The Academy

by Colin Daumen

  The next few days Favian spent going to lectures, hanging out with Dunkel, practicing at home, and getting 1 on 1 lessons with Professor St-Pierre. He was put through hell, being forced to lift weights whilst also practicing how to wield different weapons.

  His intelligence and arcana stats were increasing ever so slowly, and he hadn't even reached the 10% threshold to Level 1 Magician yet. His system estimated that it would take him at least 11 months at this rate before he would level up, and every level up after that would be increasingly more difficult and more time-consuming. By the standard of this academy, that was a slow progression to a Level 1 Mage. Favian's strength, constitution, and dexterity, however, were improving at a faster pace due to his increased physical exercise and massive consumption of food.

  The lectures on beast taming and monster hunting had been very insightful, and Favian was able to grasp the basics already. It seemed that his intelligence value of 4.0 was higher than the average student here, who's values ranged from 1.8 to 3.5. So far there had only been a small number of individuals from his cohort whom Favian couldn't scan, and this included Dunkel. It seemed that his friend had some mysterious powers he hadn’t gotten to see yet.

  'Dark magic 1' and 'Light magic '1 had been quite uninspiring, he hadn't learned much from it which wasn't already in the book 'Darkness and Shadows'. Today was Friday, and it was finally the day for his first competition with another student. The first thing Favian did was go to his lecture on intermediate magic particles.

  This had been the most insightful lecture yet, as it helped him gain knowledge that the various types of layering of the 6 basic particles would create intermediate magic particles, which were much stronger than the basic particles. For instance, dark magic particles could be layered to form death magic particles, which were the main source of energy necromancers or warlocks used. Light magic particles could be layered to form life magic particles, which Paladins and Clerics used. There were even some obscure particles which were formed by layering two different basic elements together.

  'So according to the book I stole from that caravan, shadow magic is just the layering of light and dark magic particles together in a very specific sequence, or at least that's the theory I'm going to have to accept. Using the wrong sequence of layering will just cause failure it seems.'

  Favian had figured out what the essence of shadow magic was, however, the specific layering sequences of these obscure particles were the most important part in discovering them. Shadow magic was not well known as the exact sequencing, almost like a strand of DNA, needed to be synthesized perfectly, else it would just end in failure, or could even backlash against the host and kill them.

  'That's one of the reasons why new particles are rarely discovered,' he thought to himself in shock. He had truly been lucky to discover such a valuable treasure. Without the game system, it was also almost impossible to discover the sequence of shadow magic particles in the book 'Darkness and Shadows' as the information was hidden in a binary code, which was easy to unzip by a computer-like system that he possessed, but proved difficult for a mortal. Thus, Favian didn't worry about shadow magic being discovered anytime soon. 'Anyways, if they do discover it, I doubt that it will be released to the public. Mages are inherently greedy, with their thirsts for knowledge and power.'

  Favian grabbed a quick bite to eat before he met up with Dunkel outside of the Colosseum. What stood before them was a circular building, built with white limestone. Once inside, Favian noticed that the seating area could probably house over 5 thousand people. The circumference of the building wasn't too large, but its height allowed for 50 rows of seats to extend vertically. Each row could seat roughly 100 people.

  Favian's jaw dropped as he entered with Dunkel, who was likewise baffled. The stadium was currently filled to almost half capacity, with the crowd cheering once the two arrived inside the stadium.

  "Hey what's going on? Why are there so many people?" Favian asked, sweat dripping off his palms and forehead.

  Dunkel looked similarly confused, "I have no clue what's going on here." After deliberating for a second, he continued, "Those damn elves, I bet they are trying to make a show out of this," Dunkel snarled as he let the words seep out of his mouth, his anger rising the moment he thought about the rude elves.

  It seemed that Dunkel was correct, the elf boy, Garu, had been scared to death to fight against the infamous Favian in a fair, 1 on 1 combat situation, so he decided to change up tactics, making it a 2 on 2 combat instead with a senior of his own.

