the darkness as I put the necklace on. ¡°Because of how short that fight was, I present, the Third and Fourth Generals!¡± Two shadows turned into giant beasts. One of them became a giant black furred wolf with lightning jumping from its spiky fur, gold eyes and sharp claws. The other was a giant greater black dragon with red menacing eyes and four large wings with blotches of red. The dragon flew in the air as its forked tail drifted back and forth. ¡°The Fourth General, Fenrir and the Third General, Midgar! Begin fighting!¡± As he said that, Fenrir, the wolf, launched forward so fast that I had barely enough time to block with Magic Shield and slow down time. As that was happening, Midgar slapped his tail at my side, forcing me to fly away. Galahad caught me with his swords again, but I still felt the impact; I was going too fast. I twisted around and was already surrounded by swords blocking the attacks from the two generals. Fenrir jumped back and looked to be about to howl, but instead, lightning gathered near his mouth and shot straight towards me. It snaked through the swords and electrocuted me. Paralyzed from the lightning, Midgar breathed fire burning my body. When I was finally able to move, I was still covered by the fire. When it stopped, I was assaulted again with lightning. It continued on and on. I was about to die when I managed to cast Primordial Burst. The attacks stopped, which caused me to kneel down, and I quickly ate a seed. My wounds healed and I no longer felt the pain. I looked up and Midgar and Fenrir were uninjured. I cast Tempest and Ice Age at the same time. Midgar was blown everywhere and Fenrir was frozen and electrocuted at his spot. As that was going on, I cast another spell, Wrath of Lightning ¨C Lance. This created a giant fifty meter long, ten meter high and ten meter wide lance made entirely out of lightning. Intricate designs of lightning covered it from end to end. I aimed the lance at Midgar and fired it. Several sonicbooms resounded and instantly hit him. Lightning assaulted him over and over, inside and outside, until he fell from the skies, hitting Fenrir. Midgar¡¯s corpse disintegrated and Fenrir was released from his frozen state. He stared at me with rage and launched at me but he was already pierced by another of my spells, Wrath of Earth ¨C Lance. Right after launching the first lance at Midgar I had already creted this lance to strike at Fenrir. This lance was of the same size as the first one but it had no ornate designs. It was purely a giant piece of earth in the form of a giant lance that struck fear and killed its targets. Fenrir¡¯s body exploded from the speed and power that the lance brought, leaving his remains as blotches of red on the ground. ¡°You¡¯re very vicious; I want you so bad. Winner is Zed once more!¡± said the darkness. ¡°Their true forms are armor that can change to how you want. They can even be clothes if that is what you wish.¡± I chose Fenrir to turn into boots and gloves because of his lightning speed and Midgar as an armor with a cape. Looking at myself, I was slowly becoming much more powerful. I replaced my self-made armor with Midgar and Fenrir. Midgar became a black plate armor with blue edges and an ornately designed black cape with a dragon imprinted on the back. Fenrir became blue plated boots and gloves with small claws. I looked very menacing; the only thing remaining was a helmet. ¡°Now then, we move on to the second General: Necro, Spirit of Hell.¡± One of the remaining shadows stayed as it was¨Cdark and menacing¨Conly now it shaped itself into something similar to a grim reaper. It held out its skeletal hand and a giant ominous scythe appeared. Having no time to familarise myself with my new summons, I told them to help me as much as they could when the darkness said, ¡°Begin!¡± Necro swung his scythe on the ground, which created a black rip. From that rip, skeletons with a dark purple glow rose. Each one carried either a sword, axe, lance, staff, or bow. He kept on swinging around until I was completely surrounded by hundreds of skeletons ranging from human size to giant dragon size. ¡°Each skeleton has immunity to magic, Master,¡± said Shiade. ¡°Master, release us, we will be able to help keep the skeletons at bay,¡± said Midgar. ¡°Master, assimilate with me Chronos, and merge with Fenrir. Our abilities will be the most compatible in this situation,¡± said Chronos. ¡°I, Galahad, will remain here to protect you,¡± said Galahad. ¡°I recommend releasing Midgar, Shiade, and Molx,¡± said Fenrir. ¡°Trust us master,¡± said Molx. ¡°Release. A spell that only a master summoner can do. You are powerful enough. You need no teacher for this spell. Trust is the most important thing,¡± said Marduk. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Master¡­¡± said Chronos. I nodded and felt everything around me. My summons support me even though I defeated them. The mass of skeletons inched closer and closer. I felt a bond between myself and my summons and I leeched onto it. Feeling that I was doing the right thing, I pulled more and more until I shouted, ¡°Release!¡± Suddenly loud cries rang through the air. Midgar flew in the sky, only this time he had a silver sheen around him. Shiade joined him in the sky, also with a silver sheen. Molx towered above me next to Galahad. Chronos was in his Golem form. Fenrir was crouching in front of me ready to strike. Marduk stood next to me, his hands clasped. All of my summons appeared and they each had a silver sheen or aura on them. A thin line of this aura connected them all to my own silver aura. Fortunately, their appearance didn¡¯t leave me without their true forms. ¡°Release is a spell that reveals our battle form to aid you. This silver sheen or aura you see is Link. A passive ability only Sage ranked summoners have. It strengthens everyone that is connected to the master. The more links there are, the more powerful everyone gets. If the master is injured, the damage is split between all of his summons,¡± said Marduk beside me. ¡°Leave your protection to us, concentrate on defeating Necros,¡± said Marduk as he led me to climb up Fenrir¡¯s back, ¡°I¡¯ll coordinate their efforts. My power is sealed for now so this is all that I can do.¡± A roar pierced the atmospehere and fighting clashed around us. I saw Midgar fighting in the sky with five skeletal dragons. Shiade was darting in and out of the mass of skeletons everywhere. Molx teleported everywhere causing disturbances and fire pillars. Chronos moved very quickly and gracefully for a golem, killing several skeletons at a time. I assimilated with Chronos and another link was established between us. I merged with Fenrir and the same thing happened. I looked at Marduk and he said, ¡°While released, they do not go within you. And you should be able to assimilate with another one as well.¡± I assimilated with Galahad who was protecting us from attacks nearby. When the link was established, I urged Fenrir to lead us to Necros. Necros kept on swinging his scythe on the ground, endlessly creating skeletons when he saw us. He swung his scythe directly toward the ground and a massive rip opened toward us. Fenrir dodged out of the way as Galahad dealth with the skeletons and I cast Lightning Dragons. I couldn¡¯t use any massive spells, as it might hit my summons. The spell passed through him as if he were never there, and skeletons with robes appeared from the rip he made. These skeletons stabbed the ground with their staves and more skeletons appeared from where the ground had been stabbed. ¡°Only Spirit or Inner magic will work on Necros,¡± shouted Marduk in my head. Cursing my luck that I had no readied Spirit or Inner magic, Fenrir kept running around, dodging the attacks of the skeletons and killing them while keeping track of Necros. Necros started attacking us with green energy waves every time he swung his scythe. Continuing our evasion, I tried to think up spells that would affect Necros. I have to think of something that only hits the spirit. Demoralizing will not work and what is the spirit made of anyway!, I thought. Necros stopped attacking and reared back its head. ¡°Not good!¡± shouted Marduk in my head. A reverberating scream echoed in the arena. It made me scream. It felt like my brain was being melted from the inside. I heard roars and screams all around me as my summons were also affected. They stopped what they were doing and dropped to the ground. Midgar and Shiade crushed some of the skeletons when they fell. We were all incapacitated when the screaming stopped and the skeletons kept coming once more. We all suffered their attacks for a few seconds while we got control of our body back and retaliated. I healed everyone¡¯s wounds, but it didn¡¯t do much to our situation. We were in trouble if Necros screamed like that every chance he could get. Hoping that it would work, I healed one of the skeletons and his body burnt itself and became a pile of ashes. Seeing that healing spells might defeat Necros, I set about trying to think of massive area of effect spell of healing. Gathering the necessary mana of Healing, Holy, Nature, Water, and Wind, I raised my hands in the air and cast the new spell, ¡°Heaven¡¯s Rain!¡±. The red sky turned bright white as if we were no longer in Hell but rather in Heaven. Bright white rain drops fell from the clear white sky. Clouds did not form in the air but drops of healing water rained down. My summons and I felt relieved and healed but I felt that my mana was running out. Fortunately, it affected the skeletons and burned them all to ashes. Necros was shielded with his black robe but he couldn¡¯t move. At least I trapped him, I thought, I need a spirit attack. I concentrated Healing, Holy, Light and Spirit mana into my outstretched right hand that targeted Necros. A large white orb containing smaller winged orbs formed in the palm of my hand. I exhausted all of my mana into this one spell that I was creating: Holy Spirit Bolt. I launched the bolt at Necros when my mana was exhausted. It traveled at a speed comparable to an arrow towards him but Necros didn¡¯t move. As it got closer to Necros, I could see that he was a skeleton in the inside. It made sense now. He couldn¡¯t move because the rain would hurt him, and the only reason he was unhurt was because of the robes he wore. The bolt hit him and his whole body burst into blue flames, burning the bones as well as the robe. He let out a paralyzing scream and he threw all caution to the wind and flew straight at me with his scythe. We couldn¡¯t move as he swung his scythe, bathed in flames, toward my body. I couldn¡¯t do anything but stare at him with half closed eyes. When he was too close, I had to look down because it was too bright and then all I heard was a scream. -------------------
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Chapter 28 - Archdemon of Hell Author''s rant: Hello everyone, here''s the next chapter and also the last chapter of this arc. The next chapter after this is after a time skip of 10 years. But before we get to that chapter, I have 3-4 side stories planned to release first. Chapter releases have also slowed down because I''m trying not to overwhelm our wonderful proofreader Anna. Please bear with us as we try to coordinate together better so that I can still continue giving you all a chapter a day. Anyway enjoy this chapter! ------------------ Silence. The arena fell quiet, not a single decibel of sound could be heard. I opened my eyes and saw that I was safe. I looked up and saw green dust on the floor. I smiled but then pain came from my right cheek. I moved my right hand towards it and felt the sting. I winced and looked at my right hand. There was black dust and blood. ¡°Necros died just as the tip of his scythe hit you, master,¡± said Marduk. My summons gathered all around me, each one unhurt because of my healing. ¡°The winner is Zed¡­¡± said that darkness. And I thought I heard him say, ¡°and here I thought I would have another plaything¡­¡± ¡°Necros is now yours. Just like before, choose his form and then we can begin the final fight.¡± I chose Necros¡¯ form as a helmet. It was jade and obsidian in color and it only covered my forehead to my cheeks, leaving my eyes, nose and moth open to the air. At the top, the helmet looked like it was a crown with sapphire gems attached to the tips of nine small spikes. I wore the helmet and I heard a omninous voice say, ¡°I am Necros, the Spirit of Hell. I am yours to command, master.¡± ¡°What can you do?¡± ¡°I control all the spirits of the dead, those that die and wander the world. I am death incarnate.¡± ¡°Is controlling the dead a Spirit magic?¡± I asked. ¡°Not necessarily. Spirit magic controls the spirits in non-living beings. Necromancy, a special affinity, controls the spirits of living beings.¡± ¡°Special affinity?¡± ¡°It is understandable that you do not know. Special affinities are irregular affinities that cannot be categorized within the known system. They are also the one affinities that can only be gained through one¡¯s bloodline or in your case, master, by subduing one such as myself.¡± ¡°I do mean to be rude so I want to start the next fight. Presenting, the one you all have been waiting for! Witness our pride, our strength as our mightiest General¨CAbaddon, the Archdemon of Hell¨Ctakes the stage!¡± said the darkness. The last remaining shadow shuddered at his name. His form twisted and churned as his body grew to an astonishing 100 meters tall. Fire sprang up from his right arm and lightning from his left. Ice formed on his left leg while rocks swirled on his right. Muscles rippled all over his red body clothed in scarlet red and obsidian black armor. The armor was menacing as faces of all the races of the world appeared and disappeared endlessly. His face had a war-crazed look as he smiled, showing his fangs. His eyebrows were furrowed and his eyes looked pleased at the slaughter it would see. Ten horns grew from his head, each one getting longer the farther back it went. Black, menacing energy appeared all over his body every now and then, making his form even more menacing. ¡°Master, each element can switch spots. The ice on his left leg can switch with the fire on his right arm. Only by using the opposing magic can we even hope to injure him,¡± said Molx. ¡°Not to mention he uses Demonic energy,¡± said Marduk. ¡°Demonic energy?¡± I asked. ¡°It is different from mana that magicians use,¡± said Necros. ¡°Its of the same principle as mana, but the spells it creates are much more destructive,¡± said Galahad. ¡°He will most likely use Chaos magic the whole time,¡± said Molx. I was about to ask but Fenrir said, ¡°Demonic energy can use Chaos magic to its fullest. There is no repercussion in using it.¡± ¡°I will make sure that master knows where to hit,¡± said Shiade. ¡°Master, please use the Lord-ranked summoning spell, Adapt,¡± said Midgar. ¡°It should be the same as when master used. Release, correct?¡± asked Chronos. ¡°Yes, you are correct Chronos. Master, please do so now,¡± said Marduk as the darkness yelled, ¡°Begin!¡± ¡°We¡¯ll hold him off!