ILIAS PAYNE
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When dinner came around, we went to the dining hall and sat with Roswaal, Chris, and Zwergin, who we ran into while lining up for food.
“By the way, Ilias,” Thaddeus said as he stuffed his mouth with food. “You said both of your mentors are State Jynxists. Anyone famous?”
“First is Ray Van Camaro. He’s a colonel of the military and he’s in jurisdiction of my village. Actually, he grew up there and was placed there just before I was born.”
“Wait, is your village Gilead? You come from Brigadier Clegane’s home village?”
“How did you know?”
“The Brigadier said he grew up in Gilead. Hold on, that also means you know the Warden of the West.”
“Yes. General Clegane. He’s the Brigadier’s grandfather, but he also acted as such for Colonel Camaro and my mother. I haven’t met the brigadier yet, but the general visited on occasion.”
Thaddeus’s eyes gleamed at this information. “The brigadier is stationed at Port Town, which is guarding the fishing village I live in. You’re very lucky to be born in Gilead with such close connections to respected members of the military.”
“It’s a surprise seeing two of you be somewhat affiliated with Czeslaw,” Chris said, twisting her ears. “I’m an adventurer and have become friends with him since I drop by Port Town a lot. Who’s your second mentor?”
“Heloise Van Astell—she’s a pretty famous adventurer. She’s the one that taught me jynx.”
“Heloise the Heroine taught you jynx?!” everyone at the table shouted. “How did you get her to teach you? Do you have any idea how powerful she is? She destroyed the ice palace labyrinth that was wreaking havoc in the north!”
“Yeah, she told me that story. Actually, she and Colonel Camaro took the exam together and were the only ones to pass. The colonel asked her to teach me jynx. She usually doesn’t like teaching children, but she grew attached to me really quickly.”
Zwergin downed his pint of ale. “One thing’s for certain, lad. I certainly wouldn’t want to mess with you.”
Around this time, a man with the badge number 16 was going from table to table instigating conversations with people. He was an elf who, despite it being indoors and nighttime, was wearing shades along with a white collared shirt and a loose bow tie.
“Are you wondering about the loud guy?” Zwergin asked, wiping off the foam that stuck itself to his moustache. “That’s Jay Geils—the infamous Rookie Crusher. A rookie is someone who is completely new to the exam. Jay Geils has failed the exam thirty-one times. He knows he’ll never pass but he continues to attend every exam because he loves sabotaging the newbies. That’s his namesake.”
“He should stick to sabotaging participants he knows,” Roswaal chuckled. “Who knows, maybe he’ll push his luck with the wrong rookie and that will be his end.”
“If he sticks with participants he knows, then they wouldn’t be considered rookies.”
“Roswaal, I sense that you’re strong and all,” Chris warned. “But you four should be wary of him. Last year, he slipped laxatives into a bunch of rookies’ drinks and they got so dehydrated that they were disqualified.”
Thaddeus patted her on the shoulder. “Thanks for the warning, Christina. But he doesn’t look at all that tough. I bet I can punch him in the face right now and get away with it.”
“I wouldn’t do that—fighting between phases is prohibited. And it’s just Chris, there’s no Tina. My last name is Lalatina so you probably mixed my first and last name up.”
Jay Geils approached our tables with open arms. “Chris! Zwergin! How have you guys been?”
“Nice to see you too,” Zwergin said before continuing to eat his food.
Chris didn’t even bother to look and simply raised a middle finger.
“And we’ve got four newcomers here!” Jay Geils said. “One clown and three children.”
“You’re nice enough not to call us rookies, Rookie Crusher?” Roswaal cackled. “Who knows, maybe a clown and a child will give you a hard time in one of the phases.”
“I doubt that,” he teased before heading to another table, still as loud and obnoxious.
After dinner, we headed back to our rooms to let our meals settle in. After a while, Erina left to go to the women’s bath. Thaddeus and I followed suit and went to the men’s.
The men's and women’s baths were separated and were on completely opposite sides of the building. For some reason, Thaddeus was a bit disappointed when we were told that there weren’t any mixed baths.
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Maybe Erina was right…
The floor of the shower room was made of giant tiles and was rather warm to walk on in bare feet. There were tubs inside the ground for people that wanted to soak by themselves. Rows of stools were lined against the walls with flowing water in front so people could scoop some out with buckets to pour on themselves.
“I’m so mad,” Thaddeus said as he stripped. “I thought we would still be able to explore the city after we registered for the exam. I heard that if you go to a certain library and hand the librarian a list of books in a certain order, she would take you to the back and sleep with you.”