  "What the hell, is it even allowed for a proper Level 1 Magician to fight against us when we are only initiates?" Favian questioned the overseer of the Colosseum. The overseer was a battle-hardened veteran, with a bald head and scars littered over his body. He wore minimal clothing, only covering his legs with some brown trousers. His muscles bulged as he spoke with Favian, explaining that he would make sure that the Level 1 Magician would not use any magic of that level.

  'Oh, right that sounds totally safe! For all I know these guys have bought off the referee and I'm about to get my ass whooped today,' Favian thought, his pessimistic side taking hold of him. 'Well, it's too late now anyways.'

  Chapter 18 – Colosseum 2

  Favian and Dunkel were brought to a room inside the Colosseum which was blocked off from the crowd. This room served as the place where fighters would prepare for their battles.

  Dunkel was currently sat meditating to one side of the room, whilst Favian was just standing idly in the center of the room. To an outsider it would look like Favian was just staring into thin air, however, he was currently conversing with his game system. After finally deliberating what to name the system, Favian gave it the name 'Elon', named after one of Earth's most influential people whilst Favian was still alive.

  'Elon bring up my stats,' Favian commanded his newly named system.

  [DING! Constitution: 1.6, Strength: 1.8, Intelligence: 4.0, Agility: 1.8, Arcana:5. Mana pool 500. Total Experience 3000] Elon replied faithfully.

  'So, my strength has made a pretty big leap because of all the 4 am training I've been doing with Professor St-Pierre,' Favian thought. The constant exercise was grueling, but it clearly was making him stronger. On the other hand, his intelligence and arcana hadn't made a single leap. Favian had decided that it was more important for him to complete his second arcane core, so he let all the energy his system would instead have passively poured into his already present magic core pour into the infantile second core. This meant that he was progressing through his second core creation at almost double the speed.

  Dunkel quickly got up from the floor as a gong was sounded in the room. His eyes were calmer than their usually energetic self, and he seemed a lot more composed. The atmosphere around him was terrifying, like a cold-blooded killer waiting to pounce on his prey. "Guess it's time for us to go," Dunkel said, his voice a ticking time bomb.

  Favian nodded in response, and left through the door to the main area of the Colosseum. The main stage was a simple lawn of grass, with only the 4 students about to faceoff standing on it. The overseer sat in a highchair above the lawn, able to see everything clearly.

  Favian was now able to notice what this new elf looked like. He was what he expected a stereotypical elf from human literature to like. Pointy ears, insanely handsome features, and an arrogant air.

  "The aggressors of this match are from the party led by Garu and Peon. Therefore, Favian Umbra and Dunkel Jaeger, you may decide the setting this battle will be held in. You have the choices of desert, tundra, jungle, and plains," the overseer's voice boomed loudly for all in the Colosseum to hear.

  The decision had already been agreed between Favian and Dunkel back in the waiting area, and they had even planned out a strategy. Of course, this strategy was limited as they had no idea what type of magic they would be up against.

  "We choose the jungle!" Favian shouted, making sure that his opponents, who were stood about 100 meters away, could hear him c
learly.

  The overseer nodded, stretched out his arms, and released a large amount of magic towards the battlefield. Green and brown wisps of energy fell onto it like torrential rain, and molded the area into a thick jungle, with tall trees crawling out of the soil until they covered the ground from light. Only patches of the area were made visible by the sun overhead, and the dense foliage made for a battlefield more suited to guerrilla warfare. From the outside, huge magical screens displayed the faces of the four competitors and their surroundings.

  Favian and Dunkel slowly made their way through the foliage, making sure that they moved as silently as possible. Dusk had found a pretty ingenious way to use his skill Bend Light. It currently allowed him to refract the light around himself and Dunkel, and all other objects within a 5-meter radius of himself, which acted as a sort of camouflage. This, of course, wasn't perfect, as the closer an enemy got to Favian, the easier it would be to discern this technique. However, from further distances away, and in a densely packed jungle such as this, it was impossible to make out their approach.

