As you might or might not have noticed, I've renumbered the chapters. I realised the prologue is too long for the standard of fictions on this site, hence the renumbering.
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"Stop and stay where you are!" A magnified voice shoots through the crowd.
With a smile on his face, Garion strides confidently ahead of the contestants, effectively stopping them in their tracks. Those that had seen him would know him to be a staff while the others could only guess his identity. However, all of them realise that this person would be their first tester.
"I shall explain the test now. Please be quiet and pay attention to my voice, I understand those of you at the back might have trouble seeing me through the crowd" He cranes his neck to address the back row.
"This test consists of three parts" Raising his right hand, he shows three fingers to emphasise his sentence.
"The time limit is until sundown. If the time is up and you have not cleared all three parts, you fail"
"I am in charge of the first part but I am entrusted with providing you information of the test in general. Listen well because I shall not repeat anything" With a tone that induces caution, he pauses for a moment to ensure everyone is silent.
"The goal of this test is to reach the main building which is the largest and tallest one up ahead. If you walk at a normal pace, you'd be able to reach it in about forty minutes" Hearing that, a few of the contestants heaved a sigh of relief. They have at least nine hours until dusk, there should be plenty of time.
"And that is where the test comes in. On the way there you shall be tested three times, which will take a considerable amount of time to complete"
'Time is obviously not the only thing they need' Garion thought to himself, smiling even wider.
"You are prohibited from straying off this path. Taking a detour or attempting to skip any part of the test would result in immediate failure" He taps his boot on the pavement.
"The third test can only be attempted by one person every ten minutes, those who came later would have to wait before proceeding" The third test consists of a conundrum. It would be problematic if someone got through without solving it on their own.
"Everyone of you are competing against each other. As such, you are allowed to stop your opponents from advancing. Note that inflicting any serious injury such as dismemberment, permanent damage or in the worst case death would lead you to jail" Putting both hands forward, he gives a thumbs down coupled with a frown.
"We are trying to search for a hero, not a villain. The testers shall be observing your movements, so make sure you do not cross the line"
'So I should watch out for people, too?' Chase flinches at the thought. Things might get a little troublesome later on.
"Okay, now I shall explain the first part of the test. This is my part, Ga ha ha ha!" As if proud of himself, he starts to laugh heartily. The crowd cast stony looks upon him, bringing him to a stop.
*Cough* *Cough*
"Ehem, I am not a complex man. So, my part is very simple. I have stationed a number of golems to block your way and you would have to bypass them" The contestants stare at the empty road behind Garion, trying hard to spot the golems. Only the stone pavement and the rows of trees flanking it fill their sights.
"It does not matter how you do so. You can break them or simply run through them. The area guarded by my golems starts from this line here, and ends at another similar line later" He walks a few steps in reverse direction and points at a wide horizontal red line painted on the road then at another one barely visible hundreds of meters away.
"That should be everything, now please turn around and count to ten. Once you are done, you may start" The crowd freezes, taking some time to take in the peculiar command.
"Tur-n a-round... no-w, and s-tart... coun-ting ....when I - tell you... to" He twirls his finger in a clockwise motion and mouths of the word slowly as if he was speaking to imbeciles. Nevertheless, the offended contestants had no choice but to obey.
"Good, now start counting" He adds in a final tone.
'three..two..one!' Chase earnestly counts down like most of the others.
Some had cheated and counted down faster but all of them spun back to see Garion gone. Figuring he had went to hide somewhere, they got over the shock relatively quick.
'I can't see any golems..' Chase is among those located in the front and just like the others, he could not see anything blocking their way.
Despite the test having already started, no one made a move past the red line. A portion tries to find hidden meanings behind Garion's explanation but most are just too scared to make a move. They whip their heads left and right to find someone who would be willing to go first. No one wants to fail right at the beginning of the test. It took a full five minutes before someone finally made a move.
"Bah, get outta my way, you pussies! Scared of a stoopid threat, you're all dumb weaklings!" Everyone turns their head towards the source of the abrasive insults.
The thug that Chase had saw earlier is pushing his way through and advancing forward. He stops right before the red line and looks back at the others.
