*Clang* *Thump*
The courtyard filled with dust as the two assailants went at each other. Neither of them able to land a strike. One was fast and lithe, the other strong and brawny.
Fyn chuckled "Pretty mediocre. Derrans movement is nice but he lacks power, Theo has power, but he's slow and too aggressive"
Sitting across from him, Fara sighed "Yeah... This is pretty boring"
The duel concluded within a minute with Theo thrashing Derran with the head of his warhammer.
"Hahaha, I guess being a nobleman doesn't buy you skill does it Derran?" Theo strutted around the training courtyard before coming to a stop in front of Fyn and Faras' table.
He grinned suggestively which didn't suit his brutish face "So Fara... Enjoy the show?"
Sadly, Faras pretty face paired with her brown eyes, and dirty blonde hair usually attracted this kind of attention.
She looked away, face full of boredom "Why would I be impressed by lack of skill theo?" Theo's face somehow managed to grin harder "How about we participate in something I'm a little more skilled in?"
In a blur of movement, Theo's face was smashed against the table and he was thrown back into the courtyard.
Everyone's attention snapped to the spectacle as Fyn threw the warhammer in the middle of the courtyard "Pick it up"
Fyn backed away as Theo jumped up and grabbed the hammer "Sticking up for your girlfriend is cute Fyn. But you pissed off the wrong person today... And who knows, maybe I'll take her out on a nice date after" he said with an evil smile on his face.
Theo leapt forward and went to smash Fyn, only for his hammer to hit earth as he felt a hard force slam into his back and he tumbled to the ground.
"Slow Theo... Very slow. Who would be impressed by this?" Fyn said in a taunting voice. Theo burst from the ground and swung his hammer full force.
Fyn casually dodged everything Theo could do "Are you sure you've been through training? I've met rookies who were better than this"
Theo smirked and responded "I'm being trained by my father. Guess your dad didn't want to stick around to do the same with you"
*WHAM*
Theo's head whipped around, blood spewing from the impact of Fyn's fist. He fell to the ground and groaned before crying out as Fyn jumped on him and reared his right fist up.
"Don't ever..." *WHAM* "Mention my father..." *WHAM* "Again!" *WHAM*
Fara slammed into Fyn and grabbed his hands, pinning him to the ground "You have to calm down Fyn! You'll accidentally kill him!"
Fyn started to overpower her strength "It's not an accident if I mean to do it!" he said
Fara thought of what to do before coming to a quick solution. She slammed her mouth into his, making him freeze.
He looked at Fara as her eyes closed and she grabbed his face with both hands. He reciprocated, doing the same. After a moment they separated "Okay... I think I'm calm now"
She giggled and got off of him, pulling him up with her "Well I hope so, it was the only thing I could think to do..." she said.
He slung his arm over her shoulders and said "Good strategy" they both chuckled. Looking around Fara's face turned red as she realized all of the attention was on them.
Her eyes became darker as she went from shy to pissed "What are you all looking at?" she asked in an evil voice. Everyone turned their attention to Theo being carted off to a healer, nearly unrecognizable now from Fyns force.
As Fyn and Fara were chatting Derran and a few of his friends came over to talk to them "Thanks for kicking his ass"
"No problem man. Anyways have a good day" Fyn and Fara went to walk away but Derran stopped them.
"Wait... Why don't you guys hang with us until your patrol?" he asked
Fyn and fara paused "Um... Sure I guess, as long as Fara is ok with it" he looked at Fara. She nodded her head and they went with Derrans group to the magical training area in the nobles' quarter.
Morna was set up with its main castle carved into the side of a mountain and had a different population per quarter.
The fourth or outer quarter consisted of inns, markets, and shoddy bars, mainly for passerbys.
The third quarter was referred to as the peasant quarter, it was mainly shoddy houses and food markets, it was also rather dangerous as it was filled with vagabonds and easier for beasts to infiltrate as it was so close to the massive wall that surrounded Morna.
The second quarter was for the middle class, shops of all kinds and cozy homes littered what they called the middle quarter. This was also where the Guards Guild and other various guilds were located.
The first quarter was the noble quarter. Filled with fancy houses, exclusive guilds, a magic academy, and expensive shops. And then there was the massive castle carved into the side of the mountain. Its name was Castle Vorne and it was the shining jewel of Morna.
Fyn and Fara had never been to the nobles quarter, but Derran was from a high nobleman household so he had no trouble getting them in.
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Moran Magic Academy: Training Area
"Man this place is nice... Wish there was something like this in the middle quarter" Fara said as they walked into the training area.