¡± shouted Midgar as he and Shiade flew into the air. Molx and Necros, whom I had already released, jumped forward to help Midgar and Shiade. Fenrir, Marduk, Galahad, and I were left behind as I tried to cast the Adapt. I felt the bond once more and instead of leeching it, I imagined myself becoming one with it. I thought that this would be how I should go about it because of the name of the spell. I felt my body get hotter and hotter as I heard rocks crashing on the ground, the crackle of lightning and the explosions of ice and fire. When the heat was gone and I felt myself at peace, I cast the spell Adapt. Instantly my body felt powerful and the link between myself and my summons grew brighter and seemed to get thicker. ¡°Adapt is a lower version of Takeover. It does not match it in strength, but for now it is a better option,¡± said Marduk. I nodded and shouted, ¡°Let¡¯s take care of him!¡± Fenrir growled and we all headed to join the fray. ¡°Master, the left foot is now fire!¡± said Shiade through our link. I cast Frozen Orb, a normal Water Ball filled with Wind mana, at his left leg as per Shiade¡¯s information. Just before the orb hit Abaddon¡¯s left leg, fire sprouted out and he screamed. Ice spikes then hit the left leg as well and I looked to where it came from. Necros had summoned his legion of skeleton mages and scattered them all over the arena in groups. Each group struck different body parts with the opposing elements while Necros himself sent his green energy waves at Abaddon¡¯s torso. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Abaddon roared and the dark energy gathered all around him healing his wounds. He reared back his arms and the dark energy gathered there. He then brought his arms down towards us and released the dark energy which turned into countless fire balls. I cast Ice Age at those fire balls, but it didn¡¯t have any effect. We all dodged the fire balls as they fell and exploded. I had to rely on slowing down time just so that we could escape unharmed as Galahad could not block each one. We were all scattered around the arena, running and dodging when Abaddon gathered the dark energy once more and made it rain down toward us in small amounts. Each energy amount then turned into swords bathed in flames, surrounded by ice, or coated in lightning. Abaddon kept on raining death towards us, not giving us any time to counterattack or regroup. He¡¯s toying with us!, I thought. I steadied myself on Fenrir and said in our link, ¡°I need to do something, keep him from hitting me.¡± ¡°Yes master,¡± said my summons, and they all used everything they could to protect me. Galahad made sure that I was protected by his swords and Fenrir made sure to keep on running, but the one most useful was Necros, who created shields of skeletons.The rest of them did as best as they could, but they were not as successful as the other three. While they were doing that, I was thinking of how to recreate the result that turned the Mountain of Frost and Fire into a normal mountain. Steeling myself for what may come, I cast Time Stop all around me. This spell caused everyone and everything except for myself to stop for as long as I want. Seeing that my mana was running out, I then cast Slow, Accelerate, Distortion Binds, Reverse, Bend, and Shift all in order. I ran out of mana and the world moved once more and I saw that the Abaddon was feeling the effects of the spells that I used. He looked surprised at the number. He was either stupid or as war-crazed as I thought he was when he moved his arm. This triggered the space around him to change. Cracks started appearing in the air around him and he looked at them curiously. The cracks widened and began devouring him. His whole body was being ripped apart as it was being sucked into at least ten different cracks that appeared all around him. He screamed and he sent his demonic energy towards the cracks but no matter what he did it did not work. The cracks were dimensional and could not be repaired unless it was left alone. This is the result of using many Time and Space magic at once. The first time I saw this result, the Mountain of Fire and Frost lost all of the Fire, Water and Wind mana it had leaving only Earth mana. Abaddon stepped forward and more cracks appeared. My summons and I went as far away as possible from him, watching him and making sure that he didn¡¯t make any cracks in time-space near us. He ignored the cracks as he continued attacking us, trying to take us down with him, I thought. We retaliated by attacking from afar. Midgar breathed fire balls, Fenrir created that Black Lightning strike again. Galahad sent countless swords to rain upon him and Molx used his Cosmic Flames. Necros commanded his newly created army to attack just like us, while he himself used his green energy waves. Soon enough, Abaddon reached his limit and he started to fall down. Right before he fell to the ground, a large rip in space formed under him and swallowed him whole. The rip kept on swallowing even the air around it, dragging us along slowly to be swallowed up. Fortunately, the larger the rip, the faster it repairs itself, and it closed up after a few minutes. All the cracks having been sealed on their own, the arena finally came to another silence. ¡°The winner, unfortunately, is Zed! Abaddon is now yours. Like before, his form is your choosing, but it can only be a weapon.¡± I made Abaddon to be a long barreled black gun with red streaks to replace my prototype. ¡°I am now yours to command, master. My knowledge of Demonic Energy is yours to control,¡± said Abaddon with a gruff voice. ¡°Now that you defeated my generals, how about fighting my lords?¡± asked the darkness expectantly. ¡°No, no more, I need to go back,¡± I said resolutely as I holstered Abaddon. ¡°But going back is so boring! Stay here and kill more things for my enter- I mean for your growth!¡± ¡°I am going back,¡± I repeated. ¡°Alright fine,¡± said the darkness, ¡°Dismiss your summons; it will cancel the Release.¡± I dismounted from Fenrir. Dismounted, my summons lost their release forms and I felt that they were now a part of me. The darkness said, ¡°We begin.¡± A bright purple light surrounded me as I looked down and when I looked back at the darkness again, I asked, ¡°Who are you really?¡± The light intensified as the darkness changed shape into a human looking figure and said, ¡°I am your-¡± I never got to hear the last words. I was suddenly back at the forest that Malakir led me to. I looked around and saw that it was nearing morning and small rays of light were visible. The forest was quiet, and I heard a voice say, ¡°Welcome back.¡± When I looked toward the source of the voice, I saw that it was Malakir, and I said, ¡°I¡¯m back.¡± ---------------
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Memories of the Past - Infancy Hello everyone, thank you all for enjoying my story so much. I love all of you guys. We have a new proofreader that decided to help us, his name is shadow mouse! Everyone thank our Proofreaders, Anna and shadow mouse for a job well done! Hope you all enjoy this chapter! ------------ In the world of Arun, in the Lunaria Continent in the Rigel Kingdom, a young prince was born. He neither cried nor breathed in his first moment out of the womb. After a few minutes, he took his first breath and cried very loudly. Mother held the babe in her arms; he looked frail and fragile, as if a simple kiss would destroy that baby¡¯s adorable face. The babe grew, and soon he could walk. He was curious of everything and cried when he was hungry. But alas, his frailty persisted. As he walked, it was his watching mother''s constant fear that he would fall and hurt himself. This made his family that much more concerned about the welfare of the youngest. Another year passed, and the baby seemed different. He no longer looked at things curiously, but rather, he saw things as if he feared them. Whenever his parents held him, he would freeze and his face would pale, as if he had seen a ghost. The troubled family called for a physician to examine him. The boy ran from the physician upon meeting him and hurt himself by tripping onto the floor. The boy cried from the pain as his frail body experienced firsthand a new kind of sensation. The physician ran to the boy and healed him with his magic. The boy¡¯s cries disappeared and his curious look returned. Seeing that the boy was alright, the physician explained to the parents that the boy was healthy, but was simply shy. This eased the parents somewhat, and a feeling of normalcy returned. After that incident, the boy could be seen in the library, reading books about magic. When asked, the boy said that he could understand it. The parents were shocked that their child could do this and forbade him from doing so again. They were simply scared of losing sight of their frail and weak son. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. But the boy continued studying, and so they had him take the lessons that a prince ought to learn. The boy cried often, as his teacher was stern and cruel. She was an old hag that seemed to take pleasure in punishing little boys. There were guards nearby, of course, for the king and queen couldn¡¯t bear for their son to be hurt. The boy¡¯s siblings would also play with him at times. They would also help him in his studies. His brothers often took him with them to hunt wild animals near their castle. His sisters would dress their brother in many different clothes whenever they could. Sometimes all the siblings would play childish pranks on their servants. It was all in good fun, but as the children matured, their parents became harsher toward them. But their youngest son was spared the strictness. A few years have passed and he was now five. The child was ready to undertake his affinity test. He was excited, as the physician¡¯s cure was the reason that he spend his early childhood learning all that he could of magic. In fact, the very reason that he suddenly changed his demeanor was because he remembered. He remembered himself. But as memory goes, some parts are there, others omitted, and some others forgotten. He remembers glimpses of his past, a cadaver, a ¡®plane¡¯, another world called ¡®Earth¡¯. As time went by he remembered more. The child¡¯s name was Zed Rigel but his name in that other world was¡­ %&%&%& %&%&%&%&. ------------------
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Memories of the Past - Soulmate? Hello everyone, I felt that you guys deserved two chapters released today. I was planning on releasing this tomorrow but I changed my mind right before I went to sleep. Again PR credits to shadow mouse and Anna. Hope you all enjoy this chapter! ----------- She opened her green eyes and sat up from her bed. Her room was filled with pink colored drapery. Pillars of white marble rose from the ground and ringed her bed. Her bed had four posts and a green roof above her. This girl was the princess of the Luna¡¯tesh Kingdom of the high elves. She was the youngest daughter, 15 years of age, finally old enough to leave her kingdom and learn about the world. This was her last day before she had to go to the human lands and study in Asmodeus Academy. Relations with the other races had gotten better, and since she was a member of the royal family, she would learn about how to interact with the other races. She got up from her bed and wore a long pink robe. It perfectly fit her slim figure and easily covered her large bosom. She combed her long, blonde hair gently and softly, as if caressing her lover. Due to her beauty, many suitors gathered around her and wished to establish relations with her. High Elves are marriageable at any age, but she had refused every single suiter. Her wish was to be the same as her older sister, Tanelia, as an ambassador. She wished to be free of the shackles of her world. Her people would call her irresponsible for wishing so, but she didn¡¯t care. She loved her people, yes, but she also wished to find something that she loved to do. Because of this, she begged and begged to leave and attend Asmodeus Academy when the academy finally accepted other races. It had taken years, but finally it happened. After changing her clothes, she went to the balcony and looked to her home. A haze of pure mana lingered in the air; this was a main trait of the Lunar Plains. The land they lived in gathered more mana than it could store, and it lingered in the air as a haze that they all breathed. Compared to the Blood Elves or the Dark Elves, the High Elves lived in the plains where magic was abundant. They lived and breathed next to magic. Their homes, food, weapons, armor, currency -everything - was magic. Their bodies might look weaker and frailer than the other races, but their aptitude for magic was the strongest. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it The princess was one such example. During her test, she actually had Legendary affinity with her Ethereal magic. Her family was amazed, but knew that they had to keep her powers quiet. And so they did. To others, her powers are merely Summoning magic. She did have powerful summons but her main power was Ethereal magic. Her magic was pure power, chaotic in nature. Her willful nature to do what she wanted influenced her magic to such a degree. She had practiced her powers on her own with the help of the magic instructors of her race. Her main mentor, though, was the Archmage, and he taught her all that he knew about her abilities. Her powers grew and grew, but she needed to know more. She had difficulty controlling her powers and was only able to barely control it with the help of those around her. This was one of the reasons why she was able to convince her family of sending her to Asmodeus Academy. For her though, it was more than just this. She felt that something in the Academy was waiting for her, just waiting for her to seek. The sun was now above her and she could hear the shuffling of servants outside of her room. It was now time for her to say her goodbyes to her family. Her name¡­ Elenia Wisteria. ------------------
