Your betrothal to Valia Levor was annulled.
A servant standing behind Tailyn raised the boy’s right hand, and the guests seated around the table broke into cheers. The bracelet signifying Tailyn’s connection to the girl disappeared. At the other end of the table, the same thing occurred — Valia’s hand was raised, and it was suddenly free of her bracelet.
“The god has declared its will!” the viceroy announced grandly. “Valia Levor is free and will become my son’s wife. The Carlian clan will become the most influential in the empire. I have spoken!”
The servants let go of the children’s hands, though they remained raised. Tailyn was holding his up for all to see. Their opponent had made his move; it was their turn.
Group renamed. New name: Together.
New group leader: Tailyn Vlashich.
Group renamed: For life!
***
You were betrothed to Valia Levor.
The snickers that broke out died away immediately when the bracelets reappeared. Even the servants stopped bustling around, afraid to attract too much attention.
“I prohibit this betrothal!” It took a little while for the viceroy to realize what was going on. Leaping to his feet, he yelled in a fit of anger. “Your betrothal was declared null and void! You can’t wear those bracelets!”
But there was no response — the god was deaf to the viceroy’s pleas. Deciding the time was right, Tailyn got to his feet, and the enraged figure at the other end of the table was stunned into silence by the impudence.
“Nothing and nobody in this world can change the god’s decision. Not even the emperor’s viceroy. Human laws hold no sway over the System.”
The viceroy was about to bark an order for the kid to be arrested when Valia chimed in.
“I, Valia Levor, in right mind and memory, sever my ties to the Carlian clan. I renounce the privileges associated with my birth, though I have no intention of renouncing Tailyn. What the god has joined together, nobody can tear apart. Not even the emperor’s viceroy.”
Silence fell again. Nobody had ever dared say anything of that nature in that hall.
“Let’s go, Valia. There’s nothing more for us here.” Tailyn waited for the girl to make her way over to him, and then the pair left the hall in complete silence. It was only when they got to the garden that Valia let herself look back at the palace one last time.
“There’s no way back. Tailyn, I’m so scared…”
“If there’s no way back, we’ll just keep moving forward. Together.” Tailyn held out his hand, and Valia gripped it tightly. She no longer had anyone besides the boy.
“For life!”
Hand in hand, Tailyn and Valia headed toward the academy, passers-by stopping to watch them go. The pair was so happy that those around them couldn’t help smiling as they indulged in the memory of their own most precious moments. Even without meaning to, the children were sharing their light with hundreds of others, turning the dreary day into some kind of holiday if only for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, the emotionless System, the one that tracked everything each player did, dropped a check mark in Tailyn and Valia’s journals. There were just a few steps left before the trigger that had been gathering dust for three thousand years. But were they going to hit it?
Chapter 3
THE FIRST MORNING spent training at the academy was ushered in with a string of shouts. Tailyn’s door flew open, and there was Valanil Revolt in the flesh.
“Are you planning on spending all day in bed? Not getting enough sleep? Wait, what are you doing here? You kids have lost it — you’re just twelve!”
The academy commandant had refused to give Valia a room, claiming there weren’t any available, and that had forced Tailyn to share his with her. The two had been sleeping in the same bed. And when Valanil walked in, that was what she saw.
“Why are you here so early?” Tailyn didn’t even think about coming up with an excuse or explanation. Turning over onto his side, he pried his eyes open and checked the time. It was just six o’clock. Given the fact that the ceremony started at noon, there was no reason for Valanil to be standing there.
Culmart’s old herbalist looked at Valia, who sat up in bed and pulled the blanket all the way up to her chin. The woman already knew what the pair had done — the whole city was tut-tutting the girl’s move. And while it was a serious play, the worst part for Valanil was that she liked it. She was starting to respect the girl. Her breeding was showing through, and that elicited something from the woman that even she hadn’t been expecting.
“Valia, I want to be your trainer. You have my word that you’ll regret it many times over.”
Valanil Revolt would like to be your trainer. Accept?
The girl didn’t hesitate for a second. Sure, she didn’t like the woman, but there was no denying the fact that she’d taken the sack of country bones Tailyn had been and turned him into what he was then. And given that there weren’t any other trainers lining up to take the girl on, Valanil made for an awfully tempting option.
“Great. I’ll be expecting you both on the training grounds in five minutes. If you thought studying here at the academy was a lark, you’re about to realize how wrong you were.”
Running. Stretching. Running. Staff work. Running. Dodging potions. Running. Strength work. All of that, three times over.
Valanil stuck strictly to the training plan Crobar had come up with — the body was only perfected when it was pushed to the edge. Of course, the woman knew all too well that the tempo was designed for people with regeneration, the rest breaking in a week without the ability to recover in time, but she wasn’t going to change her mind. Valia was a strong girl. She could take it. And if she couldn’t, she had Tailyn, and the boy would help. In that moment, to take one example, their finally run of the day wrapped up with the boy throwing the lifeless girl onto his back and hauling her across the finish line. He hadn’t been about to go on without her.