Fyn took a look around. It was a large room filled with targets at various ranges. The walls were lined with nostalim, a type of iron that is resistant toward tier tier 4 magic and below, as well as nullifying all basic magic under tier 2.
Fyn whistled "Pretty impressive"
Derran decided to introduce everyone before training "Fyn and Fara, this is Tini, Brock, and my brother Don. And that over there is professor Matrian, she's here to supervise us" he pointed over to a tall brown-haired lady in a lab coat, similar to what his mother usually wore. She was sitting at a table in the corner of the room looking over some files.
Tini had dark blue hair, green eyes, and a very pale complexion. She was a bit shorter than Fara, but the most surprising thing about her was her ears, they were pointed, meaning she was either elven or elven-born.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Brock was a beast of a man. Standing even taller than Fyn with blonde hair and blue eyes.
Don and Darren were the spitting image of each other. Their builds were lithe, and they both had brown hair. However their eyes were different, Dons were green, while Darrens were brown.
"Hello" "Sup" "Hi..." They all said at the same time.
With introductions over Fyn and Tini sat down with Matrian and watched as the rest worked on their spells.
Tini sat shyly for a while before quietly asking "Why aren't you practicing with the others?" Fyn glanced at her and responded "I could ask you the same"
Tini giggled "Touche... I've already trained today. I've learned it's best not to push myself or my magic gets strained. Your turn"
Confusion filled Fyns face "I thought pushing yourself helped with increasing your power?"
She explained "Not for elf-born. Elves and elf-born gain more power as we get older. Humans do as well, but have a shorter lifespan. That's why elves are suited toward magic, our average lifespan is a lot longer than a human's"
Fyn nodded in understanding "My magic is volatile. Whenever I use my primary spell, it becomes very unstable. Making a T2 spell become T3 because I put too much magic into it. Charging spells is something alot of people do, but I can't aim it. Just the general direction. I've tried to increase my mana control but it's stuck at T1" Fyn explained.
Tinis eyes lit up "I've never seen a T3 spell from anyone except a professor. Can't you do it just once? Pleeeeeeaaasssee..." she said as she looked up at Fyn with puppy dog eyes.
Fyn sighed "Fine, but everyone has to get behind me" he got up and explained to the others what he was about to do.
"Are you sure Fyn? Your magic can get out of control pretty fast" Fara asked in concern.
He chuckled "It'll be fine. As long as you all stand behind me"
Fyn stood in front of the mid-range target and started to draw magic to his right hand. The professor took notice of the build-up of magic and decided to join them.
"Do all T3 spells take this long to cast?" Brock asked Matrian "No, not near as long. It's taking longer because he's charging a T2 spell into a T3" she explained.
Tini looked confused "Why don't we talk about charging spells in the academy?"
"It's not reliable enough. It's talked about in magical history, mostly because of all the colossal accidents there have been. Things can go wrong quickly, for example, if he lost concentration, he would more than likely launch himself across the room. It's a little impressive that he hasn't yet to be honest" she said with a light smile on her face.
"I thought only stronger and more experienced mages could cast anything with T3 power..." Fara asked, glancing at Fyn in concern.
The professor explained further. "Not necessarily, if you have the mana capacity you can build a spell of any tier into the next tier. Charging T1 magic into T2 is easy, T2 into T3 is difficult but manageable, and we aren't even going to talk about anything higher. Casting a regular T4 spell is extremely difficult because it's almost divine magic, so charging it would take an immense amount of mana"
As she finished her explanation, Fyn got done charging. "Anyone that can put up a magic barrier, please do so"
The professor and Tini put their hands out. "Barrier" two translucent shields popped up in front of the group
Fyn stared at the target. "Please don't screw this up" he thought as pale blue light shone from his hand. He stepped forward and slung his arm at the target "Lightning strike!"
A massive lightning bolt raced down the range straight at the target "Wow!" "Nice!" Tini and Brock said at the same time. Even the professor looked impressed.
Until the bolt veered right and missed.
The bolt hit the nostalim wall and ricocheted right back to Fyn "Son of a bit-"
The bolt struck Fyn in the chest, flinging him across the room and onto his back "Fyn!" Fara and the others rushed to check on him.
"He's still breathing. We need to get this armor off" Fara said. The others started stripping his leather cuirass off while Fara cradled his head. Brock chuckled "Damn... Fyns jacked"
A large charred wound sat in the middle of Fyn's chest. Tini stepped up and put her hands over it "I'll heal him" she said quietly, a slight blush blooming on her face. Light started pouring onto the wound, slowly mending it together.
A few minutes later it was completely healed, with only a light scar remaining.