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Memories of the Past - Unrest Hey guys hope you enjoy the next double release of two more side stories! After these two, we will get right back to the story. PR credits to shadow mouse! ---------------------- The Lunaria Continent had a rough beginning. Wars. Constant wars with the desert tribes, the island tribes, and the plains tribes. Along with the occasional alliances with the Dwarves and the Elves, the Lunaria Continent had seen its fair share of wars. It has since been 10,000 years and now it is the year 5,395. In the month of August, a flicker of a civil war was brewing. The Rigel Kingdom, famed for its Magic Knights as well as the leader of the human nations, had four sectors. The Northern sector was where the Capital was located. It is surrounded by vast plentiful plains as well as mountains and forests. It was paradise for all environmental tastes. The Southern sector was a plains area that bordered the Mustashum Kingdom to its Southeast and the Luna¡¯tesh kingdom to the southwest. This sector was where most of the food from crops were gathered. The Eastern sector was a forest area that was slowly turning into a desert. The Abdul desert, the border of Mustashum and the Rigel Kingdom was growing ever larger. The Western sector was a mountainous region that had only a few paths to its port cities. Further west, would be the Lunaria Federation¡¯s nation. There, in the southern sector of the Rigel Kingdom, was where the flickers began. Quite suddenly and quietly, the food that was stored in the granaries for the winter season, was gone. The farmers went wild and demanded to know where their hard work had gone. They blamed the magicians but then the magicians could never do something like this. The granaries were protected from all sorts of magic spells and no one could steal all of them in such a short order. They began to doubt each other as they never knew who placed food in the granaries and thought that everyone kept their own reapings. This mistrust then leaked to their children and they began to blame the nobility and the councilmen. Their children were na?ve in such aspects as they had shed blood and tears with each other and knew that the other would not betray them. But those in power, they never shed not even a whit of sweat. They doubted immediately and began to hate them. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. It took five years for this feeling to sink deep. No one from outside of the Southern sector knew as this information was kept hidden by some unknown force. It grew in power and spread to the Eastern sector first. Bandits started appearing and the commoners had to sell their family to make ends meet. Slavery ran rampant and the economy stabilized for a time. Another five years passed and the economy and well being deteriorated once more. It now spread to the Western sector and now even the Northern sector knew that something was wrong. The king sent his trusted advisor, the Prime Minister, to see what was wrong and make sure that what he heard was nothing but a rumour or just a small event that simply happened to reach his ears. The Prime Minister came back and all was well again. It had been a rumour and had just happened to the Southern sector for a mere three years and has already been solved. Relaxed, the king turned his eyes away from domestic affairs to international. He was to sign a treaty that would allow all the nations of the Lunaria Continent to go to Asmodeus Academy. No longer would it be a human only school but will now accept all the other races. The Prime Minister on the other hand was pleased. He had done his task successfully and without any trouble. He stood next to his king and watched him as he went about his business. A sparkle or longing would appear on his eyes every now and then but just as it appeared it would be gone. ----------------
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Memories of the Past - Galahad Hello everyone! Here''s the next part of the double release! PR credits to shadow mouse! ------------- There once was a man named Galahad. He was born from a blacksmith father and a tailor of a mother. He grew with the aspiration to be just like his dad. Their family life was kind and perfect. That changed¡­ War. War struck his little village. His friends were killed before him, his parents as well. Only he was saved. He was hidden by his parents under a pile of his own friends corpses. They smiled at him as they were killed by a sword strike through their midsection. Galahad watched his family die in front of him, killed by knights who bore a crown insignia. When the village went still, he crawled out of his hiding place and cried out. He cried for the dead, his friends and his family. He vowed that day that he would kill those that bore the crown insignia. In his anger, he inadvertently used magic and a blood red blade appeared in front of him. It was a beautifully made blade that would one day dance along the battlefield and made its wielder be as if he was dancing through the air. He fled to the forests, to solitude. He trained alone and in 10 years he became a Saint ranked mage and a Knight ranked warrior. His body was built like the mountains near his forest training ground. Scars were all over his body from the times that he had to kill greater dragons that visited him day or night. He set out to civilization and learned of those he had to kill. They were Aurelian Knights. Knights of the then great Kingdom of Aurelia. Needless to say, ¡°then great¡± had a reason. He alone, slaughtered all the knights of Aurelia. Killing them in great droves or through assassination. He was feared all throughout the land and everyone wanted him dead. The enemies of Aurelia though, supported Galahad in the shadows. Aurelia was too powerful for them to openly support him. He was grateful at the chance he was given and soon enough, he was down to the Ten Sigils of Aurelia, their ten greatest knights. Confident in his abilities, he challenged them all, alone. He was brought to near death as his power was not enough. He was too confident and he fled in terror. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. The knights then thrashed the support that he gained which would backfire as even the populace of Aurelia wanted the regime to end. Galahad, beaten and his pride shattered, ran to a ruined castle to rest and recover. He was now 35, he was still young, he could still do the job as all he needed was time to rest. But fate had other plans¡­ He was visited that night by a robed man. The man was cloaked in shadows so it was hard to tell what he looked like. He offered power to Galahad, power that would make him strong, stronger than he was now. Having been humiliated, Galahad took the words of the stranger as if they came from her mother¡¯s breasts. He signed the contract with their mana by binding it together. And this spelled his doom¡­ Immediately, the darkness turned crimson and he felt his whole body being racked by flames as well as cold but there were no flames nor were there any ice around. He looked at the cloaked man and he saw him smile, a red colored smile as if it was waiting to devour him. Galahad felt dread and he couldn¡¯t move. His vision was clouded in red and then gone¡­ He felt nothing. He saw nothing. He heard nothing. His senses were gone. The darkness was the only thing that comforted him. When next he awoke, he saw his savior. A child. But it was this child who saved him from the darkness. He knew not his past but his name and his skill with a sword. All this he knows and he pledged to himself to serve his savior for as long as he could for he always paid others back. He questioned himself, Always paid others back? --------------
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Chapter 29 - Ten Years Hey everyone! This is a surprise release for you all! This is the start of Arc 3 - The Tournament. Hope you all enjoy it! PR credits to shadow mouse! ----------------------- Ten years passed in the blink of an eye. Many things happened all around us but we never were a part of these troubles. Everyone was shocked when I had returned and I told them all about what I had done. When I was about to show off, I couldn¡¯t do the same thing anymore and I realized that the darkness forgot to mention that my powers would be sealed. Marduk had explained that the seal will loosen as I get older and at some point I would be able to break it and return back to my previous strength. At the very least, I could still summon my summons though. Now after ten years, my level was now 40 and my rank remained at Emperor ranked. I had actually reached that rank when I got Abaddon as my summon. Malakir explained that each summon influenced my rank greatly. If I had a powerful summon then my rank will increase depending on the strength of that summon. I had also grown in areas other than just numbers. I was now sixteen years old and I grew to a height of six feet. I had lean muscles that Sasha would run her fingers through whenever we were alone. My hair I styled to spike up with my magic and I was always cleanly shaved. Sasha now was five feet in height and her hair reached down to her waist in length. Her breast grew to a D-cup and as the years went by, she had become almost subservient to anything I wanted. Of course, she still had her own decisions and we fought every now and then over some things but we still loved each other. We¡¯ve never had sex because of my blessing and so we did other things of the same nature¡­ I¡¯ve tried several ideas but none of them worked. Kaiser¡¯s height was 6¡¯4¡± and his body was similar to a bodybuilder¡¯s. His power was nothing to scoff at as his punches themselves could dent armor if he put his full power and when he used magic, the armor itself would rend. In ten years, he had 50 girlfriends and by his words, he had sex with 40 of them. He currently has another girlfriend that we all thought was only going to last a couple months and we would never know her for a long time. Alex¡¯s height was the tallest of us at 6¡¯6¡± and his body was muscular but looked more like my build. I could no longer beat him in a regular sword fight and even Kaiser would lose. Alex was a genius when it came to the sword and it is because of his advancements that Arthur left and went back to his duties with the Magic Knights. Interestingly enough, Alex had the most eventful love life. He went through a four year phase in which he dated this one guy who dumped him and made Alex go through the most depressing time of his life. He¡¯s currently better than before but it has only been two years since. All four of us were now attending the last school of the academy and soon we would graduate. We agreed to not do the tournament until it was before our last year since we wanted to go out with a bang. Our mansion was moved and it was now larger than it was before. It had four rooms and the bath was now separated into the male and female baths. The training room was moved to the basement and I had my own training field at the back of the house. It was more of an observatory than a field as I used it mainly to test new applications of magic. My current power was half of what I had when I was in Hell but when I used Adapt, I could use all of my power. Currently I was in the training field testing a new Spiritual attack. I learned my lesson when I fought against Necros and focused my powers to be more well rounded than before. Advent had reached a level that I would unconsciously activate it before I casted a spell and deactivate it right after the spell ended. It took five years to do it unconsciously but it was worth the effort as I became more efficient in my mana usage. My mana pool never grew larger but my spells grew fiercer and costed a lot more than they usually did. This spell I was testing combined Necromancy, Spirit, Form and Inner mana; it was called Spirit Weaver. Similar to Necros¡¯ green energy waves, this spell could create different weapons that would fly towards their target in either a stabbing, piercing, or slashing movement. My target was a Banshee that Necros had called from Hell. I cast the spell and a giant warglaive spun through the air speeding towards the Banshee. She didn¡¯t move and died after being cut into two. ¡°Wonderful job, master,¡± said a mature, sexy voice. I noticed the voice to be Shiva¡¯s. Shiva was born from the egg that the darkness gave me. She was ten meter tall, one headed hydra similar to her mother. From her words, her species of hydra was modified by the darkness to be immune to all magic, poison and diseases. Her regeneration ability was also the strongest among my summons but other than her immunity, she was no more stronger than Galahad. The abilities she gives are amazing though as I receive all of her immunities as well as a drastic increase in my regeneration. I cannot regrow limbs but deep cuts are healed as if they were no more than a centimeter deep. All of my summons were currently in me, excluding Galahad, Chronos, Malakir and Fenrir. The rest were too conspicuous and would be very hard to explain why they were here in the first place. It was hard enough to explain to Alex and the rest that I had gone to hell and back and brought them gifts. Having finished my experiment, I went back inside the mansion. Alex and Kaiser were off doing their own thing either in the Dome or with dates. Sasha was busy cooking dinner for us as it was getting to be that time. I relaxed in the men¡¯s bath for an hour until I went and changed my clothes to go eat dinner. All four of us had a nice time, discussing what we all did and looked forward to the start of school the next day. The next day, we were all gathered in the largest arena in the Dome. Everyone sat wherever they wanted and we listened to the opening speeches. After that we went to our classes. Classes are different for each section. The eastern section was for children ages 5 to 10. This section taught the basics of their affinities as well as common knowledge. The northern section was for children ages 10-15. This section taught practical appliances of everyone¡¯s affinities as well as knowledge on a path that one would take. The southern section had no age restriction and taught mainly theoretical ideas but they also taught their students creative ways that they can use their magic. The southern section also had no age restriction and was had the most freedom. A student in this section could do anything they wanted and graduate when they wanted so long as they meet the requirement of finding a path and doing something towards that path. A path is similar to a career in this world. We all took different classes as all the classes was available to us. Kaiser took a class for being a Holy combatant. These were the second strongest warriors of the world. Alex took a class for a Magic Knight. The class was made to simulate life as a Magic Knight, so each one had a military rank, Alex¡¯s rank was currently a Lieutenant and he will have the rank that he achieves during school. Sasha took a Theory on Holy Magics class, it seems that she wanted to know more about this particular magic and even though Malakir could teach her she said that she needed to be able to reason with others too. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. I took a class on the Theory of Magic. It was the most unpopular class as most people would rather not think of the ¡®why¡¯ but rather the ¡®how¡¯. I took this class expecting that they might mention something about the Mystical or Angelic as Necros and Abaddon told me everything about theirs but could only tell me a little of the others. From their words, Angelic energy was an energy that was kind and gentle, soft yet firm. It was the kind of energy that would work with anything and will not have any disastrous effects. Mystical energy was the first form of mana itself. To be able to control Mystical energy is to control all types of energy. Other than this they never told me anything else. I headed towards the classroom which was held inside a hundred meter tall tower. The tower had black tiled roofing that sloped downwards and curved upwards to form spikes. The walls surrounding it was made of Silence Stone, it muffled sound so much that any sound at all cannot be heard from the inside or the outside. I opened the door at the base of the tower and headed upwards to take my seat at the highest floor with seats. The teachers in the towers would always teach at the highest floor, where there was only one desk, as they look down to us students. The seats were in balconies which were able to seat at least five people. There was enough space in between the balconies to allow the teacher to see those that are the very bottom of the hundred meter tall tower. Purple orbs were the only light in this tower as students started filling in. Unsurprisingly, there was only a total of seven of us here and we all sat at the highest floor. They were all people I knew except for one. She was a High Elf, going by her features. She had an air of dignity around her and she looked stunning. I stared at her beautiful face as well as long blonde hair. My eyes lingered longer to her breasts than Sasha would¡¯ve liked and I found myself imagining some things. She caught me staring and said, ¡°What is the matter?