Cthulhu… no, Luna woke up, feeling rejuvenated, strangely enough. She hopped out of the bed and looked over to Bennett, who was tangled up with Yelena, as usual. Luna looked at this for a few moments before sighing and quietly slipping through the door, blinking away the sleep in her eyes.
Today, it was the exams, so Bennett and Yelena were sleeping in. Speaking of Yelena, it turned out she’d Resonated as well, but not with Lightning. Instead…
*The day before*
Yelena burned herself. Again.
“How does Ben do this?” she hissed, readjusting the stove’s heat with a curse. Her boss was giving her a completely blank expression, and she couldn’t possibly imagine what she was thinking.
She brought up the recipe in her head, remembering every ingredient, every step, all committed to memory, thanks to Ben having gotten her to study for this, along with the Exams for the Academy.
The Academy… We have to get in. We can’t afford not to. Ben and I… we have to, Yelena thought, determined to make their dream come true. But… What if I don’t Resonate? What if my brother has to go alone?
She nearly stopped prepping the ingredients, worry clouding her mind. However, she just managed to keep going, unwilling to stop.
I will go with my brother to the Academy. For Mom. For our family. I have to Resonate.
Yelena lost herself in the cooking for what seemed like forever. It was to the point that she didn’t even realize the amount of times she burned herself… or lack thereof. Once she’d been going for an hour, it’d almost felt like she had touched the flames dozens of times as if testing them. However, she was finished.
“Phew… Head Chef, I’m done-” she cut herself off when she saw the baffled expression of her boss. “Um… what’s wrong?”
Her boss shook her head. “You were grabbing the fire? Do you have a Flame Alignment, and, if so, why did you not tell me?”
Yelena frowned. “I’m unaligned. What are talking-”
Suddenly she felt something descend upon her mind and she nearly tripped over her own feet.
_____
Congratulations! You have Resonated with the Element of Flames, with the approval of the Goddess of War and Fire!
One of your Skills has Evolved!
You have gained two new Skills!
Overwhelm - Level 3 –> Overwhelming Firepower - Level 1
NEW! Flame Armor - Level 1
NEW! Burst - Level 1
Overwhelming Firepower (Damage)
Blast forward towards your enemy, shrouding your weapon in flame for (Skill Level * 2) + 8 seconds and empowering your attacks for moderate MP. While empowered, you take (Skill Level * 2) + 18% less damage, Deal (Skill Level * 2) + 18% more damage, and all attacks are converted to Flame Damage. When this is out, you are put in a weakened state for 16 - (Skill Level) seconds, taking 35 - (Skill Level * 3)% more damage. At high enough Levels, Skill can be stacked up to twice. When reaching max stacks, cooldown is increased by an additional 40 seconds and Damage is further increased by 50%.
Cooldown : 20 seconds.
Flame Armor (Support/Passive)
(Support)
Cover your body in flames, decreasing damage taken by (Skill Level + 12)% and increasing Flame Damage by (Skill Level * 4)% for a low MP cost per second. While using this armor, you gain HP whenever you’re hit equal to (Skill Level * 2)% Damage taken. Can be dispelled at any time with cooldown.
Cooldown : 1 minute.
(Passive)
You are immune to Flame Damage.
Burst (Movement)
Create an explosion of flame from any point on your body to move quickly, at the expense of minor MP. If opponent is hit by burst, they take moderate Flame damage and have their Flame Resistance decreased by (Skill Level * 2)%. This effect can stack up to three times.
Cooldown : 5 seconds.
You are now eligible to gain a Class at Level 10!
_____
I… Resonated?
*Present time*
Luna poked her head into the kitchen as was surprised when she didn’t see the two’s Mother in the kitchen and instead saw what looked like a pan of-
After looking to make sure there was absolutely nobody around, one of Luna’s tentacles shot towards the pan of cinnamon rolls, grabbed three, and came back, depositing them into her hands. She licked her lips and pushed one into her mouth, happy that they tasted far better than before. She hopped over to the living room and jumped onto the couch, waiting for Bennett and Yelena to wake up.
While she chowed down, she wondered what the exams were going to be like. Was it like general knowledge? Did she have to know these things? Did she know these things? What was the difference between Mana and MP, assuming they were the same system of Magic? Did these people even know Mana existed?
Luna, while pondering these things, didn’t notice Bennett coming out of the room, having woken up. She simply began working on her next roll, kicking her legs as the taste spread across her tongue.
