Tears of Alron (The Alchemist Book #3): LitRPG Series

by Vasily Mahanenko

  It got to the point that the day before the arena holidays, they had to hold the lesson in the open space in front of the main building. Tailyn was pushed to the side as Valia stole the show on her own. Right before the end, as she began her usual spin, she started giving those watching buffs, only...

  And the academy students once again witnessed a miracle.

  Valia Levor gave you a Mass Blessing buff.

  All your parameters were boosted by 10% for 24 hours.

  The System had given the girl a new skill.

  That same day, Valia went to see the provost, leaving with a named star, level forty-six, and an order to jump straight to the fourth year once her first was complete. The order went for both her and Tailyn, in fact. The girl had refused to go without him.

  The next morning, the main hall in the magic card department was packed with a hundred and fourteen students. Each year had put forward a team of their best students, with fifteen regulars and one in reserve. With that said, the first year was different in that it had submitted two teams for the arena. The first was made up of the usual sixteen team members, while the second had just two. Tailyn and Valia had decided against inviting anyone else.

  Madam Varin began speaking.

  “You all know the rules, but I need to go over them just in case. Students in the arena can use the cards they’re given as well as those they’ve created themselves. For that reason, our department always has an advantage — we’re the only ones who can make cards. If you break the rules, you’re disqualified. And for those of you who have active companions, you’ll need to hand your cards over to someone you trust while you’re fighting in the arena.”

  That last point was presumably aimed at Tailyn. From what he could tell, he was the only one in the department with a legendary card.

  “Your goal is to destroy the enemy. You can use anything you find there, elixirs, weapons, whatever it takes to win. First, we’ll see who the winners are for each year; then, it’s the academy as a whole. I’m confident our students will do much better this year than they did last year — not one single team came away the best in its year. Battles will be held once a day, with opponents selected at random. I believe in you, students of the magic card department!”

  A gong rang out to announce the beginning of the battles.

  “The seventh-year students will go first. Your opponent is the battle magic department. Good luck!”

  Sixteen students stood up and headed out of the hall. Their faces were tense, having drawn the toughest opponent there was to face in the arena. There was a reason their elite department was the pride and joy of the academy.

  “Sixth year, you don’t have an opponent today. Take a break. Fifth year...”

  One after another, the teams left the hall and stepped into a teleport taking them to their battle in the arena. The battles all took place at the same time, and the audience could pick which one they wanted to watch. For Tailyn, it was a surprise to hear how the virtual battlefields worked — while the battles were all held in the same arena, they were each in a separate dimension. There were even recordings for the fans, letting them watch replays complete with commentary. They were hugely popular, particularly among those fighting in the battles. Getting the chance to scout out their opponents and put together a strategy was invaluable.

  “First year, main team,” Varin continued. “You’ll be taking on the summoning department. Good luck, young mages!”

  Tailyn and Valia were the last two remaining. And when the main team left, it was finally their turn.

  “First year, healing team,” Madam Varin said with her eye on the pair. “You’ll be fighting the herbalism department. Show those herbarium-lovers what our department can do!”

  Hand in hand, Tailyn and Valia stepped out of the hall. A portable arch was already in the hallway, exact copies in front of the main hall of each of the other six departments. Walking through theirs, the pair slipped through the shimmering film and found themselves in the arena. Only it wasn’t really the arena. They were staring at a plain dotted with small boulders. There were no stands, no audience. Just the battle. Out in front of them, out of reach of their scanners, was the other team.

  Group set.

  Cards verified, no comment.

  The battle will begin in 30 seconds.

  There was nothing to say. The two had long since settled on their strategy, giving them no reason to talk about anything else. Sadly, the cards they were given were practically a joke. There were only eight of them, they were all level one, and there wasn’t a single rare to speak of. Fireball, electric strike, shield enhancement, cleansing, seek, cold ring, icicle, and weakness. Tailyn didn’t even get his favorite wave of fire.

  “All right let’s see how they like this,” Tailyn chuckled as he pulled out a giant crossbow. He’d finally decided what he wanted to spend one of his two named stars on, though he’d had to ask Forian for access to an academy terminal so he could unlock the attributes and skills he needed. And that took some wheedling — Tailyn’s plan was taking him far astray from the path of a traditional mage. He was turning into some kind of mix, combining the weaponry and skills of Crobar with the magic of the academy. It was grotesque. But Valanil stepped in to help.

  “Don’t get in his way — let him choose his own path. He’s an alchemist, not a mage.”

  Ultimately, Forian gave in and brought Tailyn over to a terminal, just forbidding him in no uncertain terms from unlocking the attributes he needed to create cards. While Magistrate Sadil had promised to leave the boy alone until he graduated the academy, Tailyn felt the investigator’s presence with him everywhere he went. Although, to be fair, Tailyn himself no longer really had any desire to dig into all that drawing nonsense. His professor had spent the previous week wringing his hands and rolling his eyes when he saw the boy’s drawings. Even the straight lines turned out so crooked he could only yell in frustration. Valia had a gift. Tailyn...had Valia. And that was enough.

