by Colin Daumen
Deep down, Licht felt that she would've been happier had she known for a fact that her brother died. It was the constant unease of not knowing what had happened to him that caused her to become grief-stricken. The loss of her brother pained her, and all of the memories she had in the Elven Kingdom would constantly bring a flood of thoughts about Gael.
Licht was able to convince her parents to let her study outside the Elven Kingdom, as they both could see that the elven lands were depressing their daughter deeply. Had they not recently given birth to another boy, then they would not have let Licht leave the kingdom, or else they would be in constant fear of the death of their only heir.
It was decided that Licht would study at the Dusk Academy; the Elven King had close ties to the headmaster of the academy, and trusted him to be able to keep his only daughter safe from harm. There was also no issue with sending members of different races to the magical academies as they worked independently of the kingdoms of the continent.
To this day, Licht would still think about her lost brother, hoping that one day she could solve the mystery of his disappearance. It fueled her to train harder than ever and was the reason why she not only learned magic but also adamantly learned martial arts and swordplay. Despite her timid and cute appearance, she was extremely powerful in close range combat, wielding a sword in one hand and magic or a shield in the other.
...
"Ahh!"
Favian rose from his slumber with a jolt, having woken up just before he impacted the ground in his dream.
'That was a... weird dream,' he thought, as he wiped away the sweat that had built on his brow. Favian got himself ready with a shower and quickly grabbed a bite of an apple for breakfast before he left his room to buy some supplies. He still had 250 contribution points left which he wanted to spend. Even when he tried to deplete them quickly, it seemed difficult to reduce the number by just eating food and buying materials that aided in meditation for his current stage. Before today, he had no other use for them.
The first thing Favian did was buy some books that detailed all the different beast ranges on the continent. He would take this with him and study it along the way, as it was stated that every group would be randomly allocated to a different location on the continent. These beast ranges took up the most area of Ortu Solis, taking up almost 75% of all land. This meant that it was almost guaranteed that no two groups from the academy would encounter each other during this test.
Afterwards, Favian went to the blacksmith, where he had ordered some leather armor for himself. He thought it was a lot more useful to wear light, flexible armor than to wear a mage's robe. Protection over flashiness was what he was going for.
Favian then went and bought a spacial pouch, which would let him store any items inside it, removing the weight of the items and allowing him to put an almost infinite number of items inside. This had cost a hefty 100 contribution points, and was the most expensive item he had bought yet. In the spatial pouch, he placed all of his clothing, his newly bought book, some daggers, a lot of food and potions. The potions he bought were just a precaution in case somebody took near fatal damage. At 10 contribution points each, it would be able to save the life of a person near death. He now had a total of 5 of these potions.
'Damn, I only have 30 contribution points left. At least I know that we can earn more contribution points if we do really well in this test, according to Aria.'
Finally, after Favian had gotten everything in order, he went to the assembly hall and met up with Licht and Dunkel. Today was the day they would be meeting their fourth party member. Favian was excited, he hoped that he could make another friend if possible, but didn't pin all of his hopes on it. More connections were always good, and he knew this from his previous life. Yet, Favian had always been bad at putting himself out there to create these new connections; networking wasn't his strong suit.
The trio walked up to Professor Mildred, who was to oversee their group work and assign them to their beast range. Mildred was a very old lady, her hair already grey, and a hunch was visible on her back by the way she leaned forward on her cane. Even for a magician, she must have been relatively old.
"Professor, we're here to find the last member of our group," Dunkel said, handing her the form which contained all of their information. Dunkel was currently wearing leather armor similarly to Favian, having opted for something both stealthy and breathable. Licht, on the other hand, was now wearing some chainmail and plate armor.
Professor Mildred looked at the three and laughed. "You will go as a group of three," she said, her voice quite rough, not at all what Favian had expected.
Chapter 24 - Beast Range
"What?" exclaimed all three of them at the same time, confusion evident in their voices.
"Now now little ones. It wouldn't exactly be fair for you to have a fourth member, considering the talent each of you possesses. You'll have to make do with a little handicap since you wanted to pair up with each other so badly," Professor Mildred said. A slight chuckle left her mouth, and the old lady passed each of them a small blue gem.
The gem felt cold to the touch once Favian got his hands on it. Looking deeper into it, he saw what looked like the ocean, and could even smell the seawater from it. After a quick inspection, Favian noticed that he could push some arcana into the stone, however, he didn't know what its effect would be.
Professor Mildred smiled seeing Favian's curiosity. "That's a distress stone. It'll signal to one of us professor's that you need urgent help. Be warned though, using this will immediately disqualify you if you didn't pass the first month of testing."
"First month? I thought the whole test lasts only for one month, professor," Licht jumped in once she heard this conflicting piece of information. The headmaster had stated before that they would spend 1 month in the beast range.