I guess I really am a bit childish. Eh, it can’t hurt that much, she thought.
She finally noticed Bennett as he picked her up off the couch, eliciting a yelp from her. She was suspended in the air with a cinnamon roll sticking out of her mouth, feeling like she looked really guilty.
“Luna, you’re supposed to eat at the table,” Bennett said in a disapproving tone. “And you don’t need that many cinnamon rolls.”
He carried her to the kitchen table as she dangled in shame before setting her on a chair and snatching her third roll, putting it into his own mouth. He looked a bit surprised.
“Hey, this is actually pretty good,” he said with it still in his mouth.
Luna glared at him as if saying, “No talking with your mouth full!”
He rolled his eyes at her and went over to the kitchen and checked the fridge, which she had noticed was powered with a few Ice Runes.
So they know about Runes, huh? Too bad I can just jam the Runes… unless they’re “Skills”, which are literally just System empowered Runes.
She guessed that was one good thing about the System, that it gave anyone the ability to use Runes, instead of only high ranking officials of Races. Unless you counted the offspring of Cthulhu, the Seaborn. They were the same type of thing as her, with the tentacles, and inane swimming ability. However, they only had up to eight tentacles (Unless they grew very powerful) and a much, much, weaker control over water than their progenitor.
The really stupid thing was that, even though Luna was still technically recognized as a Goddess, she could only use eight tentacles, unless she expended a decent chunk of MP to summon another. Well, it was enough to blast through oceans like that stupid fish that could break the sound barrier… underwater. She almost regretted creating those things. She’d just wanted something she could play around with when she had nothing to do, but ended up creating a predator that was unrivaled in speed unless it tried racing a Seaborn, not that it was dumb enough to do that.
She made a lot of stupidly strong things by accident. Like that big ol’ whale that was meant to be passive towards things, but decided to develop a neural network more like an orca’s, instead becoming a danger to everything around it. There was also the Kraken, her greatest failure/success. It was originally supposed to be a one off thing, but she forgot she made two, and they ended up breeding and now there’s all kinds of Krakens all over the universe, since they love to hitch rides on inter-galactic ships. What had come upon her to make it so it could survive in the cold vacuum of space and regrow tentacles at a rapid pace, she knew not. She also knew tentacles were technically arms, but she didn’t like the idea of saying, “Oh, I have ten arms.” Saying, “I have two arms and eight tentacles” was far better.
Another crazy thing to her: all of these things were in this System, according to the sounds she’d heard from when she had woken up in the ocean. How they managed to spread so damn far would be a mystery to her until the end of time.
Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she looked up at Bennett, who was returning to the table with what looked like two cups of coffee, something she’d grown a liking to just recently.
He put hers onto the table in front of her and she reached towards it, sniffing it, detecting the sugar and cream he’d put into it for her. She took a sip as Bennett sighed.
“Today is the exams, huh?” he said, sounding a bit like he was in a dream. “I never thought… I’d be able to participate. And have a chance to join. I remember last year, there was this other Lightning Alignment candidate. She completely destroyed the opposition with this weird Skill. It empowered her, basically turning her into some sort of ‘avatar of Lightning’, as some of the spectators. And it wasn’t like she had no control; she was definitely trained… I heard that she’s also one of the top students as of recently-”
Yelena, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, wrapped her arms around her brother’s neck and rested her chin on top of his head, looking tired. “Oh, quit fanboying. You think you’ll never be as strong as her and look up to her. Just say it.”
Bennett rolled his eyes, making an attempt to pry his sister off of him. “Yeah, I look up to her. She’s stronger than I am, so of course I do.”
“Uh huh, uh huh,” she responded, eyes closed. “Anyways, the exams. What do you think they’ll consist of this year?”
Bennett looked up thoughtfully. “If it’s anything like last year, it’ll be a competition between all the people who sign up for it. If not, then it’ll be teams competing against one another while fighting off monsters.”
Yelena opened an eye. “I… don’t think your skillset is meant for that. Your most offensive attack is Lightning Strike. And even that’s a bit… not helpful.”
“Yeah, but you have a 10 second downtime on most of your damage. And you take more damage after dealing most of your damage, for, currently, 15 seconds.”
Luna poked Bennett from across the table and he blinked.