  The pair made their way towards a stream near the center of the jungle. The flowing water could be heard from a distance away. Sat by the edge of the stream about 20 meters away were the two elves, highly alert, and constantly checking their surroundings for any changes.

  Favian nodded at Dunkel, signaling for the commencing of their plan. Dunkel suddenly started to whisper a silent incantation, which was followed by wisps of black energy surrounding him. A large longbow was formed in his hands, made out of what seemed like raven feathers. He then proceeded to notch an arrow made out of pure dark energy and fired it directly at the two elves. The arrow grew the further it flew, before it crashed into the elves, leaving behind a huge crater where the stream had once been. Water was sprayed in the air, and soil was flung high. Chaos ensued.

  …

  "WOAH." "COOL." "AMAZING."

  The crowd watching the fight were pleasantly surprised by the display of power. They were getting hyped up by the match. Some people were on the edges of their seats, anticipating the next moves, whilst others were simply screaming and shouting.

  On the screen which was focused on the elf who was already a Level 1 Mage, the crowd noticed that Favian was lying on the floor, in a puddle of his own blood.

  "What just happened?" asked a small girl. Everything had happened so quickly that nobody was able to notice how the battle had already neared its end.

  …

  Back at the scene of the battle, in the thick of the jungle.

  Moments after Dunkel had fired off his arrow, the whole fight was flung into chaos. Favian and Dunkel thought that they had been the ambushers, their concealment perfect. What they only realized now was that even without using level 1 magic, a Level 1 Mage had much higher base stats than they did. The unnamed elf was able to discern the two before their sneak attack, rendering it completely useless. The elf had already pre-emptively cast a teleportation spell the moment he noticed Favian and Dunkel within the foliage, and once the arrow left Dunkel's quiver, he repositioned himself and Garu behind the attacking pair.

  With a shout, Garu rushed forward towards Dunkel slashing at him with his hands which were transformed into flaming swords. Dunkel was forced to duck and weave away from the swords, and maneuvered himself away with a backflip. His short-range combat ability wasn't the best, else he would have been able to wipe the floor with Garu by now. Somebody who was weaker could always make up for that in combat style and tactics, as demonstrated by Garu being able to put the pressure onto Dunkel in close combat, despite him being a lower stage initiate and Dunkel an upper stage initiate.

  Favian was bombarded with bolts of lightning from the moment the enemies teleported behind him. The system had given him a heads up, however, it wasn't enough time to give him an advantage. The warning however, gave him the time to cast his protective barrier around himself, negating some of the damage caused by the barrage of lightning. His hair was now completely frizzed and pointing upwards as if he were a mad scientist.

  'Damnit, our whole plan has gone wrong,' Favian thought to himself as he ran in zigzags trying to get closer to the elf. He had once heard on Earth that by running in such a way, without a set pattern of direction, you'd be more likely to escape from gunfire. Whether this was true or not, he’d find out today.

  Peon was still throwing lightning bolt after lightning bolt, not being tired out at all by the constant usage of this low-level magic. He saw Favian run-up towards him, but didn't try to increase the distance between him. His pride as a Level 1 Magician made sure that he met Favian head-on, to showcase his absolute strength in the battle.

  As Favian got within 5 meters of his opponent, he chanted the incantation for Time Stop as quickly as he possibly could. As he was chanting, the world slowly started to slow down. He could see the lightning bolts arcing from the palms of the elf in front of him, the bolts a dark blue hue now that Favian could see them more clearly. As time was slowing down, Favian instead opted to dodge the bolts, ducking whenever a bolt got too close or jumping when it was about to hit his feet. After finally finishing his chant, time stopped completely. The surroundings turned blackish-grey, and wisps of purple energy were frozen in time for only him to see as he entered the shadow realm.