“That’s depressing to see. Weakness and laziness.” Valanil looked down at the kids sprawled on the grass and had a hard time suppressing a smile. There weren’t many first-year students at Crobar who could have made it through three cycles — the pair had something to them.
“This isn’t training. You’re killing us!” Valia wanted to add a lion’s roar, but it turned out closer to a mouse’s squeak. She didn’t have the strength to talk normally.
“It’s what will make you stronger, girl,” her trainer replied categorically before looking around. The training grounds and running tracks were filling with other students. “Take the rest of the day to recover, get to know the study plan, and meet me back here tomorrow at six. There are too many people here now to keep going. Just get to sleep earlier — that will help your body rebuild itself. Okay, the shower is over there.”
The trainer pointed in the direction of the nearest building and left.
“Can you believe this? She wants to kill us! I can’t feel my legs,” Valia muttered, trying to stand up and collapsing back down onto the ground. Her jelly legs wouldn’t hold her up.
Tailyn froze for a few moments as he ducked into his workshop. Minus 2,100 coins, he came back with a red lesser regeneration flask.
“Here. This will help.”
Valia gulped down the potion without asking any questions. Actually, she’d never tasted anything more delicious, and a wave of warmth tickled its way through her body as her weary muscles began to regenerate. Tailyn was already sitting up.
“I have thirty thousand coins. With the discount Raptor gives me, that’s enough for two weeks, so we need to figure out how to get you recovering faster by that time. There have to be other elixirs — the imperial guard wouldn’t last without them. Motar, the head of the guard in the town I’m from, mentioned something about how their training was much harder than what we just finished.”
Standing up, the girl took a few careful steps as she reacquainted herself with her body. There were still echoes of fatigue,
though they were disappearing with each passing second.
“Don’t worry, I’ll figure out how to recover,” Valia said as she glanced over enviously at the other students. What they were doing looked like a warmup despite the fact that the upperclassmen were pushing themselves to the limit. A pang gripped her chest — Ronan was over there among them. Whirling around in a mesmerizing dance, he was using his staff to expertly beat off two trainers at the same time. Valia turned away, realizing she was about to burst into tears. Sure, she was bearing up under the stress well, but leaving her family was incredibly difficult for her, and that reminder of her former life just about pushed her over the edge. Grabbing onto Tailyn’s arm for support, she left the training grounds as quickly as she could. It was time to wash the fear away. They said you can’t see your tears in the shower, and that was as good a time as any to test out that theory.
Twenty minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to start, the provost’s voice rang out.
“Academy students, welcome to the new school year! I wish you all the best grades, excellent matchups, and smooth sailing through the trials. And now, please have all first-year students gather near the entrance to the main academy building. All others can continue with your lessons — you already have your schedules.”
The academy descended into chaos. The first-year students buzzed around like a colony of ants, some of them unsure where to go, others looking to grab the best spots, and still more languidly strolling somewhere only they knew and getting in the way of the rest. Tailyn had already picked out the spot with the best view of the ceremony — he’d had to rake leaves there. Grabbing Valia by the hand, he dragged her off toward the tree they’d picked. However, the branches turned out to be full already, Tailyn being far from the only sharp-eyed student on the lookout. The view was still excellent, however. The tree was on a small hill, the area outside the main academy building spreading out in front of it.
The department deans as well as the provost himself were standing right by the door. For the first time, Tailyn saw the academy head in person — a fat man with a smile on his face who looked like the kind of guy who ate his fair share of sweets. His thick red beard stood out against the long, smooth, and snow-white hair reaching almost to his shoulder blades. Meanwhile, his sausage-like fingers were clutching a piece of paper, presumably a message to the students. Tailyn was disappointed. In his mind, the provost was a majestic giant reminiscent of the statues in the System’s temple, nothing like just another guy from the street over. But the most impessive part was the description the boy’s perception gave him. He’d never seen anyone at that high a level.
Provost. Level 3488.
At exactly twelve, there was a gong, and silence fell over the area as everyone strained their ears to catch every single word. Tailyn already knew the only chance of seeing the provost was on the first day of classes. The rest of the time, the great man was off working to better the academy.
“Once again, I’d like to welcome all our first-year students,” the provost said, his voice miraculously carrying around the entire vicinity. “Also, hello to three former second-year students who didn’t obey my order, something that happens, unfortunately, every year. Some people never learn. Get rid of them!”
Three battle mages took off smoothly from the roof, a move that elicited a simultaneous gasp of surprise. Apparently, Tailyn was just about the only one there who had already seen levitation in action. Aiming their staffs at the crowd, the mages activated telekinesis rays that lifted three writhing children off the ground. That was who the provost had been talking to. The trio tried to yell something, though the sound couldn’t make it through the shields surrounding them, and a couple moments later the doors slammed shut to leave them outside the walls. The academy was barred forevermore as far as they were concerned.