“Right. I should explain the Exam. Most of the exam is combat focused with a bit of actual general knowledge built into it. They test what you know of Magic and other general skills. They test how you work with and against others, your knowledge of planning and creating a strategy, improvisation, among other things. There is the small, written portion, but that’s just to delegate you to the classroom they'll put you in. Each year, 150 new students are submitted into the Academy, with 6 classes, for the first years, at least, accepting 25 students each, based on their skill and knowledge.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Luna nodded at this explanation. So, you have to compete against other potential students to earn a place in the Academy. She again wondered if she should be participating, but then shook the thought out of her mind. She would rather spend her time learning more about this world then… sitting around, bored out of her mind. And… maybe because she liked spending time with Bennett, whenever he was around. He’d usually be there and, if he had the time, him and his sister would go with her to some places, like Yelena’s job, where she got a discount since she worked there, the nearby park area, where they would play with the younger kids, who all seems to be elated whenever Bennett showed up, and even, one time, a restaurant, with most of the food was seafood.
She remembered the seafood place very vividly. She’d eaten everything that Bennett had ordered, even the squid, which, for some strange reason, felt very wrong. Maybe it was because she could do most of the same things that squids could do, namely the ink thing, which was a sensitive topic for her. Yes, she knew that her ink was a valuable resource, being a perfect conductor of Elemental energy, therefore unrivaled in Runescripts, but why in the universe would she ever just give her ink to someone. They’d have to be the most important person in the world for that!
Anyhow, the seafood was great.
~~~
Before Luna knew it, Bennett and Yelena had already gotten ready for the day and were urging her to hurry up, since the exams were soon.
She knew she had to hurry up, but the couch was so warm…
Bennett, finally done with waiting on her, lifted her off the couch and carried her to the front door as she made noises of complaint in a very un-Godly way. However, she was immediately satiated when he stuffed a cinnamon roll into her mouth. She used his forearm as a sort of seat, her head just above his, while eating her sugary roll as they rushed through the crowds, who seemed to all be excited for something.
“Damn it…” he muttered. “How’re we supposed to get through this crowd?”
Yelena, having no such qualms, seemed to blast herself into the air with a burst of fire and landed on a rooftop with a roll, continuing her running. Bennett frowned before seeming to psych himself up. He then jumped into the air and Luna felt a bit strange for a moment, like some sort of request was being made in her head.
Must be some sort of movement technique? I guess I’ll accept-
The moment she allowed it, she felt like her entire body just vanished from this plane of existence. It wasn’t too intrusive, since she’d felt like that before when she went from planet to planet in her old home, but Bennett being able to affect her like this was a bit… strange.
Around a second later, she became corporeal again and Bennett kept running over the rooftops.
“Sorry if that felt weird, Luna,” he said, jumping a gap in between roofs. “It’s just a Skill of mine.”
Luna nodded as she felt the same tug on her mind. She accepted it again, and she went incorporeal again. This time, she studied the area around them to see that they were basically a cloud of electricity in the shape of two people crackling through the air at a much faster pace than running. Bennett seemed to have full control over where it went, though that control left a bit to be desired, she thought as he suddenly went up at an angle and they reformed, flying through the air. Bennett, realizing he wouldn’t get out of this without rolling, tossed her into the air right before he hit the ground, in an impressive feat of strength.
Everything seemed to go in slow motion as he rolled, got back up, and caught Luna, now running beside his sister. They both ran for nearly a minute, Bennett faster, but held back by him holding Luna, so his sister pulled ahead slightly. Finally, they jumped off the buildings and into a group of people. Bennett skidded on his back, but his light leather armor protected his back and Luna as he slid into the group of around 40 people, all seeming to be around his age, who were waiting around.
Bennett ignored the people giving him strange looks as he breathed hard, Luna on top of his chest. She quickly moved off of him so he could breathe easier. Yelena, on the other hand, seemed like she was going to faint.
“Almost… late… I’ve never… ran so hard… in my life,” she said, huffing in her own armor as she caught her breath. “The hell… did you run while carrying her?”
Bennett sat up and coughed. “Experience,” he simply said.
“With what?”
“Beehives. Damn things are heavy. Thank the gods that the queens don’t reside in them, just the honey.”
Yelena couldn’t even find the breath to insult him, so instead slapped him in the back of the head with her sword’s sheath. He keeled forward, jumping to his feet so as to not fall over.
“Phew,” he said, taking a breath. “We made it.”
Luna frowned at him before looking around.
He seemed to get what she was wondering as he stretched his arms. He began his way through the crowd as Luna went over to grab his hand.