Mildred quickly started to sweat profusely, having been flustered by Licht picking up on her unintentional leak of information. "Sorry honey, I didn't quite catch that. Oh wait, look at the time. My cookies are going to be done at any moment. Good luck you three!" Mildred exclaimed as she walked away from the bunch as fast as possible, having feigned deafness.
"That was..." Favian looked at the seemingly ancient woman breezing past them towards the entrance of the assembly hall, her strides faster than even his own would be capable of.
"Really weird. That was really weird Favian," Dunkel finished the sentence Favian was not about to finish anytime soon in his almost befuddled state.
After all of the groups had gathered in the hall, the students were finally transported to their various locations. One by one, groups were taken into an inconspicuous door that stood to the side of the platform of the hall, where the headmaster had previously stood giving his speech. The door was very simple, with just a metal doorknob hanging off it.
Favian stood in the queue with Dunkel and Licht, and just like most of the other students, they murmured, wondering what was behind that damn door. It was the first time that he'd seen the door, not having noticed it during yesterday's assembly. Now that he was aware of it, he could feel large amounts of energy pulsating from behind the door. Students would enter, but none would ever come back out. He wondered just what was inside.
"How on Earth did they manage to hide so much energy when we had the assembly? I didn't even notice it at all!" Favian said. His progress to the front of the queue was relatively slow, with his group currently in the middle.
Licht stared at Favian with a confused look. "What is Earth, Favian? Are you talking about soil?" she asked.
'Oh my God, why did I slip up. I've got to stop using that phrase,' Favian thought, reprimanding himself strictly.
"Oh it's nothing, just a figure of speech," he replied, not looking at Licht as he said so. Licht looked at him suspiciously but didn't push him for the information.
"I think there's some barrier placed on the door, or the energy behind it was dormant until today. Who knows?" Dunkel shrugged as he said
this.
After approximately an hour, the trio finally reached the front of the line. It was now their turn to enter the room, and see what awaited them. A teacher waved at them to come over when it was their turn, and opened the door for them.
The rush of energy that Favian felt when he entered the room was unlike anything he’d ever felt before. 'I don't know how to put it, but this feels like the most arcana in a single place I've experienced yet.' Licht and Dunkel, on the other hand, weren't too impressed with this amount of arcana in the air, acting like this was just another normal walk in the park for them.
All three of them were gobsmacked once they went inside the room. An empty room. In front of the three was just a small, empty room, with absolutely nothing inside it. The only thing that made this room unique was that there was some sort of runic circle on the floor, and the headmaster was currently stood inside. Quickly the three bowed. Just as they were about to speak out their group name, the headmaster stopped them.
"Haha no need for introductions, I know you three as well as I do my own children!" Headmaster Anansi exclaimed, laughing boisterously as he said this. "I've had my eyes on the two of you since before you even arrived at the academy," he looked at Dunkel and Licht as he said that. His sharp eyes met Favian's upon which he gave a big smile. "You though, Favian, I haven't had the pleasure to find out as much about. I know who you are, but then, who are you really boy?"
'What? Does he know what I am? There's no way, he couldn't!' Favian was now freaking out, the headmaster seemed extremely perceptive. As this internal monologue was going on, Anansi simply winked at Favian, almost as if he was listening to his thoughts.
"Let's get started shall we. You already know why you have no fourth member, so I expect great things from you all. I'm going to place you in the middle of the Kalari Desert. Now come, step onto this sigil," the headmaster said, his voice energetic, putting even Dunkel's usual energy to shame.
As the three walked up towards the sigil, the headmaster touched each of their heads. Moments after, the room lit up in a bright green glow, blinding the three. A feeling of weightlessness took over Favian, and then a feeling of nausea came afterwards. Favian fought to try and keep himself from vomiting, but his effort was futile. He wretched forward and hurled vomit like a projectile, stopping only after 10 seconds full of spewing.
Somebody patting on his back brought Favian back to his senses, after which he quickly pulled out some water from his space pouch and rinsed his mouth, gurgling on it until it felt right to spit it out on the floor. Looking at the floor, Favian was able to see that it consisted of dark red particles, which made it seem blood-soaked. Favian realized that this was the sand and that he was now in a desert.
Favian looked around to see something that would completely shift the way he thought about the continent of Ortu Solis. He was at the edge of a desert; there were mountains and trees everywhere in the vicinity past the desert, and a magical line parted the trees from the desert. 'This is impossible, there's got to be no rainfall here, and the sand doesn't have the nutrients needed to allow trees to grow,' he thought. He quickly concluded that there must be some unknown reason related to arcana that caused this, or else how could there be such a definitive line between sand and soil, when the rainfall must be minimal here.
The sun was still high on the horizon, and the blistering heat pounded onto the group. Their vision was filled with an endless road of large trees. In the air, there were even floating landmasses, with what seemed like the same ecosystem as the desert, half sand, and half soil.
"So, what did the headmaster tell you? He clearly transmitted some different information to us all." Dunkel was alert of his surroundings, but still found the time to create idle chit chat.