¡± Her eyes were filled with suspicion and I managed to say, ¡°It¡¯s just rare to see a High Elf here. The Dwarves are more interested in their ale and rocks and the High Elves are much better than us in magic.¡± She sighed and said, ¡°It is true, but my reason to be here is because I wanted to.¡± I nodded at that and thought that she might be a noble with the Elves. I held my hand out and said, ¡°My name is Zed, Zed Rigel.¡± She slowly moved her hand to shake mine while her face showed anxiety and said, ¡°My name is Elenia Wisteria.¡± I was surprised at hearing a name that I haven¡¯t heard for so long and asked, ¡°Are you by any chance related to a Tenelia Wisteria?¡± She looked up and joy filled her face and she said, ¡°Yes, I am her younger sister. How do you know of her?¡± ¡°We met each other during my affinity test. Your mother was unable to come to my ceremony and she was sent instead,¡± I said remembering what we had talked about. She showed a shocked expression but after calming down, she immediately curtsied and said, ¡°Please forgive my rudeness Prince Zed, I have been ignorant of the world for too long and in being so, I lacked the proper grace in greeting you.¡± Her words felt so mechanical and detached and I said, ¡°No need to do that Elenia. We are of the same age no? Then if so, we should just treat each other as friends rather than prince or princess.¡± I took one of her hands and had her stand up. I looked towards her eyes as I waited for a confirmation. She turned her head away and nodded. We sat next to each other as we listened to our teacher teach. He was a plain looking old man with one long white strand of hair, half closed blue eyes and pale white skin. He wore a simple grey robe and he exuded an aura of oldness. I listened as attentively as I could but sometimes my eyes would wander to Elenia¡¯s body. Soon the class ended and I never learned anything about what I wanted. I turned toward Elenia and said, ¡°Do you have anything to do after this?¡± ¡°No I don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Then why don¡¯t you come with me, I¡¯ll show you around the place,¡± I suggested with a smile. ¡°Sure,¡± she replied with a pleased expression. I guided her all around the Academy, showing her the different sections and all the facts about them. We also talked about our affinities and I found out that she had summoning magic. I told her that we should show each other our summons but she said that it can be done at a later time as she still wished to see more of the Academy. I took her to the Dome and watched some fights with her. It was not the most romantic thing but it was something that our academy had. While she was watching the fight, I would check her out every now and then. After we had our fill with the fights, I asked her if she wanted to eat dinner at my mansion. She was flustered but I insisted and so I led her to my mansion. Upon entering, Sasha immediately hugged me and said, ¡°Where were you? I¡¯ve been looking everywhere for you?¡± I hugged her back and said, ¡°I was just showing a new student around.¡± She released our hug and looked at Elenia. Elenia bowed and said, ¡°Greetings, my name is Elenia Wisteria.¡± Sasha aptly returned the greeting and said, ¡°My name is Sasha Imadul, fianc¨¦e of Prince Zed Rigel.¡± They both stood up and I could see that Sasha was pleased with herself and Elenia had a weird expression on her face. I quickly left them alone and headed to the kitchen. The kitchen had an open fire stove as well as a chute that released the smoke outside of the mansion. Knives and other cooking utensils lined the back wall. Next to the back wall over to its left were doors that led to the meat room, vegetable room, and fruit room. I saw Kaiser and Alex there and told them all about Elenia. ¡°So¡­ she¡¯s single?¡± asked Kaiser with a hint of a smile. ¡°¡­Yes¡­¡± I said, knowing where this was going. ¡°And she¡¯s beautiful.¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡± ¡°And she has large breasts?¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡± ¡°And-¡± ¡°And she¡¯s staring right at us,¡± said Alex with a fearful expression. Kaiser looked dumbfounded as I turned and saw a blushing Elenia. She¡¯s cute when she blushes, I thought, wait, I already have Sasha but¡­ Do I like Sasha like that? Or Do I like Elenia more? Elenia couldn¡¯t stand our stares and just left, leaving us guys to wonder about what fate awaited us outside. I took the first plunge and went out to the dining room and I heard Sasha scream, ¡°Zeeeeeeed!!!!!!¡± ---------------
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Chapter 30 - The Tournament Hey guys! Thank you all for your comments, reviews, ratings, followings, and favoritings I can feel the love you all have for this work. If no one has ever told you yet, You rock! Hope you all enjoy this next chapter! PR credits to shadow mouse! -------------------- I went to the dining room and I saw a fuming Sasha with puffed cheeks glaring at me. ¡°What did you do to Elenia?!¡± ¡°Nothing,¡± I said as I frantically tried to calm her down. ¡°Then why was she blushing!¡± I thought about why she would blush and I remembered how cute she looked which then just made me more confused. ¡°If I may, it is not his fault but rather because of me,¡± said Elenia, ¡°Elves have a charm effect on the other races, humans are just much more susceptible to it.¡± (S.M: seduction jutsu activated!) She bowed down as she told us this and that made me calm down because I was really worried about what I was feeling. Sasha seemed to calm a bit as well but she was still a bit angry. ¡°Is that true?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes, I must have forgotten to control it. This is the first time I¡¯ve left my homeland so I¡¯m not in complete control yet.¡± Sasha nodded and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry that you saw an ugly side of me. I didn¡¯t realize that you must have had your reasons.¡± She held Elenia¡¯s hands and moved it between themselves and she said, ¡°Can we start over again as friends?¡± Elenia nodded and I was saved from trouble. Dinner was nice as we got to know more about Elenia and the High Elves. The charm effect that the Elves had work only to the opposite gender. It does not affect other Elves as they are used to it but only the other races. Humans are the most susceptible to this effect as they do not have a natural resistance to magic. The Lunar Plains has been of great interest to me as it was a magically infused area. The way the High Elves think about magic was also of interest. They believe that magic was a power that they had complete control over. A gift from the gods to the chosen Elves. Magic is evident in their daily life and when I asked if they had any consequences on using magic all the time she said that they didn¡¯t. Magic had become a part of them that magic does not do anything to hinder their health. The downside is that they must be surrounded by magic at all times, but since magic exists everywhere they simply do not care about what would happen. Elenia lived in the dorms so Sasha and Kaiser volunteered to take her there. I stopped Kaiser from going because he was way to excited to go and just sent Alex instead. Kaiser looked pretty sad and dejected as he and I said goodbye to Elenia. Once they were gone, I went back to the training field and Kaiser went off somewhere. The training field has become my own personal space and that is where I usually slept, unless Sasha or I wanted to do something in her room¡­ Months passed and it was now December. The snow arrived slowly and blanketed the school with a white gleam. School had been the same and Elenia has become really good friends with everyone. Kaiser had tried to hit on Elenia but she had already heard about Kaiser from Sasha so Elenia hit him with a hammer that Sasha gave her. After that, Kaiser stopped hitting on Elenia and went on to hook up with 13 more girls. Alex had become much better than before. I think it was the atmosphere that Sasha and Elenia created. He joined the two more often than Kaiser and I did and he was much closer to her than we were. Those three would often go to the nearby town and bring home either food or new clothes. Elenia and I were more colleagues than friends. We debated magic principles and theories and every time we parted, I would test it in the training field. She had a wide knowledge of magic as if she had firsthand experience on it. We always ate together whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner. She has essentially become a part of our family. Having found out that she was also a summoner, Alex and I showed her ours. Asher had grown to be as large as Fenrir. He had large canines that made him look more of a sabertooth tiger. Small clouds of Chaos magic surrounded his paws making him look as if he was walking on air. Upon seeing Malakir, Elenia went wide eyed and asked me a bunch of questions. She was surprised at seeing Asher but not as surprised as seeing Malakir, the Codex of Magic. Alex then took it upon himself to talk about how great Malakir is and Elenia was taking it all in. Having her curiosity satisfied, she brought out her own summon. Her summon¡¯s name was Rhumal and he was a Peacekeeper. Rhumal looked exactly like Chronos only instead of white, Rhumal was golden and he held half a shield in each arm. Peacekeepers were one of the strongest summons. They had absolute defence against anything but they lacked an offensive capability. They do not fight but rather make their opponents lose the ability to fight. Their Spirit spells are unparalleled and they were much rarer than Timekeepers. We spent that night talking about our summons and what they can do that by the time we stopped, it was already evening. December 5. We were all assembled in the dome again waiting for our Principal to announce the start of the tournament. She appeared after a flash in the large stage and began to speak. ¡°We are pleased to announce¡­ that the 1000th Asmodeus Annual Tournament begins!¡± Applause and cheers rang around the stadium from all the students gathered. As the sound died down, she continued, ¡°Each year we hold this tournament to see just how well our students have grown. This tradition was founded after the unification of the Rigel Kingdom. I¡¯m sure everyone knows all the rules but as this is a special year, we have decided to change things up.¡± ¡°We will begin as usual with the preliminary rounds. These will be a measure of your overall power when in peak condition. You will demonstrate your best spells and your teachers as well as our special guests will judge whether you have earned the right. Yes, you all heard me, we will have special judges come in and see your growth. They are all the most famous and powerful mages in the entire world.¡± ¡°Ryker, the Wild god, who is not much older than the oldest of you, will be one of these judges. Lyrica, the Sound god, will also be here as well as many others. Make sure that you all show them what you have learned as they might take you on as apprentices and impart to you their magic.¡± Much louder shouts and applause came after the revelation that the most famous and powerful mages of our time will be coming. They were our idols, people who we had held as our goals. Although in my case, I merely wished to have the chance to talk with them and understand their insights to magic. ¡°After the preliminary rounds,¡± continued Artemia, ¡°the first round will have a round robin format with everyone fighting each day until everyone has fought each other. This may change depending on the results of the preliminary round.¡± ¡°The second round will be a timed fight against a creature. You will compete with your opponent to defeat the same creature and the first one to do so will win.¡± ¡°The third round will be a group fight. You will form your own groups with each other and each group must at least have 2 people. You can have as many members as you want but there must be at least 2. Once you have selected your groups, you will then fight until only one group remains.¡± ¡°The final round will be a fight between the members of the winning group. This round, will ultimately show who the strongest and most resourceful participant is to all.¡± ¡°This tournament will test everything that you know and is very dangerous. As such, for this year only, the students from the Western and Southern schools will be participating. The other students are too young to be experiencing this particular tournament as the way we are doing this is much more difficult than what we usually do.¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°That being said. We will not force everyone to participate, it is the best chance to be known worldwide but do not forget that your life will be in the line at least once. If you have the determination to face that trial, then come and participate.¡± ¡°We mages must not fear the consequences. We must embrace and accept it for if we cling to the consequences of our actions, we will not learn. Only by knowing the consequences and accepting what may happen can we grow to be better mages as well as better people.¡± Loud applause and cheers rang around once more. The students from the Eastern and Northern schools were not as happy but some of them looked a bit relieved at the prospect of not participating. The students in the Western as well as us in the Southern schools were grinning so widely that I thought that we would break our faces. All of us knew that we would participate no matter what the consequences. To be recognized by these famous mages was a dream that we all had. For me, I was satisfied but I hid that and smiled along with everyone as it would be nice to meet these people as well. Then the principal went over the general rules such as: trying not to use killing spells, destruction of limbs or souls, and weapons allowed so long as not used to kill. After she said all these things, we went back to the mansion as classes were suspended until the Tournament would be over in January 15. Kaiser, even though he is a player, was still very mindful of his training. He and Alex decided to train together as they decided to team up for the group portion and would help each other reach that point. Sasha, Elenia and I would be another group during that same round. As we trained, Sasha would use a mana gun as when I introduced the things I learned from Hell to my father, he made them be mass produced. Her mana gun was much better than the prototype that I made. There is no recoil anymore and its power output was stronger. Elenia was using an oaken staff with a sapphire crystal wrapped by the oak at its tip. The staff was capable of casting magic like the mana gun but not as precise. In exchange, its power was much stronger. I used Galahad and Abaddon in both hands. Making sure that I never hit them at all. Our training was simple, we practiced how we would coordinate our attacks against a target. For now, our target was a simple dummy that we could make as many times as we wanted. We got better and better at coordinating our attacks when it was time to eat dinner. We all took our baths and Elenia decided to sleep in the same room as Sasha. They wanted to have a sleepover like they have had ever since she first came. Kaiser was nowhere in sight and Alex went to sleep. I decided to train in the training field again instead of sleeping. Currently, it was late at night and all of my summons were out as we discussed strategies and tactics that I could do for the tournament. ¡°For the first round, master should cast pseudo-Takeover,¡± said Marduk. ¡°I agree,¡± said Malakir, ¡°this spell is master¡¯s strongest spell.