"I'll go ahead of you crybabies, see ya!" With the most obnoxious expression Chase had ever seen, the thug places one foot across the line. Then he took another step, and another. Soon, he is three feet beyond the boundary.
"See? Nothi-"
*Zup* *Bzzzzt*
It happened in a flash, a metallic human-like figure appeared behind him and grabbed the back of his head. In a momentary flash of light accompanied by soft crackling sounds, the thug convulses violently and falls to the ground limp and unconscious.
Having disabled the intruder, the golem fades out of view. It simply disappears into thin air, like it was never there in the first place.
The contestants who are at the very front slowly inches back from the red line, now that they know of the hidden danger ahead.
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On the rooftop of the main building, a group of professors are observing the test takers from afar. Each of them holds a telescope in their hand, peering through its lens at the magnified vision.
"Ga Ha Ha Ha! How's that? I call it electricity!" Half of them were startled by the voice.
"Someday you'll be the death of me, Gallet" A man shakily clutches his chest. Beads of sweat roll down his wrinkled skin. His frail heart could drop dead at any moment nowadays.
"How'd you get back so fast, Gabbon?" Another man, wearing the Zenithian Knight's armour spoke up. Using different names, they refer to the same person.
"I ran" Garion answered simply as if covering that much distance in five minutes is the easiest feat in the world.
"Umm... did you construct those? Professor... Gallet Gabbon?" A bespectacled young woman chips into the conversation. Her long auburn hair is braided into a ponytail and draped around her shoulders. She clutches a thick book over her modest chest. That coupled with her brown cloak gave her the look of a sage.
"It's Gagarin, are you new?" Garion eyes the woman curiously. He is quite sure that he knew most if not all of the staff and this woman is not one of them.
"Ah, yes! I'm Miria, I just got hired here. This would be my first year of teaching, I'm proud to have been hired to teach here and- Gagarin? But.." With a rosy blush on her cheeks, she nervously spouts a stream of words. Due to the excitement of seeing such intriguing constructs she actually forgot to introduce herself first.
"Just call him Ga, Miria... he goes by lots of names. Just pick one or completely ignore them and go for 'Ga' instead" The tall Knight saves Miria from her confusion.
"Eh? Right, Ga. Professor Ga, did you invent those golems on your own? What manual did you use? It doesn't seem like Moslow's or Erinin's and what is this electricity you spoke of? And.." With the introductions out of the way, she immediately starts to sate her curiosity. They say curiosity killed the cat but she is definitely smarter than a cat. Otherwise, she would never have become a Royal Wizard.
"Yes, I did. They're a combination of manuals I've read, so you could call it an original. Electricity is a form of energy in lightning. Okay, stop, I want to see what's going on with the test. Save your questions for later" The girl is starting to creep Garion out. He wants to see how Jayce, no, Chase, is doing out there.
Fetching a telescope from inside his coat, he unfolds it and holds it in front of his eye.
"Oh, look! There's the leader type trying to take command" He mentions excitedly to his colleagues on the rooftop.
"Yep, I don't think he's doing a good job though.. now look at what he just did.." The aged man says in a depressing voice.
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Having seen the electrocuted thug, Chase starts to formulate a plan.
'Those golems are using optical camouflage... problem is.. I can't use Light Magic to reveal their locations' Frowning in concentration, he scans the path.
Chase remembers what Gillian had told him to do. Keep a low profile, normal people only has an affinity for one to two elements at most. If he uses his Light Magic here, he would only be left with one other element to use for the rest of his Academy years. Rather than Light, elements like Earth and Wind are far more versatile.
"Listen up plebeians! I have a plan to get us all through this obstacle. Heed my orders and you shall be rewarded with success!" A familiar looking noble steps forward and calls out to the crowd.
'Who was he again? Someone from House.. ' Chase tries to remember the person's identity.
"I am Kyle Andre, esteemed third son of House Andre! With my talents, it is not an impossibility for me to lead you peasants to success. If you perform well, I might choose you to serve as vassals to House Andre" His introduction spurs forth a burst of murmurs from the crowd. From the bits and pieces Chase could hear, it seems House Andre is the third most powerful family in Armitage. That would explain the lack of protest after being referred to as peasants.