“Eight hundred students are beginning their first year at the academy,” the provost continued. “Two hundred will finish their seventh. As you have no doubt surmised, the dropout rate will be high — any broken rule, poor studying, lack of initiative, and attempt to blend in with the crowd will result in being kicked out. And there are no indulgences or outside influences brooked. Once you’re here, your family means nothing, whether you were a peasant or the son of the emperor’s viceroy. You’re all students. Whoever doesn’t fall in line with that will be removed the same as those three, so I hope you’ve learned this lesson once and for all. Perhaps, I won’t have to remove anyone next year.”
The provost paused to let his message sink in.
“Every year, we go through two procedures before letting you all head off to your respective auditoriums. You’re currently on equal footing. None of the teachers knows what you’re capable of, so we’re going to help them out a bit with that. Before you leave, each of you will go through the potential arch and touch the healing stone. That’s the initial check that will be used to group you. Battle mage department, since you’re the pride of the academy, you’ll go ahead and get us started. Dean, over to you.”
The provost nodded toward the department heads and disappeared quickly into the academy. For the vast majority of those present, it was the one and only time they were going to get to see him.
The mages appeared once again. Just like before, they used their staffs to bring out a large arch that looked something like a stationary portal as well as a boulder a bit smaller than the one Forian Tarn had hurled at the guard. The battle magic dean took a few steps forward and looked around at the crowd gathered in front of him. He was a thin, wiry mage who moved with the grace of a wild cat the way Master Motar had described top fighters.
“Why are they the pride of the academy?” a girl whispered in annoyance.
“Because we were first,” a boy next to her replied, his tone dripping with condescension. “The academy started with us, and everyone else joined later. You’re probably a healer, right?”
The girl didn’t have time to answer before the battle magic dean’s voice rang out.
“Argust Pak!”
A boy stood up and went over to the arch. After pausing for a second, he took a step forward that left him on the other side of the machine there to identify potential. He quickly placed a hand on the stone before jerking it back and shaking it in the air as though he’d been burned.
“Potential — seventy-two, no healing ability. Bardik Shart!”
The initial numbers were given, whatever they meant, and the line of children trundled through. Some were higher; some were lower. None of the battle mages had healing ability, however. When he got to the end of the list, the dean turned silently and ducked through the door, his place taken by the next dean. The latter was in charge of the summoning department, one that, like Vu-Rga, worked with a variety of magic creatures. Suddenly, a buzz rippled through the crowd. A girl stepping through the arch was enveloped in a white glow as soon as she touched the stone. His voice giving his excitement away, the dean boomed out.
“Potential — forty-seven, healing ability!”
The faculty head couldn’t hide how thrilled he was to have a student like that. The summoners ended up with two more students who had healing ability, and the light the stone gave off turned out to vary. For the first girl, it was bright and rich; for the others, it was so dim it was barely visible. Still, all three turned out to have healing ability. Time went on, and finally it was time for the magic card department. The dean Valia and Tailyn already knew stepped forward, that time back in his kindly old man guise.
“Valia Levor!”
It was their turn to become real mages. At least, if they weren’t kicked out before they graduated. Valia calmly walked over to the arch, nodded to the dean as though they were old friends, and stepped through to the stone, though that was when she was enveloped in a blinding light. The dean was speechless. Glancing back and forth between the girl and the inscription that had popped up, he finally got a grip on his emotions and made a dramatic pronouncement.
“Potential — ninet
y-five, healing ability!”
The students who remained murmured to each other. Valia had shown the highest potential of anyone to go through the arch to that point, and that was even considering the fact that the battle magic was the academy’s shining star. Nobody else had scored higher than eighty-five.
A few other kids came after Valia, though none of them were able to push the meter past fifty. The same was true for healing — Tailyn’s classmates just walked away from the stone shaking their burnt hands. But finally, it was the boy’s turn.
“Tailyn Vlashich!”
The “kindly old man” watched the boy with interest. Valia had shocked him, her potential something the academy had not seen in a long time. It was a good thing he’d had Forian take her on. And the fact that she was a healer was fantastic, too, as the department got additional privileges from the provost for each student with the ability. Gold, coins, artifacts...it was hugely important. The dean had been completely confident in the girl given the morning workout he’d already heard about. If she hadn’t been able to heal herself, she never would have finished it. But the boy was a trickier proposition. Regeneration generally suppressed healing, which didn’t bode well for him. That just left his potential up in the air. Something about him had captured Forian’s attention, and the dean’s star pupil was rarely wrong. Never, really.
Tears of Alron (The Alchemist Book #3): LitRPG Series Page 4