¡± ¡°But its not his flashiest,¡± said Fenrir. ¡°Isn¡¯t the point to show the strongest spell?¡± asked Shiva. ¡°I believe that its to show the best spells,¡± said Midgar. ¡°Then the Takeover would be the best option,¡± said Chronos. ¡°Those lowlives do not know that master is an Ethereal mage,¡± said Necros, ¡°Why not show his true power?¡± ¡°The pseudo-Takeover¡­ will it be alright to use that?¡± asked Shiade. ¡°It is an issue¡­¡± said Molx. ¡°It should be fine if afterwards, master casts Release,¡± said Abaddon, ¡°this way, there should be no issue in regards to being able to cast this spell.¡± ¡°Then we shall do what Abaddon says,¡± I said, ¡°his plan is the best one to take.¡± Everyone agreed and we continued speaking of more strategies for the second round. While my summons were talking about that, I thought of the parts that I would take in my Takeover. Takeover is a much more powerful spell than Adapt. This is because the spell would cause every single attribute of all of my summons to be a part of me. Just like Ralph¡¯s bear hands, I would also be able to take in parts of my summons. I needed to make sure that each part was compatible and that it would not cause a rebound. Since Takeover is such a powerful spell, it has a consequence. If the caster¡¯s body is not compatible, his body will deteriorate and his lifespan would reduce. Having finished our small strategic meeting I went to sleep as I needed to be fully awake for the start of the tournament. The next day, we all were eating breakfast and everyone had different expressions. Alex and I were well rested and Kaiser looked as if he had just gotten laid¡­ which he probably did. Sasha and Elenia looked a bit tired but they looked wonderful. I had to suppress that magic that Elenia had on me when I thought that as I knew that she wasn¡¯t doing it on purpose. After breakfast we changed clothes from comfortable ones to those that would shock the audience. Alex wore the armor that I had used when I was in hell as well as the necklace that I gave him. Of course I resized the armor to fit him as he grew older. Kaiser wore the bracers I gave him as well as armor similar to what Alex wore only it was made to be much more easier to move in. Sasha wore a bright white dress with gold trimmings as well as the bracelet that I had given her. She looked absolutely stunning and I was happy that we were dating. Elenia wore a forest green dress with a gold tiara. The dress made Kaiser stare at her but he was hit by Sasha as he did that. I was no longer enamoured as I was protecting myself and all I saw was a beautiful woman. Needless to say, Alex was also unaffected. I wore my summons¡¯ true forms as armor. Alex and Kaiser had actually asked me where I got these as I told them that the gifts I gave them were created by me but I never told them where mine came from. I told them that it was a secret but they insisted and so I told them that it came from my summons. I didn¡¯t want to tell them that I had come from Hell as they would¡¯ve worried about me and I didn¡¯t want them to do that. Anyway, the five of us headed towards the dome and we were instantly given a number and led to seat around the large central arena. ¡°Everyone, it is time to begin the tournament!¡± shouted Artemia who suddenly appeared in the middle of the arena. Suddenly a fierce tornado appeared in the arena which made people shield their eyes. Since I had Shiade as an eye I could see through the tornado and saw the silhouettes of five people. The tornado ended and Artemia said, ¡°Introducing our special guests: Ryker the Wild god; Lyrica, the Sound god; Erica, the Sword god; Rashiel, the Prophetic god, and; Grundal, the Sand god.¡± ---------------
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Chapter 31 - Takeover Hello everyone I hope you all enjoy this next chapter! PR credits to Shadow Mouse! -------------------- Ryker was massive for his age as he stood at about seven feet tall. Since he was not much older than us, I thought that there wouldn¡¯t be that much of a difference. He had unkempt black hair that went everywhere, black eyes, brown skin and large muscles all around making him look like he was a bear. He wore leather clothes which just made the appearance of a bear much more likely. Lyrica stood at about five feet. She had long brown hair, yellow eyes and fair skin. She had a graceful figure to her as she wore an elegant purplish blue dress. The dress made her absolutely stunning but I made sure that I wasn¡¯t looking too long because I didn¡¯t want Sasha to misunderstand. Erica seemed the most aloof out of the five. She stood at around 5¡¯6¡± with short black hair, blue eyes and brown skin. She wore a white dress with blue colored designs and what seemed to be sapphires attached at the hem of the dress. An aura of distance seemed to be wrapped around her and the gazes of all the men were turned away from her to Lyrica. Rashiel was a Dark elf compared to the first three who were humans. He had long black hair, red eyes and pale white skin. He wore a black suit with gold edges as well as matching pants. He held an air of pride as he looked at us students. Grundal was a dwarf and of course was the shortest. He stood at about three feet high. His blonde hair in a topknot with his green eyes and blonde skin. He had a long beard that reached to his waist that seemed to be combed into a cone shape. Like all dwarves he must be muscular and his clothing revealed this fact. He wore tight fitting clothes that could either have been leather or silk. Applause rang out from the crowd as the five took their seats at a raised platform that was created for this occasion. The platform replaced a portion of the seats around it and was directly parallel to the large stage rising at ten meters higher than the stage. ¡°We will call your name and you will demonstrate to us your best spells!¡± Artemia shouted, ¡°Janice!¡± A girl of about four feet tall with blonde hair that reached the bottom of her neck stood up. A small whirlwind surrounded here and brought her into the middle of the stage. She landed clumsily as she almost tripped on her right leg when she fell. She wore a bright green dress and on her right arm was a long steel staff with bars that shaped like a diamond at the tip. She looked nervous as she was the first one to go and Artemia shouted, ¡°Begin!¡± She shook for a second and then raised her staff in front of her as she held it with both arms. She relaxed as she started gathering the mana around her. With Shiade¡¯s eye, I was able to see that she was gathering Arcane mana as well as Fire and Wind. She looked up as she raised her staff and said words that I couldn¡¯t hear. Immediately, countless small orbs of red light flew from the tip of her staff to the open sky above. The orbs swirled as if they were in a tornado and whenever an orb touched another one, they would explode and make a larger one. This spell was one she had created herself but I noticed that this spell had no power behind it. Arcane mana allows the caster to specify exactly what a spell does. Having a spell have no power allows the spell to have more mana that could be spent in other areas. In her case, she used the mana that would have given power to the spell to increase the orbs or maybe introduce the clashing. When the orbs finally combined into a giant 30 meter radius orb, it exploded into a shower of sparks. Most of the students clapped and applauded at the display but the judges were quiet. The judges seemed to have already given a verdict as none of them discussed with each other. Ryker stood up and shouted in a deep sonorous voice, ¡°You failed. You don¡¯t understand the reason for this tournament. How is that fucking spell going to work against a fucking big ass dragon? Or even a big ass spell that is going to kill you? Have you thought of that you bitch?!¡± He continued to say so many more demeaning words that Janice fell down on the ground crying. He finished after cussing her spell out for ten minutes until he sat back down. Lyrica stood next and she spoke in a gentle and kind voice, ¡°Don¡¯t mind Ryker one bit little missy. He does that because he cares for you. That being said, how is the spell supposed to work in combat? This tournament is not a show but rather a fight with your life on the line. Someone such as you is not fit for this.¡± Her voice made Janice calm down and she was escorted out by a guard with silver armor. Lyrica sat back down and said, ¡°Who¡¯s next principal Artemia?¡± They continued judging like this, each time a different judge would speak out the verdict. There were a lot that were chosen but much more not chosen. It seemed that the judges had an idea of our affinities as they would praise the ones that were¡¯nt as showy. Soon it was Kaiser¡¯s turn and he too was carried away by a small whirlwind. I couldn¡¯t tell where the wind came from but it wasn¡¯t of concern as I wasn¡¯t too worried about it. Kaiser gathered Holy mana around him and shouted, ¡°Avatar¡±. A bright white mist suddenly appeared below him and it began to devour his body. From the mist came a tall 20 meter armoured giant. The armor was plated gold and white and protected the body all around. A small slit in its helmet revealed a set of gold eyes. He stood there waiting for the decision when Grundal stood up. ¡°Ye have a good avatar ther¡¯ lad. The armor is pristine and the power it holds is no simple matter. Jus¡¯ from a glance I c¡¯n tell that, but how good is it in actual combat?¡± As he drew near the end, I could tell that he was gathering Earth, Wind and Nature mana. ¡°Le¡¯s see you handle my golem, god-ranked Nature magic, Wrath of Nature ¨C Sand Golem!¡± The stage in front of Kaiser suddenly turned into sand and from it came a hand. It grew in sized and height as sand poured down from it. A shoulder, then the head and torso, then the legs appeared as it rose up from the sand. Its eyes and mouth were gaping holes of darkness that seemed to drag you in. Sand stopped flowing down as it stood up haggardly. It looked more like a rag doll than an actual golem. The golem threw a punch at Kaiser but he just blocked it. The block didn¡¯t work as the golem¡¯s punch kept on going and it seemed that Kaiser was trapped. He tried to move his arm from the golem¡¯s but he wasn¡¯t able to do so. He received the punch from the golem and he started to fall backwards but his left leg caught him just in time. He jumped from his left with his right fist poised to strike. He punches at the golem and it didn¡¯t block as it tried to attack with its left arm. Kaiser missed hitting the golem with his right and so he punched at the golem with his left, spilling sand making it look like sand rain. The golem didn¡¯t seem to mind and was already slowly regenerating. Kaiser kept up the pace with a right punch, left kick, right punch, left backhand and many others until the golem was nothing more than a pile of dust. The crowd had been cheering on Kaiser as he fought the golem as this was the first time they saw this happen. ¡°Ye done good lad, ye pass,¡± said Grundal as he sat back down. Kaiser went back to his human form, looked at us and waved, and ran towards the winner¡¯s block. There were two doors that led to the central stage. One door was located near us and you would enter this door when you lost. The other door was opposite of us and you would enter it only if you won. As I was watching Kaiser leave, I didn¡¯t realize that Sasha was already called. She was already being carried to the stage when I stood up and tried to grab her. I was only able to get a soft yet gentle grasp on her hair which got her attention. She looked back and I said, ¡°Good luck.¡± She smiled and looked towards the stage. She stood in the center of the stage and gathered Holy, Light, and Healing mana. I was confused as to how she was able to gather the other two manas but I was unable to continue pondering as she shouted, ¡°Holy Mantra.¡± From her, a white figure that looked exactly like her floated up. It had all the contours of her body as it floated higher and higher into the air. I felt a bit angered at the fact that other people could see it but I knew that it was just a trait of her spell. The figure finally stopped after floating fifteen meters high. The figure spread out its wings and a white thin sphere surrounded it. A soft melodius sound reverberated through the arena as the sphere seemed to vibrate. The sound felt calming and I even thought that it was restoring my true power by a bit. When the sound ended, the figure also disappeared and Lyrica stood up. ¡°That was a wonderful display of magic. What is more, the magic was something that you have created. You all must know how difficult it is to create a personal spell. You have passed.¡± Sasha looked at me and we both nodded. I watched Sasha leave when I heard them call Alex. Again the whirlwind and Alex was now standing with his hands crossed at his back. He proceeded to gather summoning mana around him and he shouted, ¡°Manifest.¡± Manifest was a spell that worked similar to Takeover. While Takeover can be used for all the summons, Manifest can only be used for the one. Kaiser has twenty summons right now but his rank is only Sage. Manifest itself was a created spell since it uses Adapt and Assimilate as its base. It was our attempt at recreating the effects of Takeover. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Alex¡¯s body crouched and he now looked like a larger version of Asher. He growled and he jumped up into the air. He jumped up fifty meters and he started floating at twenty five meters. This was an ability that Asher had, Floatation. Then Alex¡¯s fur slowly turned into gold as he began using another ability of Asher¡¯s, Fury. He growled and instantly, sonic booms appeared in a five meter radius around him. Fury allowed his body to move faster than light but only for a short time and at the cost of paralysis. He floated there waiting for the decision. Ryker stood up and said, ¡°You fucking bastard. You fucking made a fake Takeover didn¡¯t you?¡± He laughed and continued, ¡°You got guts you know that? Summoning magic is difficult to create spells out of. Although you only got one summon for that spell of yours, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if your Takeover is fucking powerful. You passed kid, give ¡®em hell.¡± Alex returned to his human form, looked at us, smiled, and ran to the winner¡¯s room. Several more tries and only one of them passed. Now it was Elenia¡¯s turn which left only 6 more of us that weren¡¯t tested yet. Lunch time had already passed and it was a good thing that they gave us food at the stands. Elenia stood there gracefully as she gathered summoning mana around her. I noticed that something was strange with her spell but I couldn¡¯t figure out what was the problem. She rested her head upon her staff and started singing. It was a beautiful melody and the words were of a different language. As she sang, her body started changing. Her size grew and small leaves and branches grew out of her body. Her skin turned into bark as she became a twenty five meter tall tree. The ground around her also started changing. Grass grew between the cracks of the stage until it was ripped apart and grass took over. Then the roots of the tree moved and she stood up. Slits from the trunk appeared and I could tell that they were her eyes and her mouth. Rashiel stood up and was about to say something when the tree shuddered. From the tree¡¯s leaves at the top, out came Elenia. She looked exactly as before she cast the spell as if nothing even happened. ¡°I see,¡± said Rashiel, ¡°this is summoning magic that only the High Elves can do, Song of the Forest. If you can do something like this then it is only natural that you proceed.