“When we pay, we’ll be transported to a place where the people from ten cities who are eligible to go to this Academy will be tested. Up to 50 from each can be submitted, but most of them will be sent back, since only 15 per will be selected. There are 150 spots every year to go to the Academy I think we have a pretty good chance of getting in.”
Luna looked around as Bennett led her through the crowd, Yelena following closely behind.
“It’s a three year course, with 450 students being in the Academy at any one point. Or, that’s what they say, at least. I’m pretty sure there’s students who stay after-”
Luna poked Bennett, wanting him to just explain. He sighed. “Right. Anyways, there’s always, at the most, 450 students. We just have to be part of those 450.”
He went quiet for a moment as he squeezed through a few more people and made it up to some sort of desk, or platform, one could say, with something like a glass screen pane on it. Luna looked at it curiously while Bennett and Yelena rushed up to it.
He placed his hand on it and sighed.
“Six spots left,” he said with relief. “Let’s see if it really lets Luna do it for free.”
Bennett put his hand on it, causing it to flash with words.
___
Alignment : Lightning
Name : Bennett “Yasmine”
Race : Human
Class : None
Calculating Exam cost…
…
Calculation complete.
Potential : High
Cost : 500 Gold
Payment processed. Congratulations, you have been accepted to participate in the exams to attend Trileah Academy of Magic. Good luck.
Spots remaining : 4
___
Bennett gave Luna a thumbs up as Yelena did the same as he did.
___
Alignment : Flame
Name : Yelena “Yasmine”
Race : Human
Class : None
Calculating Exam cost…
…
Calculation complete.
Potential : High
Cost : 490 Gold
Payment processed. Congratulations, you have been accepted to participate in the exams to attend Trileah Academy of Magic. Good luck.
Spots remaining : 3
___
Bennett frowned. “Hey, that’s favoritism. You can’t charge her less, you stupid machine.”
Yelena stuck her tongue out at Bennett, and he grabbed her by the ear and pressed his fist into her head, eliciting a yelp. She scrambled out of his grip and grabbed his ear. As the two wrestled, Luna hesitantly put her hand onto the podium.
___
Alignment: Water
Name : ???
Race : ???
Class : ???
Error! Requesting-
___
Luna pressed her hand against the thing harder, somehow able to send her thoughts through to it.
Don’t you dare. I am Luna. I have no class. If you don’t let me in, you’ll regret it, stupid machine.
It seemed to think about its life choices for a good minute before spitting out a different screen.
___
Alignment : Water
Name : Luna “Yasmine”
Race : Seaborn
Class : None
Calculating Exam cost…
…
Calculation complete.
Potential : ???
Cost : 0 Gold
Due to your unknown potential, you have been marked and are able to do this Exam for free. You have been accepted to participate in the exams to attend Trileah Academy of Magic. Good luck.
Spots Remaining
___
As the screen changed, Bennett looked over and his eyes went wide. “Mom was right! It is letting you attend the exams for free! You’re really lucky! That means that you must have a really high potential. Even to become an Archon!”
Archon? Those stupidly powerful followers of gods? And did he not see the Race?
Luna gave him a questioning look but she realized that the screen had changed once again.
___
Error! Water Alignment detected! Seaborn detected! Requesting help…
___
Shi-
Before she could even curse mentally, a tug on her body nearly pulled her somewhere else. She growled and declined the teleportation “invitation”. It simply disappeared and she thought she was in the clear until she felt the telltale signs of someone appearing behind her. She turned around innocently, trying not to give away that she’d just threatened to destroy the podium.
There was a tall, cloaked person behind her, looking down at her. She couldn’t see their expression, but based on their smell, they were a woman. Luna stared up, doing her best to look meek while internally rushing through different types of situations.
“A Seaborn, huh?” the woman said, though her voice was changed by some sort of Runescript in her cloak so it was deeper and more… male. “Not too different, but a Water alignment? That’s nearly unheard of.”
The entire area was dead silent, all chatter having been cut off at the woman’s presence. Even Bennett and Yelena had stopped wrestling with one another, watching with confusion.
“So? Care to explain yourself? How do you, of all people, have a Water Alignment?”
Luna was so baffled that this woman could be so dumb, that she nearly slapped her hand against her own face. She was a Seaborn (According to the woman). Why wouldn’t she have a Water Alignment? She didn’t show this on her face though and instead blinked in confusion. She’d had an immeasurable amount of time to perfect the art of faking emotions, and she would-
Suddenly, as if in slow motion, the woman drew a blade and slashed down at Luna. Luna simply stared up, knowing that if she really tried, she could easily move out of the way in a second. But, before she could react, a crackle of electricity flashed in front of her and there was a vicious snap! as Bennett tried to block the sword with his daggers, the bones in his arms snapping in the effort. However he was just barely able to keep the sword from smashing into Luna, redirecting it into the ground.
