It was morning, and Raven was sleeping on the sofa as always. “You should pass on this one.” said Lily the other night. Apparently, the goddess was a bad teacher and he would be lucky to get a question right. As for Lily, she had the education of a proper noblewoman. She then proceeded by saying that he could pass by the first test alone, the 3rd test was just optional for him.
Taking her words for advice, he was currently sleeping, and his mind was inside the black room. He was currently talking, or rather, arguing with a blue haired woman, a tad bit shorter than his 1.7 meter body.
“What the hell were you thinking?!” shouted Raven
“My avatars deserve the best, don’t you think so?” said the goddess.
“How in the world does birthing me to a runaway prince’s home beneficial?”
“Watch your words, mortal. Just because of your selfish desires, I had to destroy the Quintus branch.” she suddenly snapped, and said with a cold voice.
“What?” said Raven, surprised. This was the first time the always cheerful goddess became serious, at least the first for Raven.
“You see, this is a world of its own. Do you think it was easy to make you a dragonman with both the [Lightning] and [Shadow] attribute? The answer is ‘No’. I had to marry a member of the Primus branch of Cangard family to the Quintus branch, and the only one without a fiancee was Tristan Cangard, the first prince of the family. This led to them running away, and the Primus branch unleashed their fury on the poor branch, erasing it from existence.”
“I-I didn’t know.” The goddess saw that he was devastated by the news, and happy that he got what he deserved.
“Hmm… I thought that someone as smart as you would figure it out.” her tone was back to the normal cheerful yet mocking one.
“Or you thought that would be my reaction. I don’t give a shit about that.” laughed Raven.
“Wait, you indirectly killed hundreds, are you even human?” screamed the goddess.
“Half, to be exact.” he smirked.
“What have I done?” said the goddess depressed.
“Whatever you mean by that?”
“I have unleashed a monster.” she said, and laughed hysterically.
“You’re creeping me out.”
“Hahahahaha, what do you expect from the goddess of chaos?”
“Woah, are you Eris?”
“I was called many names, the Greek called me Eris, before that Evrinom, the Babylonians called me Tiamat, the Norse called me Loki and some just called me Chaos.”
“You’re a man?”
“Well, the chaos is formless, I can be anything. And as my avatar, you should have a little bit of this too.”
“So you mean we’re both genderless?” asked Raven horrified.
“I don’t exactly hate you, but if I had a glass of water and you were on fire, I’d drink it.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
“Shut up and get out.” she shouted.
“The problem is, this is my place.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do care.” Raven had nothing else to do, so he decided to tease her a little.
[Lava Tsunami] she shouted out. A giant wave of lava rose appeared out of nowhere, behind Eris. “Wait, you’ll get burned too, if you do something like that.” shouted out Raven as he ran away.”
“Don’t worry, something like this won’t affect me.”
He felt for his real body and slapped himself. Luckily, he could wake up before the lava turned him into ashes.
It was already noon, as reported by the sun. Lily was nowhere to be seen, likely taking the test. He got up and realized he had nothing to do. It’s not like he could find his way if he ventured out, and flying around would get him charged with money.
He walked towards the table and realized that there was a letter and breakfast on it. The breakfast had bacon with eggs and a small loaf of white bread. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t ever eat bread before coming here. His mother always nagged about healthy growing.
Even when his father sneaked out with him, he didn’t fancy it, neither vegetables. When he ate one yesterday, he felt that it was a little bitter, and asked Lily about it. She told him “It’s just fine, I don’t really see the problem.”
Maybe the race’s tongue worked differently and perceived non-meat products as bad tasting. He could only guess. He gobbled down everything and proceeded with opening the letter, with his claw. These claws were quite, useful. He didn’t need scissors and the like or a toothpick, for instance. By the way, he had sharp teeth, and it would grow back in seconds if it falls off.
It would fall off every two weeks, so he didn’t have to worry about brushing his teeth except the bad breath problem.
“ Dear Raven,
I’m leaving to take the written exam, I left breakfast for you. If you are bored, just watch the CV, you can control it with the remote,
Yours truly, Liliana Lionheard.”
Raven nearly snapped when he saw the last sentence. She just called him too poor to have a CV. But soon calmed down when he remembered being shocked by the hotel room, and brushed it off as a mistake of judgment.
He had nothing else to do, so he followed the advice. The CV was in front of the sofa, so he lied down comfortably. There was a special channel for this city, named Rein-CV and it was currently showing a news broadcast. The reporter was dressed in a suit, holding something like a microphone. He was outside a building with long stairs, and had a shocked face.
(This just in, Krouxorth Academy written test has finished, and as usual, 5 students passed this one. Surprisingly, 3 of them are commoners. This is something that has never happened before in the history of Krouxorth.)