¡± Elenia bowed, looked towards me, and walked with the tree gently placing her down to the winner¡¯s section. I asked Malakir what the spell was and he said, ¡° The Song of the Forest. This is something that you cannot do. The spell is something only the Elves themselves can use as it would require their understanding of magic. I can¡¯t teach it to you as this can be considered a racial trait.¡± I nodded at that and found that it was now my turn. I was lifted off the stands by a whirlwind and landed safely in the center. I looked up around me and saw that everything seemed to be larger than I thought they were. It felt like being in a pit and everyone was watching me. ¡°Begin,¡± said a voice like always. I proceeded to do exactly like we had planned the night before. The pseudo-Takeover spell. Unlike Manifest, this was a step higher. This was not something that I could teach Alex as it required someone to have Ethereal magic. I felt a bit reluctant in not telling about some things to them but I didn¡¯t want them to worry about me being in Hell at all. I made many excuses like I found the Battle Seed and the mana gun somewhere and the ruins were now gone; the armor also being found in those ruins and that I can¡¯t be responsible for things that I had no control over. Sure I told my father about the seeds and the mana gun but that was all that I told him about. As much as I hated him, he was still my father and I felt obligated to do something for him. At the very least I convinced myself that I was merely using him but it might have been something else. Back to the issue at hand, I gathered Summoning mana as the base of the spell¡¯s components. Inner would increase my link with my summons. Form would create the body parts needed. Holy would make my body be able to withstand the pressure. Arcane would allow me to make the necessary adjustments. And finally, Ethereal to allow me to use all of their abilities. I cast the spell and muttered under my breath, ¡°Synthesis.¡± My body shuddered and I felt a burning sensation go around. It felt like the first time I had used the spell but only this time I had an actual idea of what to look like. I felt like I would burst at any moment and when it was almost too much to bear, I jumped as high as I could and I couldn¡¯t help but scream. I shut my eyes and couldn¡¯t see anything with them. I felt my body undergo many changes as the first change appeared. A third eye, Shiade¡¯s eye appeared on my forehead and I could see. My other two eyes were still closed but I could now see the transformation that happened to my body. My left arm was next and it slowly became Chronos¡¯ mechanical left arm. The skin on my left seemed to disappear as it was replaced by a pristine white arm with gears and bolts all over. My right arm was next and it slowly became Molx¡¯s right arm along with Fenrir¡¯s right paw. The skin glowed a blue color and my muscles grew. Fenrir¡¯s right paw was strengthened and enlarged by Molx¡¯s muscles as well as his own. My torso was the next to change. My muscular body became even more muscular as Marduk¡¯s muscles added to my own. Even though Marduk looked frail and weak, he was actually one of the strongest. After the muscles, silver scales appeared all over my torso as it covered the armor that I had on. Behind me appeared Galahad¡¯s swords as they seemed to merge with my back. They would be easily removed as they simply hanged there. My lower body was next as Abaddon¡¯s legs added into my own. The skin turned red as the silver scales of Shiva added to it as well. Demonic energy surrounded my powerful legs waiting for me to use them. Midgar¡¯s tail grew from me as well. My head was the last to change as it was then surrounded by bone turning it to look like Necros¡¯ skull. Both my regular eyes then turned a shade of gold as they were influenced by Malakir¡¯s magic. With this my Synthesis was complete with 80% of my true power. As always, a feeling as if I was very close to the seal that the darkness placed came to me. I knew that the seal had something to do with my Takeover and that a fake one would not do anything about it. The judges stared at my figure. Not surprisingly as the spell was very similar to a true Takeover. They kept on staring and I decided to demonstrate my power to them. I raised my right arm and brought it down as I cast one of the spells that I can only use in this form, Supreme Verdict. With this spell, I could change the laws of the world as I saw fit, the only downside was that I could only change one law at a time and that the change would only happen for about half a minute. I theorized that it might be because of the seal but I can¡¯t tell until it breaks. I changed the law of gravity in the area around the stage and the tiles as well as the stage itself started to float. Knowing that I had only limited time, I cast Borrowed Time. Like Supreme Verdict, I could only use this spell in this form. This spell allowed me to borrow the time of all moving objects around me and add their speed to my own but it was only limited to a twenty meter radius. Having borrowed the time, I casually hit all the tiles and the stage as much as I could. They didn¡¯t break as their time was taken by myself. I landed on the ground where the stage was before it floated and Borrowed Time ended. The tiles and the stage disappeared into dust as time was brought back to them and they moved again. I flew up into the air again and stared at the judges. It took them a while before Lyrica smiled as if it strained her to do so and said, ¡°¡­You passed.¡± She said that as if she was afraid that I would do the same to her but I simply flew down to the door of the winner¡¯s section. I took off the Synthesis and opened the door. There stood Kaiser, Sasha, Alex and Elenia, no one else. It seemed that everyone who won was allowed to return since it would take a lot of time but here they were waiting for me to come. I smiled and we had a group hug right there. Afterwards we went back to the mansion in full spirits knowing that we had passed the preliminaries and with the knowledge that tomorrow, we would be all rivals. --------------------
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Chapter 32 - Surprises Hello everyone enjoy this next chapter! PR credits to Shadow Mouse! ----------------- When we got back to the mansion, we saw that there were several people waiting for us. They were my father, mother, Leon, Salazar, Eustasia, Serephine, Alexandra, Tanelia, Vayasa, Arthur and two more people who looked like they were Alex¡¯s parents. They were in three separate groups with my family being the largest. When we got close enough we all separated and met with our respective family members. ¡°Well done son,¡± said my father. He wore a red and black long sleeved buttoned shirt and long black pants. He had this proud expression on his face as if he had forgotten what he did in this academy. When I came back from Hell and had an audience with him, I introduced to him the Battle Seeds and the mana guns. Of course I had conditions to how I was going to give him these two things. My conditions were that I would be credited for them and that I would gain contacts within the Magic Council as well as the Scientific Institution. Two separate ways of thought as the Institution believes that all effects of magic can be created without using magic and the Council believes that effects of magic can only be made by magic. Needless to say, both are correct and wrong. I was expecting that my father would not agree with this but he just laughed and said, ¡°As expected of my son. Leon is perfect at ruling the country and Salazar is an expert general. You are barely ten but you¡¯re showing exactly the same thing I expect from Leon. Very well then, I will do as you ask.¡± And just like that, I had contacts with both ways of thought. After my first meeting with each one though, I was given a leadership position. They had asked me several questions before giving me the position and every single answer I gave made them all shocked at the extent of my knowledge. I was extremely thankful for that person as well as Malakir that I was able to get this position. With their help, we were able to create a new center of thought: Institute of Magic Technology. We have our own castle as its headquarters and I visit from time to time. The Magic Council and the Scientific Institution still exist but because a prince is in charge of the new Institute they couldn¡¯t do anything about it. We mass produced mana guns that my father had asked for to equip his army as well as any other requests but they must all go through me first. Its been 8 years since its founding and it is still gathering members from all around. ¡°How¡¯d you know that I was going to pass?¡± I asked once my thoughts were back to the present. ¡°Because its you! Oh look how you¡¯ve grown!¡± said my mother as she hugged me so hard that I thought I would suffocate. She wore a dark yellow dress and white earrings shaped like pears. My mother had aged a bit and you could see it from her few wrinkles. The last time I saw her was at that audience but after that we never met again. ¡°Mother!¡± I said embarrassed and as I tried to get out of her grip. ¡°You have to take it little brother!¡± said Salazar laughing. He wore a loose fitting blue shirt and white pants. Salazar was now the military commander of our kingdom. He has been personally training, alongside his troops, with the mana gun to figure out how to fight with it. He was also married already and if I heard him correctly that he had five concubines. ¡°Your mother hasn¡¯t seen you in eight years so of course she would do this,¡± said Leon laughing but with much more control than Salazar. He wore a tight blue long sleeved shirt with silver pants. Leon was now the Head of State. If it wasn¡¯t for the Prime Minister being my father¡¯s friend, he would already have that position. Nonetheless, my brother has done his job perfectly establishing many trade routes as well as increasing diplomatic ties with the neighboring countries. Also married but he has two children. ¡°You need to come back more often,¡± said Eustasia with a grin. ¡°Mother has been worried sick about you,¡± said Serephine, also with a grin, finishing her twin¡¯s sentence. Both of them wore a white and black dress respectively. The dresses weren¡¯t frilly but rather would go around their extenuating figure. They were ambassadors to Mustashum Kingdom and helped Leon with the negotiations. They married twin brothers who were also ambassadors and members of royalty which made relations with both countries very pleasing. ¡°Of course all of us as well,¡± said Alexandra with her kind smile. She wore a white priestess robe with the hood on. The robe was made to make sure that it wouldn¡¯t gather the attention of men but with my sister it made them look at her. Now that she¡¯s 25, her figure was that of a mature woman who will take care of you in any way. Not to mention her motherly personality along with those breasts that rival Sasha¡¯s. Out of my older siblings, she was the only one not married as she was a priestess. Finally released from my mother¡¯s grip, I hugged everyone of my family members and tried not to make my resentment with my father apparent. ¡°Brat, I told you to tell us when you were going to participate and you never did,¡± said Salazar, ¡°And now when you do, its on your last year and you still don¡¯t tell us!¡± ¡°I had a lot on my hands,¡± I said shrugging my shoulders and looked apologetic. ¡°Now, now, kids can be kids,¡± said Vayasa as he walked towards my family with Sasha and Kaiser on tow. Vayasa wore a black and gold ornate regal robe. I tried not to show my disdain for all that this man did for Sasha and Kaiser but seeing that the two were smiling, I tried harder. ¡°Still, it¡¯s a happy occasion that we all get to be together,¡± said Tanelia as she walked forward with Elenia. She still had that alluring charm from before but since Elenia told me of the reason, I was no longer affected. That being said, my father, my brothers, as well as Vayasa were affected and were hit very hard by my mother, my sisters, and Sasha, respectively. ¡°Ouch, I¡¯m sorry dear,¡± muttered a soft voice behind me. I looked back and there I saw Alex standing in between the two people that seemed to be his parents. The man was bending down on the ground a bit and rubbing his chest as he looked apologetically to the woman. When they got closer to me, the man and woman bowed and said, ¡°Lord Zed, thank you for taking care of our Alex.¡± ¡°Come now Grant and you as well Ellen, no need to be formal, this is a happy occasion, rise,¡± said my father in a jovial voice. The man, Grant, stood up and I could see the relation. Grant had blonde hair, bronze skin and blue eyes. He wore a thin armor underneath his black shirt and white pants. He had an air of an experienced warrior as he stood there with his broad shoulders and large frame. The woman, Ellen, had the blue eyes, fair skin and brown hair. She wore a brown dress with black stripes. Although there was not an air similar to Grant¡¯s, she did have a calculating stare as if she was deciding the best way to decapitate a person. I realize that it was an occupational hazard as, as soon as I felt that stare it disappeared. ¡°Why don¡¯t we all come in and have dinner?¡± I asked after a moment of silence. We all agreed and we went inside. The five of us excused ourselves to take our baths while our mothers and sisters went to the kitchen to prepare food while our fathers went to the living room. I was surprised at the fact that my sister¡¯s could cook and when Eustasia saw that she said, ¡°Just from your expression, you won¡¯t get any of the Rondall Quiche.¡± I pleaded and said sorry so many times as she knew full well as well as nearly everyone here that Rondall Quiche was my favorite. It was made from the nearly extinct species of tiger known as the Rondall Tigers. Rondall Tigers were the only tigers that didn¡¯t have Holy mana. Instead they had Chaos mana and this was one of the reasons as to why they were nearly extinct. The other reason is over hunting. Because of the Chaos mana that they have, it made their meat much more delicious than the tenderest steak. The killing of Rondall Tigers was banned in all of the Lunaria Continent but not everything can be controlled. The only way that I could actually eat one was if one was killed before it tried to kill another sentient race. These were very rare occurrences as the tigers themselves are bred in captivity but still sometimes things happen. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The fact that my sister threatened to not let me eat one means that the tiger they were going to use was killed before it killed one of its caretakers. As much as I hate the fact that the tiger from a nearly extinct species was killed, the fact that I get to eat it wins as it is just that good. I pleaded as much as I could while everyone else laughed and finally Eustasia allowed me to eat it if I behaved. I nodded furiously and she went to the kitchen, leaving me be the last person to enter the bath. We finished our bath quickly and went back to our rooms to change. Since my armor could be changed very easily to anything, even stripping, I simply went to my room, did a quick change to a black tight shirt with blue pants and walked back down. The others would take longer to change and so I proceeded to the living room. My father noticed me and said, ¡°There you are, I was just explaining about those Battle seeds that you found.¡± I raised an eyebrow and said, ¡°That information is very top secret are you su-¡± ¡°We are family and the seeds themselves will only be distributed to the nobles close to us so no need to worry,¡± said my father, ¡°In any case, the problem with those seeds is the difficulty in creating them. It takes ten Emperor ranked mages of water, earth, wind, arcane and nature just to create one seed and then afterwards they would be all exhausted and unable to do it again not until after ten days! Ten days! A seed per 10 days!¡± ¡°Quite so, your father and I were just discussing on collaborating along with the Magic Council and your Institute to create more of these seeds,¡± said Vayasa, ¡°I truly wonder how you came to these seeds. Your father told me that you found it in some ruin in the Realm of Summons?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°Really?¡± asked Vayasa as he looked suspiciously at me. ¡°Really,¡± I said more sternly and while trying to hide any emotion that would disprove my answer. ¡°The boy tells the truth,¡± said my father, ¡°the Realm of Summons is mysterious and many things can be found there that we don¡¯t have.¡± ¡°Right. Then Prince Zed, as the leader of the Institute of Magic Technology, would you be willing to provide resources to aid in the production of these seeds?¡± asked Vayasa. ¡°No I cannot. My father has asked me to do other things and that is currently my main objective as what he has told me is one of our agreements to myself creating this Institute,¡± I answered as politely as I could and trying not to reveal anything. ¡°Really?¡± said Vayasa with mock surprise, ¡°Is this ¡®objective¡¯ something of a military venture?¡± ¡°Come now Vayasa,¡± said my father with slight panic. Though our kingdom had the Magic Knights, we were weaker than the Lunaria Federation. Our knights are experts in combat and we can hold them back but that is only in land. Since the Lunaria Federation was a collection of islands, they had the most powerful navy and would be very difficult to have a war against. If our two countries ever did, it would most likely be a stalemate. Right now, everything is peaceful because of the likelihood of the stalemate happening but if something were to tip the scales then war would most likely break out. ¡°Forgive my rudeness, Aaron but I believe I was asking your son a question,¡± said Vayasa with a hint of coldness. ¡°For this question you need only ask me, why bring my son to this?¡± asked my father in anger. ¡°Its because o-¡± Vayasa said but he was interrupted by a chorus of female voices saying, ¡°Dinner¡¯s ready!¡± The tense atmosphere that started to appear in the living room gradually softened and knowing that we had to go to the dining room, we all left with me leading followed by Grant, Vayasa and my father at the end. As I was leaving, I noticed that Elenia, Sasha, Kaiser, and Alex were also moving to the kitchen. Considering the distance between us I guessed that they too heard what had happened in the living room. Dinner was tense and unenjoyable as the mood from the living room transferred over to here as well albeit in a much smaller amount. There was small chit chat over small things like the price of a dress or where someone would like to go for vacation. At that idea my sisters all clamored for a vacation to DuPont Castle. DuPont Castle was located in the northern mountains and overlooked a lake that connected to a massive waterfall. I had only been there once but the area was pristine and untouched by civilization. It was a perfect place to relax and enjoy the beauty of nature. Tanelia was interested at the description that my sisters gave of it that she said that she would join us if at all possible. Apparently the conversation was a bit too much for him that Salazar shouted, ¡°Zed will win the tournament for sure!¡± Which just proceeded to turn the conversation into a shouting match between our guardians. My family and Alex¡¯s family rooted for me to be the winner, although I could see that they really wanted to have their son to be the winner. Tanelia supported her little sister and Vayasa supported his daughter completely ignoring his son. That irked me a bit and I said, ¡°Excuse me¡± as I left the table. No one seemed to notice as they were too busy arguing. I went into my room and before I closed the door Sasha came in. I was surprised at her suddenly appearing behind me. I never have Wind Sight active when I know I¡¯m safe so I never saw her come from behind me. I closed the door and looked at her. She had a blushing expression that made her very cute and sexy. I kissed her and she slowly did too. We kissed passionately as we took each other¡¯s clothes off. I broke off our kiss and carried her over to the bed while locking the door and coating the room with magic to make sure no one heard anything. I threw her down to the bed not too roughly and got on top of her and we continued kissing. At some point I got myself ready for anal sex as that was really the only way we could do it because of my blessing but she pressed her hands onto my chest and said, ¡°Wait.¡± I stopped reluctantly and looked at her as she leaned in closer and said, ¡°Elenia told me of a way to not get pregnant.¡± I looked at her expectantly and waited impatiently as junior was standing at attention already. ¡°There are safe days where I cannot get pregnant at all. Elenia helped me learn which days they are and today is one of them¡­¡± she said each word with increasing sexiness and lust that when she said ¡®one¡¯ I pushed her down to the bed and kissed her even more passionately. Her moans echoed through the room and she squealed when I touched her there and caressed her breasts. After playing for some time I entered into pure ecstasy with her through the entire night.(S.M baby train coming in) -----------------
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Memories of the Past - The White Knight Hey guys, sorry for the late update. I''ve been getting tired from writing and schoolwork that I needed time to rest a bit and I''ve been anxiously waiting for a college admission decision from a college that I really want to go to so writing was taking a bit longer. PR credits to Shadow Mouse and I hope you all enjoy this short chapter and please know that I am working on chapter 33. --------------------- Born from the house of Rammert, Alex Rammert has been in training since a young age. He has trained with a sword since the tender age of three. Doing swinging exercises as given by his teacher, Arthur. Alex trained day and night, never the thought of him being a child to be an excuse. His father believed that he could do it as he himself was capable of doing it at a young age. But alas that was not the case, as Alex, just like any other child, would rather run around and do other much more fun things. At times when he could run away from training, he would be found in the garden of their fortress home, or even out by the river that was just outside. He lived in the western part of the Rigel Kingdom. This is because the Rammert Knight¡¯s headquarters is their home, as the most current danger to the kingdom is the threat of the Lunaria Federation attacking. With the buffer of the Rammert Knights on their west, the Lunaria Federation would be hasty in deciding on whether to attack or not. This is all due to the wisdom of the current king. And the king was correct in doing so, as the Federation were reluctant and simply attacked under the guise of pirates. One would wonder why a child such as Alex would later grow up to be as strong and as loyal as he would be. This was because of an attack to their fortress. Alex was out skipping his training and he was playing in the river. Suddenly, a thunder of greater dragons came. Later this would be known as an attack from the Federation but at the time they merely regarded it as a coincidence. A thunder of dragons, lesser or greater, were not that difficult to find if one was looking in the right places. Since the fortress was way off the beaten path, it had a higher chance of meeting such an occurrence, but it will only be considered as chance. The castle was fully equipped to handle these dragons and no one was too worried. That is until they found out that Alex was missing. Grant, Alex¡¯s father, ran frantically trying to find his son and there he saw him by the river. Luckily the dragons had seen him yet and he rushed towards his son. As he was doing so a greater dragon landed in front of his only son. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Feeling fear for his son¡¯s life, Grant rushed forward and his body slowly gained the scales and wings of a dragon. This was his own summoning magic spell, ¡°Manifestation¡±. While similar to takeover, it only allows portions of all of his summons to appear. With his new wings, he flew towards the dragon and cut it down with his sword. His son watched his father fly in to save him, from his eyes fear was there but it slowly turned into admiration. With the greater dragon dead, the rest noticed its death and went to find who killed their friend. Upon seeing this Grant gave himself as many weapons from his own summons as he could. He would punch with his hand but then later it would turn into a giant dragon¡¯s claw punching at a dragon. The speed that the hand had was transferred over to the manifested dragon claw that it cleaved the head of several dragons at once. He kicked and his leg turned into a spiky tail that clipped the wings of dragons surrounding him. All this Alex saw with his eyes until finally the last dragon died and he was safe. Grant carried his son and said, ¡°You¡¯re safe now.¡± Alex did not register his father¡¯s words, all he could think about was how strong his father was. He believed that his father was the strongest in the world. Alex was not wrong nor was he right. In time he would understand the reason for why his father was considered the leader of the Rammert Knights. The fact that out of all them, those that can use summoning magic are the strongest. For summoners do not fight with magic alone, but also their own bodies. A summoner can equal a whole army in strength but those that have that much power are few and far between. This day was a turning point for Alex. It was this day that made him powerful, to train his hardest. It was because of this day that he would later be known as the ¡°White Knight¡±. -------------------
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Chapter 33 - First Round Hey guys sorry for the late update. RL caught me off guard with so many things. We now have an editor Ryu who is currently working with me on editing the previous chapters. I also got done with a map of Arun. I know it looks terrible but its the best I could draw. Anyway, hope you all enjoy and again PR credits to Shadow Mouse! Spoiler : ---------------------------- I woke up the next day with Sasha right beside me. She looked so cute and beautiful that I didn¡¯t want to stop staring at her. A knock came from the door and a voice said, ¡°Its time for breakfast.¡± It was Kaiser. I reluctantly got up and woke Sasha up. We stared at each other until I broke it and got changed. ¡°Master,¡± said Malakir in my head, ¡°seeing that you were about to impregnate your fianc¨¦e and that you are not yet married nor are you ready to handle such a responsibility, we made sure that you wouldn¡¯t be able to get her pregnant.¡± I stopped moving towards the door as I had changed from nakedness into a black shirt with white pants. ¡°What?¡± I asked softly, confused at what I had just heard. ¡°Yes, since we are within you, we know exactly when to prevent you from making a mistake,¡± said Marduk, ¡°Molx interfered with your¡­ deposits¡­ and made them go into a black hole that was made to take those¡­ deposits¡­¡± My mind was now going in circles as what they said sunked in. I did feel an extremely powerful suction when I was ready but I simply thought that it was like that. ¡°You mean?¡± I asked softly, knowing exactly what happened. ¡°Yes, exactly that,¡± said Molx, ¡°so don¡¯t worry about it in the future. We¡¯ll keep on doing it.¡± I was conflicted at this because now it was clear that my summons know everything that I did last night and nights before. Junior rose up once more and Sasha saw it and winked seductively. What the hell, I thought and we were at it again. Breakfast was a bit interesting. Since I didn¡¯t stop the sound from coming out I knew that someone would¡¯ve heard us. I didn¡¯t expect that everyone would. Everyone had a tense expression whenever Sasha or I would talk to them. Our parents had left after dinner last night apparently and would watch our matches from today on. After breakfast we all went to the Dome and went to separate small arenas. Each one was the same size as the one that I fought Kaiser in. 200 passed the preliminaries and this round would reduce the number to 100. The next round reduced by fifty and the next one after that by however many in a group. The objective of the first round is to win as many times as you can. I was aiming for a near complete sweep as I was going to give the match to Sasha away. My first opponent was a man similar to my age and build but I don¡¯t remembered anything else as he wasn¡¯t strong enough. I didn¡¯t even have to use magic as I just punched him to knock him out. A few matches went by and I would fight against Nathaniel next. He was built similar to Kaiser but it was tough to say who had more. He Assimilated and Merged with his summon, the Stormwolf. He jumped at me with the speed of lightning and I barely had time to dodge. I was blasted towards the wall with his punch until I was saved by Galahad¡¯s swords. I stood up and Nathaniel sneered and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to win this!