by Aaron Oster
“Good,” Gold said, allowing the anger to slip from his face.
“Now that that’s out of the way, we can move on to more exciting things. Morgan, I know that you’re at rank 7 right now, how close are you to the next rank?”
Morgan quickly glanced at his status before answering.
“I need a total of 1,273 energy to move up to rank 8 in both.”
Gold nodded at that and directed the same question towards Sarah.
“I need 1,328 energy to reach rank 9.” She answered.
“Good. Morgan, we’ll work on getting you to rank 8 in the next few days. Then we can begin the real work of unlocking your supermage ability. Sarah. I want you to hold off on moving up to the next rank for now.”
“Why?”
“That’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about today,” he said, leaning back in his chair as his usual smile spread across his face.
“The end of term fights will begin in three weeks from now; after which, the tournament will be held for the top eight students of each class.”
Morgan felt his heart speed up in excitement.
He’d been looking forward to this ever since he’d first heard about it. Gold hadn’t really given them any details, so hopefully they’d be finding out more now.
“I can see from the expressions on your faces that you’re interested. To answer your question, Sarah; the main reason I don’t want you ranking up, is that it would attract way too much attention. No one your age should have such a high rank. I’ve been able to falsify your ranks in the school records, but the moment either of you reach rank 9 it’ll be impossible to hide it.”
“Wait, so what you’re saying is that we can’t go past rank 8 for as long as we’re here?” Morgan asked.
“That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is that you should hold off on ranking up until after the tournament. If you win, and I don’t doubt for a second that you can, you will each receive a very potent, rank 39 core and one platinum coin.”
He waited for a moment to allow what he’d just said to sink in.
“A platinum coin and a rank 39 core!”
Morgan had very nearly jumped out of his seat when he heard that.
A platinum coin was worth a thousand gold. With that much money, even if he lost his scholarship, he’d be able to continue on for at least another year. And with a rank 39 core, he could probably boost himself several ranks all at once, especially once he merged his two abilities into one.
“Quite the prize, I know,” Gold said mildly. “So you can see now why it wouldn’t be suspicious if you ranked up after the tournament; but it would be if you did so before?”
Both Morgan and Sarah nodded emphatically.
Sarah was less excited about the money than Morgan was. After all, she had over eighty platinum sitting in a hidden compartment in her room. The core, on the other hand, was something that was definitely worth winning.
“So how do we get into the tournament? You said only the top eight students of each class would be competing,” Morgan asked.
“As I mentioned earlier in the year; the top ranked student of each class will have an automatic entry into the tournament. Sarah, if you can hold your spot for the next three weeks, your entry into the tournament will be secured.”
“Morgan, I believe you currently hold the 5th rank in your class, which means that you most likely won’t move into the number one spot in time. In three weeks, you will go to the arena with all the other students of your year. There, you will be fighting once a day until you either lose a fight, or make it to the end.
“This entire process can take up to two weeks; then once only seven are left, there will be a week long reprieve for the fighters to get ready and for the people wishing to watch the tournament to make it here.”
“Who will be watching us fight?” Sarah asked.
She was understandably nervous of being recognized by someone outside the academy. If word got out to her father that she was here, he would demand she be returned to him and the Central Kingdom would be obliged to comply, or risk losing their neutrality.
“Aside from parents wishing to watch their children fight; only citizens of the Central Kingdom will be allowed in.”
Sarah breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that and smiled over at Morgan.
“You think you can fight your way into the tournament?”
He smiled back at her, the same slightly crazed smile he’d had before going to fight the ice-bristle wolf.
“For a platinum coin and a rank 39 core? You better believe I will!”
35
The next few weeks were not easy for either of them. Clearly, news of the upcoming tournament had become general knowledge and both of them were constantly challenged to fights in the arena.
People wanted to beat Sarah, in hopes of getting to the top spot and beat Morgan, in hopes of holding a higher class rank by the end of the semester.
At first, they’d tried to turn down the fights, stating that they’d fought in their official match that week. Then they’d both been told that if they didn’t fight at least one challenger a day, they would risk losing their spots.
When they’d asked Gold about this, he’d put on his usual innocent look and said he must have forgotten to mention that specific rule. So in the last two weeks before the official fights began, they were each forced to defend their spots at least once a day.
This didn’t stop Gold from their daily torture sessions; if anything, he was pushing them even harder than he normally did. By the end of the day, both of them would collapse exhausted onto their beds and go straight to sleep.
Grub and Frush didn’t approach them in the weeks leading up to the tournament, but every once in a while, Morgan would spot them lurking out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t think that Sarah spotted them and decided not to tell her for her own peace of mind.
The time passed by in a flash for Morgan and soon it was the night before the official fights were set to begin. He lay on his bed, once again playing with the ice-bristle wolf core. He’d already decided against using the energy in the core, instead opting to keep it as a memento of their fight.