'Like I care about politics' Chase still pays attention to Kyle, interested to see his plan.
"I have a sure win strategy and I require your services to execute it!" Brimming with confidence, he announces his intention. By boldly announcing the existence of a sure win strategy, he managed to grab the attention of every single person present.
"Then, you can follow behind me as we breeze through this test!" A condescending smirk forms on his face.
"Tell us!"
"Yeah, tell us!"
There is only so much offense the crowd can take, the noble better have something good to say.
"Do not make demands of me you lowlifes, I'll talk at my own discretion" He snaps back in irritation. How dare they try to rush him.
"You peasants might not have seen such a thing before, but the golems are being cloaked by a Master Level Light magic" He sneers at the uneducated crowd. It is not often that you'd see a Master-Level Light Magician in action. Even House Andre only has two of them in employment. As expected of the Academy, to provide such high quality inventions for the test.
"All you have to do is disturb their means of distorting light by creating coloured Light Balls and then we can snipe them down from behind the red line" There, his perfect plan is finally revealed. Even the most talented of people would have weaknesses in some areas, as such he had not reached the level of Advanced in Light Magic. Thus, he needs to enlist the help of these commoners.
"I can do that, but I want to be exempted from attacking the golems" A woman who looks to be in her thirties raises her hand. She realised her value and tries to bargain the best offer she could get. Wasting Mana on hitting down the golems is not very favourable, not when you are surrounded by people who could turn into enemies at any moment.
"...Very well, everyone else will fire arrows and spells" Kyle gives a furtive glance to the rest of the crowd and speaks on their behalf without their consent.
"What about you?! It's not fair if we're the only ones wasting ammunition!"
"What about the close combatants? What do they do?!"
The disgruntled contestants objects the noble's decision. This plan is not fair at all.
"Fine, then do whatever you want and we can all stay here and fail. I am just providing you lot with a solution to success, it is up to you to take it" Being a noble had trained him in many things. One of them is the ability to coerce simple minded fools into following his orders.
Noticing that time is passing by without them making any progress, they start to hesitantly nod one by one. Chase goes along with the plan to see how things would go.
The woman who volunteered produces a light ball and sends it forward across the red line. Pumping more Mana into it, she increases the intensity and changes the hue of the sphere into a blueish colour.
Sure enough, the horde of hidden golems are revealed in all their glory. Each the height and size of a grown man, they were built roughly following the contours of a human male. If it were not for their reflective surface and lack of any facial features, they could have been mistaken for a human from afar.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Fire!!" A flaming spear coalesces in Kyle's hand and he throws it towards one of the golems.
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Soon, plenty of spells from all the four basic elements flies overhead and lands on the golems. The golems stand still and receive the damage head-on, then collapsing on the ground with their whole frame intact.
The crowd begins to cheer on their success, believing they had disabled the golems.
'...No.. this is bad..' Perhaps the others could not see it but Chase could. Months of training to avoid magic projectiles had gifted him with kinetic vision, he noticed that the golems jumped back at the exact moment of impact and neutralized the damages done. They are most likely unharmed.
Once the other contestants start charging forward, they would be electrocuted and fall onto the ground. If that happens, the number of even footholds would decrease and avoiding the golems would be much harder.
'I have to go now!' Sensing the pressing need to hurry on, Chase bolts pass the red line while avoiding the stray spells behind him.
The others thinking Chase is trying to take the lead ignorantly follows his attempt and dashes forward. By the time they realise it, it was too late. The golems grab their unwary legs with surprising speed and jolts them with electricity.
Not everyone is an amateur, a significant number of them has enough skill to dodge the golems with decent footwork.
"Tch, should've just done this in the first place!"
"Come here and make a formation, guard all sides!"
The experienced ones start to gather together and form defensive groups while advancing slowly. Meanwhile, Chase is up ahead dodging golems with relative ease. However, he is not the only one. Following close right beside him is a male slicing and dicing the golems with elegant swordsmanship.
With a youthful spring in his steps, his movements flow smoothly from thrusts to swings like a beautiful dance. Swift and dangerous, but lacking no finesse to it. Even though he is attacking at the same time, he had managed to catch up with Chase who had a head start.
