Roaming the forests I cursed at the fact I had decided to keep my long hair. Its ivy-like shade fit perfectly with the forest a little too well as it had gotten caught once or twice when I stopped focusing whilst running. I really hated this as the starting stage for ‘Heroes of the Academy’ an action RPG focused on letting you have full reign however you wanted to approach it. Thankfully due to the system that I found myself transmigrated with I read my status:
—---------------------------------------------------------------------
[Welcome Hero of the Academy]
[Name: Charlotte]
[Level 1] [0/100XP]
[Unique Skill: Multi-Talented (Receive 20% XP bonus to all skills)]
—---------------------------------------------------------------------
The rest was just some basic skills I started with and my attribute points. The reason I was grateful for my unique skill was simply because unlike other unique talents you received a boost to all XP including auxiliary skills and main level. As well as not suffering any reduction to XP gain another talent gives. They usually followed a format of a massive boost to one talent but made it increasingly difficult for XP in anything else. It was in a way how it established the game’s class system.
Moving through the forest I saw the flickers of orange and clicked my tongue. Only an idiot would wield fire magic in a forest, especially considering anyone capable of magic at the starting level would have access to the raw magic attribute and the four base elements. So either this person was a genuine braindead fool or they were Lucas Alphonse.
A petty bastard who in the opening trial wanted to monopolise the flags to himself and be the only one to afford the privileges of five flags solely so he could extort other students with the information he would be privy to. In the end resorting to igniting the other flags on fire and if you chose to skip past him there would be an event where he ends up setting the forest alight with his actions causing significant hospitalizations and departure of students from the Academy. Including important companions you would need to kill him once he became the demon ‘Ashroth’ in the final fight. Right now I was not strong enough to kill Ashroth and I could only assume Lucas was simply acting to be weak right now. Possibly his death could also risk being a trigger to unleash Ashroth sooner as well.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
It irked me to be so inefficient in a run and not kill the biggest problem now but due to how the quest went I could get away with defeating him and gaining his flags.
Slowly I stalked behind him amongst the fauna watching as he would constantly glance around before stumbling and igniting the flag he would pick up. Judging by the ash on his hands this was easily his tenth flag or so.
Rushing behind I grabbed the training sword I had been permitted to bring into the trial and swung from behind. A hefty hit to his head yet as I expected him to hit the ground he simply rolled and got up. Using his staff in hand to prop himself he gripped it with both hands in a stance similar to wielding a spear.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” He cursed as blood ran down his temple. Orange eyes glimmered with a hue of anger and judging by his state he must have beaten some students already. He had a long bruise wrapping his throat and a busted lip. Clearly someone as selfish as him must have really made some desperate enough they were trying to choke him.
“Why should I tell a bastard like you?” I shot back, readying the longsword I held. Thankfully with my basic skills I could wield it comfortably and much better than a novice.
Lucas rushed towards me thrusting his spear but it was obvious that it had shaken him but clumsily he thrusted missing me by nearly half a metre as I struck him again with the sword to the shoulder. The fight escalated as I kept avoiding his hits and wailing strike after strike onto him. It was clear that if the staff he was holding was not made of metal it would have burst to flames judging by the sparking of his palms.
Swapping to a one handed stance he caught me off guard as he swung it like a bat to my head making me duck down which then came with his hand sparking up into a flame as it charged to my face. In a brazen panic I used the key magic skill the protagonist of this game would always start with, ‘Karmatic Reversal’ a magical spell that reverses a spell onto its caster and amplifies it. Issue is you need to make contact with the magic circle with your own hand to do this but otherwise it was a nearly perfect broken magic parry skill.
I watched as the flames burst all over him and I then took the chance to slam my blade into his head. Hearing the crack as it met his face it clearly broke his nose. A proud Duke’s son like him most likely never had gotten injured in a fight till today as he looked at me in abject horror. I even dared to do such a thing. The flames still flickering over him I decided to hit first with the strongest attack I had a firebolt which collided with him setting him alight as I then brought my sword down on his head with a heavy thud causing him to fall to the ground unconscious. The dark forest made it hard to tell much as I knelt down and double checked he was passed out.
Once I confirmed it I grabbed his flags stuffed into his back pocket with a grin. ‘Exactly the five I need’. Getting up it was clear he was not in the best state with the sheer amount of blood on his face and in the air. But since he was the villain I doubt it mattered much what state I left this charred bitch and headed off to the submission point at the end of the forest to be assigned my rank.