He sighed, placing the core down on his dresser and staring up at the ceiling. Sarah, despite all the fighting, had managed to keep the top spot in the mage class and would therefore not have to fight tomorrow.
He, on the other hand, had only managed to make it to third in the class and would have to fight his way into the tournament. He was now very glad that his new uniforms had arrived that day, as he was sure that the sturdy outfits would be taking quite a beating over the next few days.
He sat up then, mind too restless to sleep and opened his status instead.
Name: Morgan
Super: Rank - 8 (Max.)
Energy to next rank - N/A
Mage: Rank - 8 (Max.)
Energy to next rank - N/A
Super ability - Gravity
Mage ability - Air
CP - 350/350 (Regen - 3.7 per second)
MP - 350/350 (Regen - 3.7 per Second)
Strength - 35
Agility - 41
Constitution - 36
Intelligence - 35
Wisdom - 37
Super skills - Fly, Heavy handed
Mage skills - Wind blade, Tailwind
When Morgan had first seen that he had no way to reach rank 9, he’d nearly lost it. He knew that Sarah’s status wasn’t experiencing the same issue, as he’d made sure to ask. All she had was a greatly increased energy cost to the next rank.
When he’d told Gold about this, he was surprised as well. He’d never come across this in his all his studies of supermages. He’d then told Morgan to calm down and said that he likely couldn’t progress further until he unlocked his supermage ability; and for that, Morgan would first need to finish combining all of his remaining mana and chi into reiki. He’d run off after that, muttering to himself in an excited fashion about new discoveries
and mysteries of the world.
Morgan closed his status; on the one hand, he was happy that he wouldn’t need to waste a ton of energy unlocking his new ability, but on the other, he was afraid that Gold was wrong and he would be stuck at rank 8 forever.
By now, he’d already managed to convert over three quarters of his mana. The purple orb sitting at the center of his chest was growing larger each day and he could feel something inside himself changing. But the more he depleted his spheres of energy, the harder it became. At this point, it was a struggle just to grab ahold of both at once and he could only maintain the flow for short bursts before the strain became too much for him.
He snorted and turned his attention inward, finding the two energy sources and examining them once more.
He was too nervous to sleep at the moment, so instead of worrying, why not take the time to continue combining his mana and chi.
He grasped a tendril of each with his mind. It was really difficult to do this now and he had to struggle to keep ahold of it as he slowly pushed them both towards the sphere of reiki. They finally connected and both his mana and chi spheres began slowly shrinking once more. They were now only about a tenth the size of his reiki and shrinking with each passing minute as he funneled more and more into it.
Gold had warned him that once only five percent of each sphere remained, he should hold off on continuing until he was ready to unlock the supermage ability. Because once he passed that point, they would begin trying to pull the reiki apart back into their separate components and he would then need to fight to force the last bit to combine.
After an hour of painstaking work, Morgan was well and truly exhausted. He’d managed to convert nearly all of it, but was too tired to do the last bit. He lay down in his bed and pulled the blanket up to his chin.
At this rate, he’d definitely reach his ninety-five percent goal before the tournament. Of that, he was certain.
∞
Arnold stood at the top of the hill overlooking the academy.
It was a truly magnificent sight and one that he’d been sure he would never see again. It had been nearly a hundred years since he’d been thrown out for killing someone and he knew that if anyone here recognized him, he would be hunted down and killed.
Weasel had assured him that his quarry was in the academy. He was no longer with him, as he’d gone off to begin enacting the first part of King Edmund’s plan and he was glad to have a break from the smug man. Now all he had to do was get Sarah out of there before the plan came into full effect.
He frowned.
That was easier said than done. CAMS was massive, boasting over a hundred thousand students, instructors and merchants. At this point, there was no longer any doubt that this trip was cursed.
Snorting to himself at his bad luck, Arnold began his trek down the hill and towards the entrance of the academy.
∞
Morgan stood across from a nervous looking girl on one of the many fighting stages in the arena.
This was the fourth day of the tournament qualifying rounds and over three quarters of the students had already been eliminated.
At first, Morgan had been nervous as well, but after the third fight in a row, in which his opponent had posed no challenge whatsoever, he became more relaxed.
He watched as the referee walked onto the stage and announced the rules. He asked both of them if they understood and when they both nodded, began the fight.
Morgan took up a fighting stance as the girl rushed him.
She was clearly hoping for a swift victory and thought that attacking straight away was the best course of action.
Morgan easily dodged her first few attacks, then lashed out with a kick. He’d needed to be careful to hold back in his previous fights, so as not kill his opponents. Gold had warned him that since his rank had been falsified, the referee wouldn’t call the fight unless his blows were aimed at a vital area.
Since his strength attribute was so high, he could easily kill someone if he hit them with all his might, even if the area he was aiming for wouldn’t normally be considered fatal.