'Just who the heck?' Chase's train of thought is interrupted by a metallic hand clawing at his head. He ducks in the nick of time and avoids being knocked out.
'Right, can't be distracted now. Just a little more and I'll make it' Putting the matter of the incredible stranger aside, he concentrates on the path.
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"Isn't this overkill, Gabbon? I thought the first part is supposed to test a person's sense of justice" The Zenithian Knight Professor takes his eye off the telescope and addresses his bearded colleague.
"Overkill? Hell no, how do you expect to be a hero if you can't even pass through some mindless golems? Yes, I am testing out their morality" Garion gives a light hearted reply. So far everything seems to be going exactly as he planned.
"Isn't this too simple? I don't see anything of the sort here.. it looks like you just set up a normal difficult task for the test takers. And for the love of God, just what did you invent these golems for? Their reflexes were just incredible!" The Zenithian Knight replaces the telescope in front of his eye and sees the futile effort of the contestants at trying to break the magical constructs.
"Calm down, Marius. The morality part is about to start, now if you were to pick one person that would pass the test, which one would it be?" Garion waves off the complaints and asks for their pick of the winner.
"The young one with the sword in the front" The aged man answers first.
"You too, Korim? Good choice. The black-haired kid seems to be good as well but I think he pales in comparison to the swordsman " Marius agrees wholeheartedly.
"Umm.. I think so too" Miria timidly joins in the conversation.
"Really? Oh you guys are boring..." Garion frowns, disappointed with their votes.
"Oh yeah? I suppose you are picking the other one then?" Marius challenges Garion to prove he had made the wrong assessment.
"Just watch and you'll see him in action soon" Without taking his eye off the telescope, he had only been observing Chase the whole time. He really should not indulge in favoritism but the boy had grabbed his eye since their first meeting.
'Now show me what else you've got, Chase Blackstone. Show me the strength of the one who would wield Equilibrium' Garion is waiting in anticipation to see how much Chase had grown since his amateur goblin killing days.
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'I made it!' Chase's feet lands over the red line, stopping the golems chasing him in their tracks. Their programming prohibits them from passing through the boundary.
Chase whips his head to the side to look at the swordsman but finds him to have already advanced forward. He heaves a sigh of relief, if the swordsman had decided to stop him he would be hard-pressed to fight back. In terms of technique the teenager might even surpass Aaron, he sliced through the golems like they were butter.
Chase turns around to look at the remaining contestants.
Most of them had already fallen, the only ones left are those who had banded into groups. Currently there are only two groups who are advancing at a snail's pace. Their members are slowly being whittled down and they are stuck halfway.
"Hey, a little help here?! Don't just stand there!!" Spotting the idle Chase, they call out for assistance.
"Please!! I need to pass the test!"
"I have kids back home!"
Now there is only one group of five left, the other had been completely defeated.
'... Darn it, I shouldn't have stayed here' Chase regrets his decision to look back. Now he is awash with guilt. If he helps them, they could be potential opponents later on. If he does not help them, it would take a toll on his conscience.
Even though their pleas resemble lines from a cheap, boring play, Chase surrenders to his human emotions and gathers Mana into his hand.
"Stay close to each other and make a run for it once I push the golems back!" Chase calls out to them, announcing his intention to help.
Not waiting for an answer, Chase slams his palm into the ground and transmits his Mana forward, encircling the party.
'Stone Lotus!'
The soil shakes and thick, heavy spikes of hard rock tears out of the earth and creates a path surrounded by thorns for the party. They froze for a moment, startled by the strange phenomenon and then saw Chase crouching down on the ground ahead. Realising they had received assistance, they rushed forward without any hesitation.
Chase wheezes and gasps while kneeling on the earth. Earth Magic is the most Mana-consuming out of all four basic elements and he just fashioned rocks into massive spikes of stone in a range of approximately a hundred meters forward. At least half of his Mana reserves have dried up and he still has two parts of the test to go. Things are looking bleak for him at the moment.
Using up that much Mana in one go had put him into a state of temporary fatigue, he could not even stand for a while. In ten seconds, the party crosses through the line and reaches Chase. They jump for joy at their while success hugging each other tightly. They were strangers before but now that they had overcome a hurdle together and had developed a bond.