¡± I noticed a small spark near the back of his left leg and I got hit by his punch again and then another and another. He kept on pummeling me until he was pushed away by Marduk¡¯s power. Having lost a bit of blood and feeling exhausted from those attacks, I ate a Battle Seed and recovered everything that I lost. I stood up and when I saw the spark again, I had Galahad make a sword with a dull edge in front of me. Nathaniel hit the sword and knocked himself unconscious. He was dragged out by the people who were observing my fights and then the next challenger appeared. A few more matches and I was now fighting against Kaiser. ¡°You may be my sister¡¯s fianc¨¦e, but for now you are my enemy,¡± he said this with determination in his eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s see if you can beat me,¡± I said mockingly. He strengthened his whole body with Holy magic and now his power was a little bit stronger than mine, but that was only in a fist fight. I cast Distortion Binds to stop him from moving and trapped him to the ground. ¡°Give up, the more you struggle the tighter the chains get,¡± I said looking down at him. He stared at me and tried to struggle out of the chains but they just got tighter and tighter. The chains wrapped around his hands and legs preventing him to exert any significant power to break them. And then he gave up and the chains disappeared. He stood up and said, ¡°You¡¯re very powerful. I feel safe knowing that my sister will be protected by you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll protect you to. We¡¯re family,¡± I said as I pulled him into a hug and gave him a Battle seed to eat. He ate the seed and left the room, leaving me to wait for my next opponent. It was after two matches that my fight with Alex commenced. We had agreed during breakfast that we would fight with our swords and our summons supporting us beforehand during breakfast. We both assimilated and ran straight at each other. We were both using our most powerful summons. Him with Asher, and me with Marduk. Marduk was the most powerful in terms of combat. If I merged with him, I would be able to parry any attack and use the opponent¡¯s force against him. My power was much greater than Alex¡¯s. But even with that, I still had less experience in fighting with a sword than him. We took our stances and watched each other. He wielded his sword with both hands over above his right shoulder while I wield mine with a reverse grip in front of me. He made the first move. He ran towards me and brought his sword down. I parried and let it fall allowing me to get to his right side. He then rammed into me with his right shoulder. I used his right side as a stepping stool causing me to fly in the air briefly. I brought my sword towards his neck but he twisted his own sword to block my attack. I fell down to the ground with my knees and we stared at each other again. I lunged at him with my sword behind me and my left fist in front. He dodged by sidestepping to his right and then ramming me with his right side. I was pushed off balance and then the next thing I knew was his sword pressing onto my neck. ¡°I win,¡± said Alex as he relaxed his blade and moved it away. I turned around and said, ¡°I never could beat you this way.¡± He shrugged his shoulders and said, ¡°I just know everything you will do since we¡¯ve been training for so long.¡± ¡°Same here but I still lose.¡± ¡°But I¡¯ve trained longer,¡± he said emphasizing longer. ¡°Alright alright, I¡¯ll leave to go to my next room.¡± I forgot to mention but the winners remain in the room that they won while the losers move to a room that they are assigned to go to next. This is the only way for someone to potentially fight the same person twice. The room I went to looked exactly the same as the one I was just in. It was four rooms to the right of where it was. Surprisingly, my next opponent was Sasha. Immediately seeing her, we hugged each other and we kissed and I said, ¡°I lose.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. She pouted a bit but I said, ¡°I will not hurt you. Here take this Battle seed, I know its still very restricted but since I made these, no one can care.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± she said as she accepted the seed, ¡°Go win.¡± I smiled as I left to go to the next room which was twenty rooms to the right again. As I walked a group of commoner students were whispering among themselves. I couldn¡¯t hear what they were saying but because of Shiade¡¯s eye I could make out what they were saying. ¡°Look its him,¡± said a slim looking black haired boy. ¡°Yep, it¡¯s the devil,¡± said a blonde haired beautiful girl. ¡°Why did they even let him in here?¡± said a chubby looking ginger haired boy. ¡°Cause he¡¯s the son of the king,¡± said the blonde girl. Talks like these began as I headed the Institute. I accepted it all as jealousy and misinterpretation because they didn¡¯t understand what I was doing. Everyone knew the existence of the battle seeds as well as the mana guns. They also know that there are restrictions on them in that only the nobility can use them. What they don¡¯t understand is that the battle seeds were distributed to everyone. But because of the mistrust of the people to magic itself, no one would even accept it. They threw them all to the ground when they knew what they were¡­ which actually created forests out of some towns which caused more problems. That issue is still being assessed. That being said the jealousy was something I couldn¡¯t do anything about. There was a reason why I had to all of this. For the sake of my country, my kingdom, I¡¯m prepared to be labeled a devil. I went inside the room, leaving the gossipers to their own, and saw that Elenia was there. ¡°Oh, you lost or are you here to cheer me on?¡± asked Elenia smug. ¡°You already knew who I was going to lose to,¡± I sighed. ¡°Yes, Sasha because she¡¯s your fianc¨¦e and Alex because of your stupid manly promise,¡± said as matter of factly. ¡°What can I say,¡± I said shrugging, ¡°I¡¯m a man who keeps his promises.¡± She thought for a moment and said, ¡°Well it was a stupid promise.¡± I was a bit shocked and said, ¡°¡­Sorry?¡± ¡°I mean, you don¡¯t want to fight with Sasha because she¡¯s your fianc¨¦e but isn¡¯t that making her lower than yourself? I mean aren¡¯t you just trampling on her pride? And with Alex, he wants to be a magic knight and your guard yet you fight without magic. How can you let your own bodyguard gain an ego? Won¡¯t that just cause problems?¡± she said voicing her facts unreservedly. I grew a bit angry and said somewhat sternly, ¡°We¡¯re family and friends, I could never hurt them.¡± ¡°But in doing so you hurt them in the future,¡± she said calmly. I grew quiet at her words. ¡°You know this,¡± she continued, ¡°you can¡¯t keep coddling them forever.¡± She was right, if I had kept on going for years they would always be under my care but then if I wasn¡¯t there what then? I had never considered what would happen. Sasha and Alex must¡¯ve felt hurt a bit by our promise that I will not fight against them. I¡¯m supposed to be a lot older than they are but yet I¡¯m still such a child¡­ ¡°Of course you can keep on doing that, but I won¡¯t let you do that to me,¡± she said readying her magic. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± I said as I readied mine and looked at Elenia seriously, ¡°I won¡¯t be anymore.¡± ¡°That¡¯s more like it,¡± said Elenia as she smiled viciously. ¡°Assimilate!¡± ¡°Merge!¡± ¡°Manifest!¡± ¡°Link!¡± ¡°Release!¡± ¡°Adapt!¡± ¡°Synthesis!¡± ¡°Stability!¡± We both casted all the summoning magic we knew and I was surprised at knowing that she could match mine. I felt myself becoming powerful, at about 40% of my true strength and my summons were all around me. On her side, I felt the mana surge and surround her as if she was dancing on top of them. I saw a ghostly bear with a crown on its head. There was an eagle with red lightning all around it. A elvish warrior wearing black leather armor that covered his face with all sorts of strange weapons on his body. The giant tree that she had summoned before. A gold dragon flying in the air. A giant black scaled snake with a red crown. An old priestess with a white robe carrying an orb with both hands. A golem made out of fire, water, wind and earth. The peacekeeper and what seemed to be another codex! ¡°You have a codex?¡± I asked in shock. ¡°Yep, say hello Elohim, the Codex of Elves, the knowledge of all Elves,¡± she ordered the book. ¡°Hello, I am Elohim, the Codex of Elves,¡± said a soothing voice that drew me in a little. ¡°Watch your tongue Elohim,¡± said Malakir as his voiced pulled me back to my senses. ¡°Oh forgive me almighty Codex of Magic,¡± said the same soothing voice only in a mocking tone. ¡°Funny how we have codexes,¡± said Elenia with a bit of surprise, ¡°but we¡¯ll talk about it later right now we have a fight.¡± ¡°Are we really going to have a full-on fight here?¡± I asked worried at the destruction we could cause as the room was barely enough to fit us all. ¡°Hmmmm,¡± she said and then the space around us distorted making the small arena room into as large as the central arena. I was shocked and asked, ¡°You have that kind of summon too?¡± I knew full well that this was the power of space magic. ¡°Well with that I guess you do too,¡± she said with a smile, ¡°I learn more and more from you yourself. Oh and don¡¯t worry about hurting me, when we return we won¡¯t be hurt.¡± I sighed and said, ¡°Alright I¡¯ll take your word for it, I¡¯ll use my full power on you.¡± ¡°Oh my you already decided on using your full power because of what I said! Oh you beast!¡± she said with mock shock, ¡°tut tut tut, remember, don¡¯t let your opponent get inside your head!¡± I shut up right then fearing that she might make me look even more stupid. ¡°Oh now you give me the silent treatment, was it something I said? You wouldn¡¯t cower just because of what I said right?¡± she said with mock sympathy. I couldn¡¯t take it anymore and ran straight at her ignoring the words of my summons while she said, ¡°Wow, easy win!¡± I felt myself being knocked back and my vision blackened for a second. When I came to, I was surrounded by my summons with Galahad¡¯s swords around me. ¡°Thank you Galahad,¡± I said as I stood back up. Galahad nodded and I looked at Elenia. She had a smug expression on her face as she looked back at me and said seriously, ¡°I had to or else you wouldn¡¯t take me seriously. We¡¯re the same you and I. I need to know who is stronger.¡± I was a bit confused at her words but disregarded and looked at her seriously and said, ¡°I¡¯m not responsible for what happens.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± she said as she took a stance with her staff, ¡°Both of us will come unscathed, this is true.¡± I nodded, got into a stance and said, ¡°You asked for it.¡± And our full-on summoner duel began. ----------------------
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Decision Plans Hey guys! Sorry for the no chapter if you were all hoping for one. I just wanted to say that I am going to rewrite this story. Don''t worry! It will still be the same storyline, only I''m going to change some things slightly. I want to make this story better and I know I can. I hope you can all bear with me as I go back to the Prologue until where the last chapter is. I''m sorry for those who have to wait for it but when it comes to that time I hope the story will be much better. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Again I''m sorry but I hope you all continue supporting me as I rewrite Aliad. Aliad - Tale of Zed Hey guys so, I decided to make submit a new fiction. The story is still the same and yes the original one will basically stop updating. Everything that happened there will happen in the new story as well and I will not be getting rid of the original. It will just take more time than it did before. For example, Arc 1 in the original story was about 7 chapters, in this new one it will take at least 10 chapters. Everything in the new one will have everything in the old as well as more detail, new characters, and new ideas. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.I''ll leave this thread for any changes between the original and the new one and if anyone has any questions. Here''s the link for those who don''t know yet: Aliad - Tale of Zed. Hope to see you all in the new story! Changes: Original - New Reincarnation - None taken away, Zed is now a complete resident of Arun Statuses - More of an identifier and passport (will be changed by Zed) Rewrite Finished Hey guys! The Rewriting has finished and the story can now continue again. There were some changes that happened. Reincarnation - Taken out; Zed is no longer a reincarnated being... in the sense that we all understand it. Very weak physically - Zed has very weak muscles. He gets exhausted faster than the average child. This weakness will remain for quite some time. In response to this weakness, he is much much wiser, think Gandalf maybe? in his body (don''t actually think of him as Gandalf, I''m just making a comparison). Mana affects everyone differently - Mana has different effects on people now. Not all of them will be mentally older, some may have deficiencies like Zed or be unable to grow up This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Chimeras and animals - Chimeras are magically created animals that can use more than just one magic of an affinity. Before they could only use Holy magic in Arun but now they can use more than one. Affinities allow use of all subsets - Affinities only allow use of one subset... except in cases of Ethereal These are the key changes, if anyone does not understand anything feel free to ask me and I will try to clarify the issue. Here''s the link to the Tale of Zed: http://www.royalroadl.com/fiction/1820 ------------------------ Im alive So I know I haven''t been posting a lot but I have had a lot of things going on the past weeks. At the same time I was regretting on dropping any of my old stories. I don''t want to regret things and I seriously want to see those stories finish and share it with everyone. So I''m doing this: I''m going to start all the stories over from the very beginning. The stories will be the same but I just want to put it as a new fiction. There may be some changes but I doubt that. Doing this could make some of you happy while the rest might be grumbling about me not finishing what I started. While the latter is true I ask for your patience. I tend to not finish what I start and I want to change that. Everyday I regret not finishing these stories and I really don''t like to do that. So I''m going to be honest, this will be difficult for me and that''s why I ask for your patience. I also ask that if I''m not doing the things I said I would do that you please tell me. I too want to see how the story ends and sometimes I get sidetracked very easily (blame video games). So I''m giving you all what I intend to do. I may have said Aliad was 7 books long but with the addition of "Legend of Lunos" it has become 10 books long. Codex 1 A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.Codex 2 - Dragonflight Codex 3 Codex 4 Codex 5 - Zed''s Tale Codex 6 Codex 7 Codex 8 - Legend of Lunos Codex 9 Codex 10 I intend to write three books at the same time namely Codexes 2, 5, and 8. Each will appear once a month on Wednesday. They will be posted in the order that they are listed so the first chapter would be the new one called Dragonflight. Then the next would be Zed''s Tale and the next is Legend of Lunos. After that is a week''s rest for me to do what I need to do or write chapters. If I fail to do this I ask that you please let me know and I will go back to the routine. It will take some time I know but I just need to get it a habit and then everything will flow. I just hope that I can do this. Codexes 5 and 8 may or may not be the same as it was before. I intend to leave them as is but I may just change the POV or some minor changes. I have posted the same as the above on the other stories and I hope you comment on anything plot holes that you noticed onto the respective Codex and I will try to change them. Thank you for taking the time to read this and please enjoy reading the other books here on royalroad. Aliad - Dragonflight Codex 2 - Dragonflight has been released. The next chapter for this will come in a month''s time. Codex 5 - Zed will come next week on Wednesday. Aliad - Zed Codex 5 Zed is now started. Codex 8 - Lunos will come next Wednesday.