Panic immediately overwhelmed Luna and she rushed at Bennett, using Overheal to its full extent. Instantaneously, Bennett’s arms were bent back in shape and she knew his HP had shot up to completely insane proportions, possibly nearly 330%.
The woman took a step back, clearly shocked. “What the… Overheal?” she hissed. “And it’s that effective-”
Before she finished her sentence, Luna had already smashed a singular tentacle against her chest faster than anyone could possibly see and the woman was launched over the crowd and possibly into the nearby ocean. By the time people had looked back at her, Luna’s tentacle was nowhere to be seen and she had a completely confused expression on her face.
Then, there was a message, clearly having been sent by the damned detection slab on the podium.
___
All candidates for this city have paid. Transporting to Training Grounds for exam for Exam type: Horde battles.
You will not gain Levels during this and Teams have been automatically chosen. Only three teams will be eligible to enter the Academy after four waves of progressively more challenging monsters.
There will be ten teams of 5 and they will be spread out widely. Any persons containing Artifacts not made by said person will immediately be disqualified.
Good Luck.
___
Well, I’m certainly in trouble after this, Luna thought, downcast. She then felt a tug requesting Teleportation. She accepted as people disappeared around her. First, however, I have a grudge to act upon.
A moment later, she was teleported as she giggled in glee, the podium a pile of pebbles being the only thing left behind, her revenge dished out.
***
The cloaked woman groaned. “Geez, I knew that Luna was something, but that was stronger than I expected. A Seaborn, huh?” She froze the water beneath her and stretched. “And Lena? I couldn’t have possibly expected her to get a Flame Alignment. I guess Alignment gaining isn’t related to blood.”
She threw her head back, knocking off the hood, Ms. Yasmine’s hair billowing in the ocean wind. “I wish I didn’t have to hurt Ben to see just how far her Overheal can go. However, I still don’t think that’s the extent of it. She clearly wanted to keep some MP for the exam. But his HP still went up to almost 310%.”
Yasmine thought for a few moments when she got a connection through her communication Crystal. She sighed. “Yes, Headmaster? I dealt with the problem,” she lied through her teeth. The problem had more of dealt with her. “It was just a Seaborn. The Podium didn’t know what to do, since Seaborn don’t normally attend this Academy.”
The headmaster of Trileah Academy sighed. “Melony-”
“Yeah, yeah, she’s a healer. Big deal. Water Alignment and all.” Melony Yasmine chose to not mention the fact that the girl had put a dent in her Mythril armor with a tentacle that nearly broke the sound barrier. “I think she’s trained as well. Pretty decent healing. She definitely has some sort of Class to help with it too.”
“Does she have Overheal?” The Headmaster inquired.
Melony bit her lip. Should I tell him? If I tell him, she’ll be separated from Bennett, which I’m sure she won’t take kindly to. And I like it when Bennett is happy. “No, she can’t heal above 100% HP.”
The Headmaster sighed. “Unfortunate. You’ll be watching your children I presume? Also, when did you have another daughter? Luna Yasmine?”
Is that what the System calls her? Because Bennett named her? Just who is this girl?
“Of course not,” Melony snorted. “She didn’t have a name before. Ben and Lena have been taking care of that girl and when Bennett gave her a name, the System really said, ‘Oh, if he named her, then her surname must be Yasmine.’” Even though that’s not my actual surname…
“Wait… is this the same healer you just encountered?”
“Yep. Ben literally fished her out of the water. I didn’t mean for him to literally fish a girl, but look where we are.”
The Headmaster sighed again. This old man sure loves sighing. Well, I love thinking, so I can’t say much.
“Well, keep an eye on her. We never know if she may develop Overheal. And if she does-”
“Headmaster. We cannot just draft a student into war because they develop a certain Skill, like you did with Anabeth since she developed an Avatar. Plus, I’d rather keep her with Ben.”
The Trileah Academy headmaster let out a sigh. “What for?”
“Insurance.”
Melony cut out the connection and looked into the distance, towards the training grounds, far off into the distance.
“Good luck, my children. Now, I should probably get back to the infirmary, since I have patients waiting.”