"Hey, thank you for helping us out" One of them approaches Chase and offers a hand to lift him up.
Chase reaches out his own arm gratefully but he stops. He summons as much strength as he could and rolls to the side. A solid fist swings at the spot where his head had been before.
"Stop! I helped you, didn't I?" His worst fears had come true faster than he thought possible. Just a moment ago he saved their skins and now they are already turning against him.
"Yes, and we are grateful for that. No hard feelings for this, okay?" He kicks off the ground and jumps behind Chase.
Chase tries to react but his body is too sluggish at the moment. As a result, he is unable to dodge the hand chop to the nape of his neck. A single accurate strike and Chase blacks out. The assailants looks at him with pity and carries Chase's unconscious body to the side of the road, resting him in a sitting position against a tree.
"We're really sorry but we have no choice" The same person who knocked him out mutters his apologies.
"The fact that the first tester told us about the time constraints on the third part means the first and second parts are elimination rounds. You would never know how long the third part actually takes to complete." He continues to explain to the now senseless boy.
"Sooner or later there might be a time where we are forced to fight each other. We stand a fairer chance against ourselves compared to fighting someone as powerful as you" He bites his lip and frowns guiltily. He really did not want to do this but he has to pass no matter what. Even if he ends up betraying everyone here, he would still pass.
They had employed a dirty and ungrateful move but they would not take any chances and risk failure. Hardening their hearts, they press on to the second part leaving Chase behind.
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"Woah, did you see that, that boy!" Marius shouts and looks at Garion who is grinning widely while still looking through the telescope.
"Look at that spell, It's a work of art!" The boy was amazing, absolutely amazing. Never in his life had he seen someone so young conduct such a tremendous feat of Magic. He must have an inborn talent for the Earth element given by God.
"Yep" Garion answers promptly.
"How did you know that, Gallet?" Chase had managed to pique Korim's interest. The ancient man is a veteran Royal Wizard who had taught many profound mages in Armitage. Seeing such raw talent makes his spirit boil. He has to polish this rough gem, who knows what the boy could do once properly trained?
"Secret" As if he could reveal why, Garion thought. The fate of the world lies on the boy.
"He should be in my class. I'm an expert Earth Mage, he should benefit the most from me" Miria does not lose in terms of her enthusiasm.
"That may be true, but I have more teaching experience and-"
"Guys, stop. Things might get bad for our new favourite" Marius interjects their competition. He spots the two men tiptoeing behind Chase.
"...Those damn pieces of shits" Garion curses under his breath. Hitting the boy not once, but twice!
"Oh... how dirty! We can't let those people pass!" Miria clenches her fist while she trembles in rage.
"Not to worry, my squad is handling part two. Those trash won't make it through" Marius announces grimly. His squad better make sure none of those hooligans pass.
"I did say they could block each other's way but a sneak attack on their benefactor is just unforgivable" Garion grits his teeth, rarely does he go livid with anger.
"Even if he fails because of this, I would gladly pay for his education fees" Korim says with conviction. Chase is too valuable to let go. If he is not the Hero, he would at least make a valuable addition to the Hero's party.
In fact, none of them are sure the Hero would even appear here. Armitage is only one out of the three continents on Armus, the Hero could show up anywhere. They are only using the fact that the Academy is the greatest learning institution in the world to attract him here. It is unlikely that the Hero would pass up an opportunity to gather exceptional allies in such a place.
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Sensing the absence of observers, the swordsman jumps down from a tree, rustling the leaves in the process. He had been observing the situation for quite some time.
Terrence Light looks at the black haired-boy, the latter is peacefully leaning back on the tree with his eyes closed. He had doubled back halfway through due to an intervention. He would most likely be done with the second part if he had carried on.
"Why did you tell me to go back, Justice?" He speaks to his sword, trying to elicit a response.
'Kill the boy' a voice orders him in his mind.
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... this chapter turned out to be dialogue heavy. I have no idea how this came to be. I guess I'm not used to writing this commentary stuff.
[th_015_orz-v2.gif] :criesBo:
Second part comes out tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
Prologue to Cheap Soap Opera Armus Those Damn Bastards
For The Curious Mind