The Academy

by Colin Daumen

  'System scan the group of elves approaching me.'

  [Ding! Unable to scan 1 target as their power level is above the host's.

  Target 1 – 2.3 strength, 1.2 agility, 2.0 constitution, 2.1 intelligence

  Target 2 – 1.4 strength, 2.2 agility, 2.1 constitution, 1.8 intelligence

  Target 3 – 3.0 strength, 1.0 agility, 1.5 constitution, 2.0 intelligence.]

  'Wow, these people are just cannon fodder. Aren't they just a bit too weak? I don't want to have to fight them, but if Dunkel helps me we could probably take them on with ease. Well, let me see if I can reason with them first.'

  Favian looked at the elven boy who just spoke. He was staring back with a smug expression, almost as if taunting Favian about the incident earlier. "Licht, is that your name?" he asked the girl who he previously complimented, deciding to completely ignore the elven boy.

  The elven girl looked at Favian shyly, her long curly hair glistened in the sunlight. Her eyes were a brown color originally, but the sunlight made it melt into caramel. 'Why is my heart beating so fast right now?' Licht wondered. She had been used to compliments her whole life, however, these compliments had always been focused on her power in battle and magic, not on her appearance.

  "Ye- Yes my name is Licht. Sorry about our intrusion, we'll be on our way." She quickly decided to try and leave as soon as possible, as she could feel blood creeping towards her face. She didn't want to reveal such an expression to somebody else. Licht tried to move her group away, but the elven boy relented, clearly having been annoyed by Favian's dismissal of him.

  Chapter 16 – Another confrontation 2

  "Filthy human, you dare to ignore me? Not only are u vulgar and without tact, having abused our princess Licht, but you even have the gall to associate yourself with that disgusting drow vermin?" the elven male spat out venomously, his forehead showing a bulging vein about to burst open.

  Dunkel jumped up at the insult to his race, moving closer to the elf boy until he stood so close to him that their faces almost touched. Dunkel's eyes felt like a black hole, sucking the elf into an abyss of chaos and rage. "How dare you!" he replied to the slander.

  The relationship between elf and drow was clearly stained into a blood feud that would never be solved, evident by the sheer hostility the elf exhibited against Dunkel. With Dunkel's face just centimeters away from his own, the boy cowered away, shuffling back towards his group.

  "Garu, apologize to Dunkel right now!" Licht exclaimed. Anger was slowly gathering within her. This was not what she thought was going to happen. Garu had promised her that he just wanted to ask the human if he liked her, and she had also wanted to know what his response would be.

  "If you two aren't afraid then come to the colosseum so that we can exchange some notes. The loser will have to lick the feet of the victor," he mustered up the courage to speak only when he was back in the vicinity of the other elves, feeling protected by their larger number. He decided to ignore Licht completely, his pride wouldn't let him apologize to a drow.

  "What do you think, Favian? I'm getting really pissed off by that pretentious prick already, so there'd be no harm in us teaching him a lesson," Dunkel said, making sure his voice was loud enough for the opposing group to hear.

  Hearing the name Favian, the elf boy's face turned as white as a diamond. He had heard rumors that Favian had killed a mountain lion by himself when he was only 3 years old. Most people didn't actually know what Favian looked like, therefore he became a living ghost, a myth.

  "Fa- Favian? I didn't realize that you're THE Favian. I'd like to apologize for my rude behaviour just now. How about we cancel this pointless competition, we've all got better things to do than fight each other," Garu said whilst frightened. He no longer felt safe within the protection of his group, and needed to weasel his way out of this situation however he could, regardless of whether he would lose face.

  Favian thought about what to do for a moment, and even though a part of him was urging him to just let bygones be bygones, he for some reason felt compelled to reject the offer. 'Not only has this asshole been mean to Dunkel and me, but I bet that he'd try to escalate everything if he didn't know about my strength.'