  Tailyn loaded the crossbow and looked over his newest acquisitions one more time.

  Marksmanship. Description: an attribute that lets you effectively use ranged weapons. Additional chance of hitting your target: Marksmanship percent, but no more than 80%. Integrates with Enhancement.

  ***

  Mentality / Device Control. Description: a skill that lets you interact with devices that have a control system and the ability to respond to commands. Integrates with Enhancement.

  ***

  Valkyrie. Description: a universal alchemist’s crossbow belonging to player Tailyn Vlashich (cannot be stolen or used by anyone else). Current Valkyrie level (VL): 6. Drum with 4 types of enchanted bolts, each with 5 * VL shots (armor-piercing, fire, freeze, poison). The damage done depends on the type of bolt fired. Speed: VL shots per minute. Ignores all armor through level VL. Slows Regeneration. Range: 200 meters. Additional property for Valkyrie level 5: lets you shoot alchemical grenades up to 200 meters (packaged separately). Additional parameters: physical attack +300 * VL; magic attack +300 * VL. Requirements: Marksmanship (20), Agility (20), Strength (20), Monster Knowledge (20), Anatomy Master (20), Perception (20), Device Control (20). (Note! You do not meet the requirements and cannot use this item).

  The crossbow Tailyn had just pulled out wasn’t Valkyrie. Regardless of the fact that he’d already unlocked all the parameters he needed, getting them to level twenty was going to take a while. But it was a great use of a named star in terms of the future. In the meantime, the boy was holding a simple weapon similar to the one Motar had taught him how to use. But even that represented an enormous threat to mages — he remembered only too well his encounter with the Crobar assassins. Tailyn pointed the weapon in the direction of the herbalists.

  Five seconds remained before the beginning of the battle.

  A gong sounded, and the herbarium-lovers, as Madam Varin called them, rushed forward. Tailyn pulled the trigger and just about fell back onto his butt — the recoil from the bolt was far m
ore powerful than what he was used to. Of course, Vargot helped, absorbing nearly the entire impact. Lowering the weapon to the ground, Tailyn got to work loading it for another shot. He hadn’t been looking to score a hit from that distance, really just trying to scare the herbalists and see how the crossbow worked. There hadn’t been a chance to try it out. Finally, there was a click, and Tailyn slid the next bolt into place. Regardless of his fairly advanced strength, loading the big device turned out to be a challenge. It looked like he was going to have to sell the monster and go for something simpler.

  “Tailyn, that was a hit!” Valia said suddenly.

  The herbalists had stopped to gather around the student lying on the ground. Tailyn raised the crossbow and took aim, the closely packed group making it nearly impossible to miss even from a hundred and twenty meters. As the bolt struck home, the pair almost immediately saw the result.

  Opponent killed. Remaining: 14 of 15.

  “I wonder what their plan was. Just run in and duke it out?” Tailyn was shocked by how passive the herbalists were being. Finally, it occurred to them that they were in danger, but instead of throwing caution to the wind and charging to close the distance, they ducked and hid behind rocks and tufts of grass. The crossbow was loaded once more, and the boy took aim at a target. Three shots later, he stopped. Hitting one of the hidden students was nearly impossible. At least, from that range.

  “Let’s get up on that rock and wait for them,” Valia said, pointing at a giant boulder. “We’ll see who loses their patience first.”

  The pair had agreed ahead of time that they weren’t going to take risks or try to be heroes in their first battle. And since they needed to wait, wait was what they were going to do. It was what they’d spent the previous three months doing, in fact. Making himself comfortable on the boulder, Tailyn kept the crossbow ready to fire at the first sign of movement. And the herbalists didn’t make them wait long. Used to the safety of the academy, they began poking their heads up just a minute later. None of them had ever had to deal with lixes or crystal fences. Having decided the danger was past, one of them got up and ran over to his partner on the ground, crouching as he went. His hands glowed — he was a healer who’d decided to help out his wounded teammate. Tailyn took carful aim, afraid to miss. Shooting from a hundred and twenty meters hadn’t been something he’d trained. Holding his breath the way Motar had taught him, Tailyn froze, only then pulling the trigger. It was like the healer could sense something was wrong. He had time to look up and even start to leap to the side, though it was too late. The bolt slammed right into his chest. And while the boy’s personal shield held up, his innards were mashed beyond recognition, leaving him beyond the help of even the best healers. His battle was over.

  Opponent killed. Remaining: 13 of 15.

  “Stop shooting!” came a hysterical shout. “Use your cards — this is the Magic Academy!”

  But Tailyn didn’t listen. Loading his weapon one more time and deciding he wasn’t going to sell it after all, he began waiting for his next target. He didn’t think it was going to take long.

  Opponent killed. Remaining: 1 of 15.