  Favian wasted no time, continuing his sprint towards Peon, whilst simultaneously casting Net of Shadows in one hand and Rending Claw in another. Both of these spells were long-range; however, he knew that his opponent still held the advantage in long-range warfare as he was casting lightning bolts almost unlimitedly. Favian only had a much smaller number of spells he could cast in succession, due to his 500-mana pool, and would be put on the backfoot the moment he ran out of them.

  Dark energy undulations sprung forth from both of his hands as a tar-like net flew towards the elf, covering him completely. Favian had figured out that he could cast a spell and let it detonate only after his Time Stop ended, thus he cast a barrage of claws of dark energy at his opponent, aiming for his arms. 'Can't cast magic if your arms are broken, can you now?' he thought to himself, as he noticed the elf in front of him was using his arms as a conduit for the electricity.

  Chapter 19 – Shockwave

  Everything took such a quick turn that Favian wasn’t even able to process what had happened. He had cast 6 Rending Claws in succession against the elf before time started to work as normal. The Rending Claws impacted onto his opponent and layered upon each other, making their damage multiplicative. A huge boom resonated in the jungle; foliage and soil were flung up.

  As Peon had been impacted by the multiple large claws aimed at him, he panicked. A blue barrier covered in an electric current surrounded the boy and absorbed the full brunt of the attack Favian threw at him. A blue light beamed towards the sky with the elf at its center, and a huge shockwave burst into existence. The whole scenery was turned into a mess as trees were felled, and grass burnt.

  In the aftermath of the shockwave, Favian was flung into the air, before he impacted against a tree with such force that he was knocked unconscious. Both Dunkel and Garu were also damaged by the shockwave, however, the damage they both received was way less than what Favian received as they were much further away from where the attack originated.

  “STOP!” the overseer shouted, having been a step too late to stop the carnage on the battlefield. The regular battleground grass field re-emerged once the overseer spoke, with the trees and foliage seemingly soaking into the ground. He flew onto the ground next to Favian, before creating a shimmering bright light which enveloped Favian’s whole body. The numerous wounds caused by the shockwave were rapidly being healed, a feat most of the people in the crowd marveled at as this was a display of very high-level magic.

  The overseer was livid with the situation, as it was his job to protect students from any mishaps during a battle. He had not expected Peon to go against the rules stated as he had used a Level 1 Mage spell.

  “How dare you? I specifical
ly told you that magic of that level is prohibited!” he shouted, his eyes bulging unnaturally. Had he not been preoccupied with healing Favian, he’d have taught the elf a harsh lesson already.

  “I-I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to. He just caught me off guard with his spells, it was an instinct I swear!” the boy spoke in fear. He had been surprised by the barrage of dark energy that was about to hit him straight in the arms, so naturally, he did what he could to protect himself in the quickest way possible. Unfortunately, this had been against the rules of the competition, and he would be feeling the consequences of his mistake very soon. Peon would be lucky to continue practicing magic at the academy.

  Dunkel was somehow still conscious after receiving the shockwave, whilst Garu was also unconscious like Favian. Seeing the aftermath of the fight, Dunkel was like a bull seeing the color red. He sprinted towards the elf hurling curse words left, right, and center. Fortunately for him, the overseer was quick to separate the two before another fight started. Even though Dunkel knew he’d lose, his emotions made him fearless.

  In the crowd, Licht stared at the battlefield with her hands covering her face, and tears trickling down. She was appalled by the scene, which she felt was completely her own doing.

  …

  Favian woke up an infirmary in The Barracks. His chest was currently covered in bandages, and a tray of medicinal herbs was placed next to his bad.

  “Great, another new room,” he said. He scanned the room and realized that he was in some sort of medical room as the smell was similar to that of a hospital. ‘Guess I’m just going to have to get used to fainting and waking up in new places at this point,’ he thought cynically. The room he was in was rather small, with a window that looked out into the dark. Moonlight shone into the room, which seemed to soothe his body.