  "Huh? So, you're scared about me and a lowly Drow now are you? I didn't know the Elven Kingdom bred such weaklings who are all bark and no bite. I mean sure we can cancel our little spar, but I can bet my life on it that Dunkel here will find a way to make sure EVERYONE at the academy will hear about your cowardliness," Favian said as he looked straight at the gorgeous Licht, not once breaking eye contact with her throughout the whole exchange.

  "Fine. I will arrange for our friendly 1 on 1 match to be held in 5 days." Immediately after saying this, the elf boy made a hasty retreat with the other elves.

  'Oh no, what have I done; I was staring at her for so long. She probably thinks I'm a creep. Why did I even act all tough right there, that's not like me at all.' Favian was baffled by the events that happened today. Everything escalated so quickly and was completely out of his control for the majority of the time.

  Dunkel had now calmed down enough to joke again with Favian. He made fun of how much bravado Favian displayed earlier, after which they left The Barracks. On their way back to the dormitories, Favian asked, "So who is this Licht? She doesn't seem like a first year student. I can't exactly explain it but she's a lot stronger than the others." He'd been curious this whole time why somebody whose strength was greater than his own would hang out with the cannon fodder from earlier.

  "Oh Licht? She's the young princess of the Elven Kingdom. To answer your question, yes, she is only a first-year like us, however, she, the same as I, has been trained in magic since birth. Us elves and drow are just fine-tuned to magic in a way most other races aren't. And I'm not sure if you noticed earlier, but there's some serious bad blood between our races."

  Dunkel went on to explain the 10-thousand-year war and how the feud between the drow and elves began. At certain parts of the story he couldn't help but get teary-eyed, the amount of blood that had been shed between the two races had been pointless in his opinion.

  "As weird as it sounds though, Licht isn't like the other elves. I got to know her when we were kids, and she isn't as stuck up as the others. Has something to do with her older brother I think," he said.

  The two bid each other farewell as they reached the dormitories. It seemed that Favian and Dunkel would have lessons together in martial arts, monster hunting and dark magic. 'Guess I've really made a friend haven't I. I have a fight coming up soon, so it's probably smart if I start training for it.'

  The living quarters within the academy were completely randomly allocated. The only known quantity was that professors lived in their own space separate from the student living quarters. A kitchen could be found within each section of dormitories, which usually housed about 100 students. This meant that the preparation of food was extremely quick, and food could even be ordered 24/7. It was highly known that most magicians would work for days or even weeks without sleep, therefore food was available at all times. There'd be nothing sadder than a mage making a breakthrough, but dying immediately after as they couldn't get the nourishment they needed quickly enough.

  Once Favian got back to his room, he immediately went into what he himself dubbed 'crazy study mode'. He would usually enter a frenzy like state before midterms and exams back on Earth, to make sure he did as well as possible. Right now, instead, he went to meditate.

  An idea entered Favian's mind, 'I've not yet tried this out, but what would happen if I actively meditate and also let my system passively meditate as well.' He had only actively meditated once before, and he felt that it hadn't been extremely useful in improving himself. It helped to keep him invigorated, but it seemed like the energy particles he was absorbing were just pulled into a void inside himself which he couldn't interact with.

  Immediately after he had gotten the idea, he went over to his bed and rested in a comfortable position. The usual m
editative position wasn't feeling comfortable for him, so Favian decided to just lay with his back against his bed frame.

  'System activate the automatic arcana assembly.' With this command, swirls of energy particles started to enter Favian's body. The dark energy particles entered him the most efficiently, and light particles were the next best processed.

  ‘Weird, I thought that shadow particles and dark energy particles would be taken in at the same rate. System, what is the reason for no shadow energy particles being absorbed into my body?’ he questioned, baffled at the current outcome. Favian had never questioned the lack of shadow particles being absorbed by himself whilst he was held captive as he was preoccupied with just increasing his strength quickly. ‘Maybe more advanced particles aren't so easy to absorb,’ he thought to himself.