"Nothing much, he just asked that I make my father proud," Licht said with little emotion. She was no longer the little girl seeking for constant approval from her parents. "What about you Dunkel?"
"Oh, he just said something about me not creating too many problems for us. I mean, he ain't wrong, but we'll be fine don't worry," he said nonchalantly. Again, he shrugged his shoulders, this having become his signature move by now. "What about you Favian?"
Favian somehow had managed to completely forget the information transmit that had happened, but it quickly flowed back into his mind. His face went as white as a sheet of paper, fear gripping onto him.
"Hey, are you okay?" Dunkel asked, as he saw his friend, who had just vomited, become as pale as a ghost.
"Nothing to worry about. Anyways, what should we do now?" Favian asked, trying his best to divert the attention away from himself. All he could currently think about was the headmaster saying, "I expect lots from you Mr. Umbra," when he linked his mind to Favian's.
'How does he know my last name is Umbra? I don't have a last name here because this boy was an orphan.' Favian came to the realization that the headmaster knew a lot more about himself than he would ever have thought possible.
'Where the hell did I trip up?'
Chapter 25- Beast Range 2
Favian pushed the thoughts of the headmaster to the back of his mind after Licht and Dunkel were starting to get more worried about him. He instead started to formulate a plan about what they should do. The first thing Favian did was to open up the tome which contained information about every beast range on the continent. After scrolling through the page of contents, he was able to find the Kalari Desert.
"It seems that there are some pretty strong beasts here. It says there are poison camels, blood wyrms and even fire dragons. But the most common beast in the outer area of the range is the sand wolf. It states that they are always in packs," Favian said.
"Well, we sure as hell won't live to tell the tale if we encounter a dragon," Dunkel laughed as he said this.
The group went on to discuss what their priorities were in this unknown place, which they unanimously agreed on to be finding shelter. Usually, they would need to find water, but since they all had their own spacial pouches filled to the brim with food, water, and other items, they didn't need to worry about this step.
"Okay, looks like we still have about 10 hours left until nighttime, so we have lots of time to find a suitable spot. If there are caves somewhere that'd be nice, but it doesn't look like there will be some we can find before nightfall," Licht voiced her opinion as she munched on a snack that looked a lot like beef jerky.
The group proceeded to venture through the area, looking for a suitable spot to create their base of operations. The most appropriate place would have only one way of entry and be highly camouflaged in some sort of way. They would also want to make sure that there weren't many magical beasts in the vicinity. They passed lakes and ponds on their way, and even had some close encounters with magical beasts, but were able to detour around them. They could easily defeat these beasts, but that would consume time and be counter-productive with their current aim.
Dunkel was in charge of leading them to their camping site, as he had the most experience out of all of them in living in the wilderness. His home was literally part of a large magical woods, surrounded by magical beasts.
After about 3 hours of searching, the group was finally able to find an area suitable to making a temporary home. They had reached an area covered densely in greenery, with tall trees and lots of foliage covering it, and there was a lake not too far from here. The best part about this spot was that there was a large hill which they could use as protection from the rear. A beast would have to jump down more than a hundred meters from the hill to flank this campsite.
Dunkel went to the brown sandhill and touched it with his hands. He was deep in thought for ten minutes before he stopped, removing his hand from it. "Okay the coast is clear people, I don't spot any nasty critters inside that hill, so we can use this place as our base."
Quickly they set up their camp, using the tents that all three of them had been given by the academy staff. It only took a couple of minutes for everything to be complete, and th
ey then placed bits of foliage onto their tents to hide them further from prying eyes. Favian started to realize that taking monster hunting as a lesson was extremely useful in this situation, as it not only taught about how to live in the wilderness, but it also gave extremely important information on the different types of magical beasts, which they would inevitably encounter.
"I'm bored... Should we take a stroll or something?" Dunkel asked. He'd already finished setting up his tent, and had a bow readied on his back.
Licht just came out of her tent as Dunkel asked this question. Her heavy armour gleamed with a bright light, and the utmost effort had been put into polishing it completely. She currently had her longsword on her side and a shield on her back. She'd use a shield depending on whether she was the main source of protection for her party, or simply a sword in one hand and magic in the other for maximum damage output if she didn't need to tank the damage.
"I mean we've got a whole month to spend out here, why don't we just take it easy for the first day," she replied. She wore her armor out of vigilance, and instead wanted to just rest and meditate for a while.
"Pretty pleeeeease, I really can't sit idly here, it's already suffocating me," Dunkel said with puppy dog eyes whilst looking at Favian, trying to incite some sympathy. Favian was now in his own dark black leather armor, his daggers sheathed on the side of his belt, and his face covered by a mask. He himself was also raring to go fight some creatures, wanting to test out the powers he felt like he would soon awaken.
"I'm down for it, I mean, let's just fight something easy for now," he replied.
Licht looked at the two as if they were monsters, or rather, idiots. "Fine," she sighed, dramatically stomping towards the two who had already made their way away from the camp.