“You pervert. I’m going to tell Erina about this when we get back.”
“She’ll want to kill me even more if you do! Besides, you said we have to be close to pass the first phase. What you’re planning will disrupt our team.”
“I’ll tell her after we pass phase one.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“Do you even remember the titles of the book? Yet alone the order?”
Thaddeus produced a piece of paper with a list of books. “I had the people I heard it from list it for me.”
This kid…
I grabbed the list and threw it into a nearby tub.
“No! You scum, why would you do that?” Thaddeus reached his hand out as if grabbing it. “Stone Free!”
Suddenly, two earthen hands lifted one of the tiles while a third one caught the list and handed it back to Thaddeus who carefully put it back in his clothes before jumping on my back and putting me in a chokehold.
“Why would you do that?! What do you and Erina have against me!”
“Thaddeus, relax! Not while we’re naked! People are watching…”
After calming down, we scrubbed ourselves clean before heading to the hot springs.
“Is Stone Free your main attack?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s a bit limited if there’s no earth around. Other than that, it’s really powerful.”
“Isn’t this building charmed with Untouchable? That should prevent you from using jynx to alter the place.”
“Yeah, that’s why I lifted a tile and used the earth underneath.”
We arrived at the hot springs to find them occupied by a handful of other people. The both of us plunged into the water as Thaddeus began swimming around.
He swam underneath and dragged me into the water, wrapping his arms around my throat.
Is he still trying to kill me?
I managed to slip past his chokehold and press my open palm against his chest. “Water Cannon!”
To make sure the spell didn’t shoot through him, I spread the area of water. The force shot him out of the pool onto the deck.
“What is wrong with you?” I asked.
“You’re the one trying to destroy my things when all I’ve been was nice to you,” he said as he climbed back into the water. “Besides, I thought you were a wind mage? Why do you know an intermediate water spell?”
“I am, but Water Cannon was the first spell I’ve ever learned and it’s my main attack.”
A nearby man smiled as he watched us.
“The name’s Asher Kimblee,” he spoke. “I’ve never seen your faces before, can I assume you two are rookies?”
“We are,” I said.
“Can I give you two some advice?”
Asher was an average-built man that was somewhere in his mid-twenties. Since we were currently at the hot springs, there was no possible way I could know the types of clothes he wore. The only thing memorable about him was his bright yellow-blonde hair which was tied in a ponytail and either birthmarks or tattoos of what looked like lightning bolts on both his cheeks.
“We don’t mind advice,” Thaddeus said.
“Your greatest advantage out in the field is that your opponent doesn’t know what you’re capable of,” Asher explained. “Phase one doesn’t start until next week, but the exam started the moment you were given a badge. Every participant already knows what everyone is capable of—you rookies are the exception. Do you really think people will only use this week to get to know their teams? Someone weak, with the right information, can beat someone that’s strong. Strategy is more important than you think. It may seem that your skill, strength, and talent are all that matter, but don’t forget that it’s your brain that controls your brawn.”
“Thanks for the advice, but what did we do to warrant such?”
“Jay Geils likes to crush rookies, but I take pity on them. Besides, I know a lot about you two now just from what I saw here.” Asher pointed at me. “You’re a wind mage, but your main attack is Water Cannon. A wind mage is hard to fight because wind is invisible. I can tell that you’ll be a tough opponent because when you cast Water Cannon I saw that you’ve got twenty-two solidly strong gates. You’re pretty formidable for a kid rookie.”
Thaddeus raised his hand. “Do me next.”
“I didn’t see you, but I heard you. You are an earth mage and your main attack is Stone Free. I don’t know what that is, but from your conversation back at the bath, I’m going to assume that it lets you summon giant arms with hands made of earth.”
“You’re good. That’s right.”
I smacked him on the head.
“What’d you do that for? I’m sorry for choking you, okay? I’m older than you, you know. Why am I always the one getting treated like I’m lesser?”
“Idiot! Were you not listening to anything Asher said? Why would you confirm it?”
“He already knew.”
“I didn’t,” Asher said. “It was all speculation. But now I do.”
“Fine, I take responsibility.” He rubbed his head. “But can you please be more gentle with your words? I have very sensitive feelings.”
How could I get so reckless? The exam started and I’m letting my guard down. We aren’t allowed to kill each other in between phases, but there are many ways one can do to assure victory.
After we finished changing into new clothes, we headed back to our room and found Erina passed out on her bed hugging a pillow. It didn’t take much for Thaddeus and I to fall asleep.
This was the first day I’d be spending with these two and I was already exhausted. Yet we still had two weeks to go…