  [DING! The system is unable to grasp at particles of intermediate and advanced levels. The host will have to manually target and absorb them.]

  This answer made him feel a bit let down, however, it was well within expectation. His system wasn't perfect after all. ‘Maybe the system will be able to absorb them once I upgrade it. I still need another 7000 experience before I can upgrade the system though.’

  Slowly Favian tried his best to locate the shadow particles in the vicinity. He was able to grasp them, but it was difficult to control them once they entered his body. They seemed to be getting pulled in by some unknown force.

  ‘Strange, why is everything I'm absorbing not nourishing my body. The feeling of growth I get from the system's absorption isn't here.’ Favian then decided to turn off the absorption by the system, to test whether this was just a by-product of him trying to absorb too many particles. To his disappointment, however, this wasn't the case. He still didn't feel any growth coming out of his manual meditation.

  ‘System, bring up all information related to absorption techniques,’ he commanded.

  [Ding! 'Darkness and Shadows' has an excerpt which was hidden from the host until he reached 'upper initiate' level. The passage reads out as follows:

  "To train in the shadows means to live with the shadows. Practitioners of shadow magic will be forced to invest tremendous amounts of energy into breaking through to 'Level 1 Mage'. A second arcane core will be formed in the practitioner’s body, with breaking through to Level 1 signifying the successful creation and consolidation of a second core. After reaching the realm of an upper initiate, all meditation and absorption of world energy will not improve a practitioner, and will instead be used to create the said arcane core."] The system read out.

  ‘Well f*ck.’ Favian thought to himself. ‘Bright side is that my system still absorbs the world energy as usual, so my body will continue to grow.’

  ...

  Birds chirped harmoniously and flew around happily near a large green lake. A vibrant ecosystem could be discovered, with flowers of all shapes and sizes blooming near the edge of the serene body of water. The sun was high up in the sky, revealing two groups of people who were seated across from each other on a long table. Unlike the tranquil environment, the two parties were in a rather heated discussion. The atmosphere was filled with anger and displeasure.

  “Hans, you can't seriously think that we will continue with this pointless tradition!” a woman with dark blue skin shouted. Her green eyes looked at the man on the other side of the table with displeasure.

  The man across the table tapped his fingers on his head in impatience. “This 'pointless' tradition you speak of, has kept our clans docile and cooperative for the past millennia. I cannot, and will not allow you to shirk away from your responsibilities as the Queen of Drows. Your son will stay at the royal palace of the Elven Kingdom as has been the case for the past thousand years.” His long blonde hair and long ears showed him to be an elf. His aura, however, was many times stronger than that of a regular elf, and his handsomeness could be said to be the greatest of his people.

  Unlike the tension that was felt by the table, in a different area of the forest two gleeful laughs could be heard.

  “Hahaha, I've got you!” Licht shouted as she flung her palms at the young boy who had been hiding behind a tree.

  The young boy sulked after he'd been caught. “That's not fair! You were cheating!”

  “No I wasn't!” she replied, laughing at the boy.

  To the girl, there was nothing out of the ordinary about her playing with this boy her own age, but to onlookers it would become apparent that Licht was joyfully playing together with a drow. This usually wasn't the case, as the two races tried to interact with each other as little as possible.

  "Dunkel, Licht, I think it's about time for us to leave," said a slightly older boy. He looked like the miniature version of the elven man who'd been sat at the long table. His father was the Elven King, and that made him a prince. His hair, eyes and ears all resembled that of his father's to an uncanny degree, and if there had been cameras able to document his father's appearance as a child, they would have looked the exact same.

  “But I wanna play for just a little longer with my new friend Gael,” she said, unwilling to surrender.

  “Licht, you'll be able to play with him loads, he's going to come to live with us after today,” Gael replied.

  Her face brightened upon hearing this. “Really? Do you promise?” she asked.