"Alright, now we need to wake him up..." Matrian said, kneeling beside him.
"Oh, are you going to use some type of awakening magic?" Tini said in curiosity. "Nope" the professor responded as she reared her hand back and slapped Fyn across the face.
Fyn sprung up and clutched his cheek. "Ah, what the hell!?" He looked around at the others. "What happened?"
Looking down, he found he was shirtless. "And why am I half naked?"
Fara sighed while shaking her head. "What's the last thing you remember?"
Fyns face contorted in contemplation. "I felt like I was flying... Oh, and now I remember why" he groaned as he stood up.
"Take it slow" the professor said. "I'm fine" He responded, getting to his feet.
"To be honest, I don't know if I could have survived without my armor, the leather is infused with nostalim" he said, frowning at the gaping hole in his cuirass.
He went to step forward and his legs gave out. Don and Brock caught him before he hit the ground
"We gotcha bro" Brock said as he lifted him back up and assisted him in standing. "Thanks, guys. Shock must have rattled my system a bit more than I thought"
They sat Fyn down in a chair as he recovered. Fara practically latched onto him, "Don't ever do something that stupid again" she said hugging him.
"Well, I'm me... So that's going to be rather difficult"
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Later that night in front of Fara's house
Fyn and Fara were locked in each other's embrace before Fyn pulled away, leaning his forehead against hers. "My mom will kill me if I don't get home now"
Fara giggled "Fine... But you're staying over soon" she said, spinning around and slowly strutting away.
Fyn groaned and turned away before he was tempted to stay. Walking down the street as the cold wind whipped at his face.
When he was about a block from his house, a shiver ran up his spine.
He spun around and scanned the area. "Hmph... Could have sworn I felt something watching me"
"Hi Fyn" He spun back around, his hand falling on the pommel of his sword. surprise lit up his face "Professor?"
Professor Matrian was standing in the middle of the cobbled road, staring at Fyn. Her fingers had grown long black claws, and her eyes had turned blood red. A creepy smile slowly spread across her face as she walked towards him. "I was pleasantly surprised when you walked in with Darren's little group. My prey has never so willingly come to me until today..."
Fyns eyes narrowed. He started backing away as his sword edged out of its scabbard. "You look a bit different professor... A little threatening, if I'm being honest"
"You have no idea how threatening I can be, little mouse" Suddenly she disappeared. The torches lighting the road blew out and darkness enveloped the area, making Fyn draw his sword and take up a defensive pose.
Matrians voice seemed to come from everywhere "I've been watching you for a while Fyn. So strong and fast, a true warrior. But what is even more intoxicating is your scent... It smells... Delicious"
Fyn screamed as his back was shredded by his unseen opponent, forcing him to his knees. Sensing another attack coming, he threw himself to the right as her stomp barely missed him.
She giggled evilly, blood dripping from her claws. "Still got some fight in ya, hmm?" Fyn scrambled to his feet and put his back to the nearest wall. "Can't get me in the back now"
"Good thing I don't need to" She sped towards him. He blocked her first swipe, and ducked her second, sliding his blade along her side, opening a gash in her side, before slamming his foot into her knee, causing her to kneel.
As he slashed down at her neck she disappeared again.
*Clang* His blade bounced off the ground as Matrian appeared beside him, launching him into the wall with a kick.
He slid down the wall, clutching his side. He pointed his sword toward her "What the hell do you even want lady?"
She opened her mouth and her top canines grew into fangs. "Your blood smells amazing, I don't know what it is about you... But I want you" she smacked his sword aside and sunk her fangs into his neck.
Fyn cried out as she drained him. His vision slowly turning black as his eyelids closed.
Fyns eyes shot open. "No" He said, his voice full of rage. He reached up and grabbed her throat, pushing her away from his neck. "Get off me you leech" He grabbed her collar and rammed their heads together.
"Ahh! You little shi-" He struck her throat, causing her to choke.
*SMACK* His fist smashed into her face, tossing her to the side. He stumbled up and grabbed his sword.
"HIISSSSSSSSSS" She screeched and jumped at him. He raised the sword as she collided with him, sinking her claws into his chest.
"Argh!" They fell back. Matrian landing on top of him. He lay there with her on him, waiting for death.
When it didn't come, he looked down. "Huh... Guess I'm lucky" his sword was sticking through her chest as she lay dead on top of him.
He lay there exhausted. Matrians blood was gushing all over him, her claws still stuck in his chest. "It seems like a good time to take a nap" he said as his eyes fluttered shut and his heart slowly came to a still.
*THU-THUMP THU-THUMP THU-thump thu-thump thu-thum-...*