The girl winced as she was thrown back and clutched at the side where his kick had landed. Her rush attack was likely the only reason she was still in the running and she looked surprised that her attack hadn’t had its intended effect.
She poked at her side to make sure nothing was broken before turning back to him with a cocky grin.
“You’re a tough one, I’ll give you that. Guess I’ll have to start using my ability if I want to win.”
Then her skin shifted in color and took on a scaled appearance. Morgan looked on in interest as her features warped, becoming more reptilian.
He’d never seen an ability like this before. He hadn’t even know that transformation was a possibility. He had to revise his opinion of the girl, maybe she had earned her place here after all.
“I see you’re impressed by my power,” the girl said, flexing her arms and grinning. “How about I give you an up close and personal look at it?”
Morgan didn’t understand why so many people felt the need to prattle on in the middle of a fight. They boasted of their amazing power and how he didn’t stand a chance. At first he’d just been amused, watching one idiot after the next put on a show before he pummeled them into the ground. Now he was just annoyed.
All this wasted time and for what?
Morgan easily dodged the girl’s attack and brought his knee up into her stomach. There was a loud whoosh of air as the girl bent almost double; then Morgan brought his arm up into the air and pulled his elbow down toward the back of her head.
“Stop!”
Morgan froze with his elbow just a few inches from the girl’s skull. Then he relaxed and took a few quick steps back.
He’d learned to do this soon after his daily challenges had begun. Not everyone was happy after losing and more than one person didn’t care about their class ranking dropping.
“The winner is Morgan, by deathblow,” the referee said, coming into the center of the stage.
The girl straightened and allowed her features to shift back to normal. She winced a bit as she felt at her stomach, but Morgan hadn’t hit her hard enough to cause anything more than a nasty bruise.
“Guess I deserved that for all the bragging I did,” she said with a rueful smile, holding her hand out for him to shake.
Morgan was a little surprised, as no one he’d beaten before had taken it this well.
“Next time, focus more on your opponent rather than yourself,” he said, shaking the girl’s hand.
“So your name is Morgan; that’s quite some ability you’ve got to be able to dish out so much damage,” she smiled, moving a little closer to him. “My name is Cassy by the way.”
Morgan, feeling distinctly uncomfortable at her proximity, took a step back.
“I didn’t use my ability; just my knowledge of hand to hand combat.”
“Really? Well, that makes you even more interesting, in my book.”
She now had a predatory gleam in her eye that made Morgan even more nervous. He looked frantically around for an excuse to leave, when he spotted Sarah.
“Oh look, my friend is waiting for me. It was nice talking to you.” And with that, he hopped off the stage and practically ran from the girl. Looking back over his shoulder, he could see Cassy standing there with a slightly hurt expression on her face.
He did feel bad about being so rude, but she was making him uncomfortable. If he ever ran into her again, he would apologize.
“Great job on the fight,” Sarah said as he approached her.
“Wasn’t much of a fight,” he answered as they began walking towards the exit.
They stopped by the large archway and looked up at the large board full of the competitor’s names. According to the board, he would have to win three more fights to get into the tournament.
He sighed in frustration, wishing he could just get them all over with today, rather than over the
next three days.
He also couldn’t forget that once the super fights were over, he would have to wait for the mage class to finish theirs. That would take another whole week. Then he would need to wait another week after that for the tournament to begin. Why did it all have to take so long?
It was as they were leaving the arena when he once again spotted Grub and Frush lurking out of the corner of his eyes. They both looked surly and were staring at them with such looks of hatred, that he was surprised that on one else seemed to notice.
“What’s got you so down?” Sarah asked, as the two boys were lost from view.
“It’s all the waiting. It’s driving me crazy!”
She laughed and lightly punched him in the arm. “Since when are you the impatient type?”
“Since there was a platinum coin and a rank 39 core up for grabs,” he muttered, as they turned towards their block.
“Well, why don’t we stop by a restaurant before we go home? My treat!”
Morgan grinned when he heard that.
A free meal at a place that served good food?
Sarah really did know him better than anyone else.
36
This was it.
All he had to do to secure a spot in the tournament was win this fight; but that was easier said than done.
Morgan stared out across the stage, where Shul, the number two in the super class stood. He’d never had the opportunity to face him in a ranked match before, but from what he’d heard, he was pretty tough.
The referee came out onto the center of the stage and repeated the rules once more. He then asked if they were ready and announced the start of the match.
Morgan took up a defensive stance as Shul approached cautiously.
“I’ve heard a lot about you, Morgan,” he called out, keeping his fists raised as he shuffled forward.
Morgan ignored him, keeping a close eye on his opponent’s movements.
He was trying to distract him with conversation, but he could clearly see Shul’s muscles tensing, which meant he was about to attack.