  “What? But I don't want to live with you!” Dunkel shouted.

  ...

  Dunkel was currently sitting on his bed, having said goodbye to Favian only a few moments ago. Having interacted with Licht again after such a long time brought back these hidden memories to the surface. He resented all of the other elves because of how they treated drows like third-class citizens. But Licht always held a soft spot for him. She wasn't like the other elves, she was nice to him, and treated him like a friend.

  “It's been almost ten years hasn't it Licht,” he muttered. He'd been surprised to see her here at the academy, expecting to only see her at the official meetings held between their races.

  Chapter 17 – Colosseum

  In a tall spire which overlooked a barren forest sat two figures, conversing. The forest was shrouded in darkness, and the sounds of beasts fighting could be heard from the distance. The spire stood tall at almost 500 meters in height, and the obsidian material that was used to create it blended in perfectly with the night. A heated conversation was underway.

  "How dare those non-believers steal something we covet? We must raze their lands to the ground for this blasphemy!" said a short man, rage apparent in his voice. His bald head had a strange tattoo on it, giving his pale skin an ominous aura. The black tattoo seemed to move and swirl constantly, changing its shape from tentacles to moons.

  "Raziel, you must have patience, for Eris has not yet spoken," a woman bathed in moonlight calmly said. Her voice was angelic and soothing, and when she spoke it sounded more like a lullaby than words. Her voice would be able to make any child fall asleep whilst in her embrace.

  The man, however, still relented, "High priestess, we must act with haste, lest the treasure is lost." He was now pleading more than ever, hoping to change her mind. He knew that it was a dead-end trying to change her mind, but he still felt the need to at least try.

  The high priestess looked towards the sky, her presence divine, before abruptly disappearing into thin air. A blood gurgling scream could be heard immediately after she disappeared, followed by a loud snap. The priestess returned to the tower only seconds later, with a decapitated head in hand.

  "A spy in our ranks!" she exclaimed. Her angelic appearance morphed into that of a demon, blood covering her face and body. She opened her mouth wide and gorged on the fresh meat she had just claimed, crunching the bones and tearing the flesh asunder.

  …

  The continent of Ortu Solis was divided into numerous different factions and territories. To the east of the continent, taking up the largest patch of land was that of the common folk. The common folk were made up of the humans, who held the greatest population, the d
warves, and various other races. This part of the continent was a melting pot for these different cultures. Here, most of the magical academies resided, and almost 50% of the continent's population was held. Adventurers guilds, mercenary guilds and assassins' guilds were all also commonplace in the various kingdoms in the east, and each held a large amount of wealth and power in the continent.

  To the west was where the elves made their territory, in the Great Forest. The elves were a secluded bunch, who rarely made themselves known throughout the continent; they would only send their young to the various schools before having them brought back after they’d completed their studies.

  To the north lived the giants, in the barren, cold tundra, and here the great martial schools had been built. If an individual wanted to learn to be a fighter, they would come here. The giants were a simple species, who warred with each other continuously; peace was never an option. Yet, their overly simple nature was balanced by their incredible power. They weren’t gifted with magic, but instead had an innate bloodline that granted them immeasurable constitution and strength, and some even were innately resistant against magic.

  What lay in the south of the continent was unknown to most. They believed it to be a vast expanse of desert impassable due to the great number of monsters living there. Rumors had it that two gods once descended to the continent, and fought each other in the south. The area was said to have been barren ever since, and a regular person would not last even one second in the harsh environment there. This was not the case, however, and most high-ranking individuals on the continent knew that something even more evil lay to the south; a barrier had been built millennia ago to protect Ortu Solis from whatever was hidden there, with the Amity Mountain Range being the closest place to the south which was highly populated with sentient life.

  …

  Favian had spent the rest of the night attempting to gather world energy into his own body, but to no avail. It seemed that what was written in the book was true, he would not be able to see the fruits of his labor any time soon. 'This better be worth it and make me strong.'