  It took two hours for Tailyn to shoot almost all the herbalists. The last three decided it was better to die in battle, so they came weaving their way toward the boulder Tailyn and Valia were perched on. However, they forgot that the archer wasn’t the only person they had to worry about on the other team. As soon as they got within range of magic, Valia went to work. All she had to do was say boo three times in quick succession for the remaining bodies to hit the ground. Even simple cards could be fearsome weapons in the hands of someone at level forty-six.

  Tailyn finished off the last herbalist with Matilda — it was the unlucky one who’d caught his first shot. Unconscious from the pain, the student was lying on the grass, the bolt sticking right out of his stomach. Tailyn had no idea how he’d managed to survive, in fact. The boy’s ragged breathing told Tailyn and Valia that he had just a few hours left, but Tailyn wasn’t about to play the sadist. Matilda buried itself in his chest, ending the boy’s suffering. The space around them swirled around until it solidified into the portal arch outside the department’s main hall.

  The team of healers from the magic card department’s first year won!

  Next opponent: first-year summoning department.

  “Our guys lost?” Valia asked, taken aback when she saw who their next opponent was. “How did that happen?”

  “It just did. As it turns out, different departments get different sets of cards,” someone replied in a disgruntled tone. The main first-year team leader was sitting by the portal. “They can summon animals, and they killed us while we were trying to deal with their animals. Stupid cowards... We were there to fight with magic, not try to keep those things from gnawing on us!”

  “Did any of our other teams win?” Tailyn asked, though the silence spoke volumes. Only two teams were going to be fighting for the honor of their department the next day — the first and sixth years. Two out of eight was a miserable showing for the magic card department.

  “Tailyn, let’s go.” Valia grabbed the boy by the hand and pulled him away. “We need to head over to the arena.”

  “You want to watch the team we’re going up against tomorrow?” the boy asked.

  “Yes, but that’s not all. We need to dance. I’m not about to get eaten by some animals, and avoiding that without wave of fire will be challenging. And since we can only take our own cards with us to the arena, so be it. Let’s play by the rules.”

  Chapter 16

  The team of healers from the magic card department’s first year won!

  Next opponent: first-year battle mage department.

  THE SUMMONERS DIDN’T have a chance. Their animals died before they’d gotten halfway to their targets, and the summoner students, who didn’t have the defenses they needed, didn’t last much longer. Not ten seconds after the gong had sounded, the battle was over. And that was no surprise — Valia had used her icy rain.

  Icy Rain-I. Description: epic card. A storm cloud appears over the selected target within 5 seconds of the card being used, doing damage in the amount of magic attack / 2 to all creatures in the strike zone including the creator. Cloud duration: Wisdom seconds. Charges: 5. Each use costs 32 mana. Requirements: Wisdom (16). Can be recharged. Time between uses: 60 minutes. Creators: Valia Levor and Tailyn Vlashich.

  Tailyn had immediately added his copy of the card to his active deck. Thinking back, neither he nor Valia were likely to ever forget how they’d created it. Even the arena hadn’t been needed — nothing had worked there. Coming up emptyhanded after a couple hours spent there, the frustrated pair had headed home to begin preparing for the next day’s battle. And that night, having realized they were both having a hard time going to sleep, they headed into virtual space together on a whim. Tailyn headed over to Valia’s hall, turning into a dancer, though he had no desire whatsoever to create any kind of harmony with her. Sadness and disappointment hung in the air. Grayness... Although, not grayness; mold. The boy shivered as he took a closer look at one of the corners, something green and unpleasant beginning to spread there. Valia was so upset about the fact that she hadn’t been able to create a new card that her personal space was starting to decay. And Tailyn didn’t want that. If the mold infected her choreography hall, it would jump over to his blacksmith sooner or later. That wasn’t an option, so Tailyn did the only thing he knew how to do. He picked up the girl and kissed her to give her some of his strength. There was no dance, no enchanting music. Just two children embracing each other.

  But that wasn’t enough. The mold didn’t go anywhere, just determinedly fortifying its hold on the corner and growing out from there. Not seeing that, Tailyn more sensed it, and that was when he... The boy couldn’t really explain what he did. He just called out to his mountains. He asked them for help. He begged them to destroy the rot. And they responded.

  Suddenly, it grew cold, and a blizzard burst
into the choreography hall. The mold stopped growing so quickly, though it didn’t stop altogether. Help, Tailyn thought. And Valia heard him. The cold sobered her up, and she looked around in horror when she saw the parasite in her hall. But she knew the blizzard wouldn’t be enough to destroy the mold. She needed something stronger. And that was when she cried out to harmony. The blizzard, in turn, heard her, beginning to collect snowflakes into something large and deadly. Something that was right. An icicle appeared, and with it an image in the girl’s consciousness. Not doubting herself for a minute, Valia added it to the blizzard, and...

  The sharp icicle pierced both of the embracing children. The last thing the girl remembered was destroying the mold. And pain, lots of pain.

  They only woke up half an hour before the competition was scheduled to begin — a worried Valanil showed up to make sure everything was okay with them. After spending a couple minutes creating two cards, though without enough time to test them, the pair ran off to the department’s main hall. They were sent to the arena from there.