‘Woah, that’s a small number.’
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(Here they are!) he said, as 4 students came out. There was a blue scaled dragnman, he assumed was the prince Lily was talking about. Lily followed closely behind, with her usual ponytail.
(One of them has already left before the time limit, thus he isn’t present.) he added. Raven was quite surprised, to think there was someone that smart without proper classes.
He then proceeded to walk towards the so-called “commoners” and asked them for their secret. As expected, the answers were humble enough.
(I was lucky to be best at the topic this time.) said a boy with pale skin and blonde hair.
(I had to study for a year straight to barely pass the exam.) said a girl with orange hair and amber skin. They were both wearing normal clothes, at least relatively.
…
It took an hour for Lily to come back to the hotel, which Raven passed by watching something like a movie. He was quite disappointed at the lack of entertainment media in this world. What do the rich kids even do in their spare time?
“How was the test?” Raven asked.
“Easy.” she answered.
“So, couldn’t you just come out before the time limit?”
“Idiot, how do you expect me to answer 300 questions in less than 2 hours?”
“But I heard that a commoner left before it.”
“Even I wouldn’t be so sure about passing with half points, but that person might have done just enough to pass and left.”
“Oh, so it means that he knew everything.” assured Raven.
“I think.”
“And, what’s with the commoner and noble stuff?” asked Raven.
Lily answered knowingly “Generally, the population is divided into 4 parts. The ones at the bottom of the food-chain are slaves, and plebeians are slightly above that, in other words, the poor. Middle-class citizens are called commoners, while us of noble birth are called nobles. Then there is royalty too. By the way, Cangard family’s Primus branch is considered royalty.”
“Wow, there was something like that. I didn’t know about that.”
“Then you should be grateful.”
“I am, it’s just that I don’t show it.”
“So, the practical test is when again?” Raven asked.
“Tomorrow, at midday. Anyways, I won’t be taking the exam tomorrow, so I’ll tell my servants to take you to the test spot.” said Lily.
“Thanks.”
“So, are we going out today?”
“Yeah, to the battle arena. You should train for tomorrow’s match.” she said.
“Arena? Why? I’m already good enough.” wondered Raven.
“You should get some pocked money.” she said.
…
And here they were, outside a coliseum-like building, but in better condition. It was almost as tall as the city walls, which were tall, very tall.
They walked in, along with many others. The gate was wide, 20 people would easily walk in at the same time and not feel crowded. The interior was modern-looking, with CVs placed everywhere, showing the current match.
There was a counter at the middle of the enormous room, a few people had formed a line. He stood at the back of the line, but in less than 10 minutes, his turn was up.
“What would you like a ticket, sir?” asked the man dressed formally.
But before Raven could say anything, Lily made the decision “A bronze match, please.”
“Would you like to go for the pair battle, or the single one?”
“Single, I’m not a fighter.” she said.
“Your alias?” asked the man, looking towards the robed Raven.
“Black Dragon” said Raven, this time.
“The registration fee is 15 silver, for each match won, you will be rewarded according to the matches won previously by the opponent and your performance aka entertainment?” he asked.
“No, here’s the payment.” said Lily as she handed over the money.
“Your turn will be after 2 matches, please feel free to watch the remaining matches.” he said and showed them the entrance. Taking up the offer, they went into the room.
The room was spacious, and several people were leaving the room, some injured. It was clearly the room for contestants.
“I could’ve paid that.” said Raven.
“I’m lending it to you, so you have to pay it back.” said Lily.
“Woah, so cheap.”
“Even I don’t have unlimited cash.”
“That’s true.
The CV was showing a match between a beastman and a drow. The beastman was that of the leopard variant, so the body mass didn’t have much of a difference. The nimble drow and the agile leopard were currently clashing with speed.
The leopard slashed with his claws, the drow ducked under it and slashed with his dagger. This battle lasted for at least 15 minutes. The battle was decided when the leopard tripped. Apparently, it didn’t matter if the loser was injured or died. The leopard’s life ended on the stage.
“The next match , our very own champion, Thunder Lion makes his appearance. And as for his opponent, a rookie, Black Dragon.” hearing it, Raven walked towards the entrance to the stage. It was the typical hole entrance to a coliseum.
Sunlight washed over his face and robe, as he walked towards the stage. His opponent was a lionman, with blue fur. His body was brimming with muscle and his face had a scary expression on it. He was standing on a giant round field.
“Kid, I can smell your mother’s milk from you. If you want to live, leave the stage now!” warned the champion.
“Sorry, I’m not going until I get money.”
“You’re asking for death.” he shouted out.
The commentator asked “Boy, do you really wish to fight the champion?”
“Yeah, no problem.” said Raven.
“Then as always, the one who leaves the field or is unable to fight loses. The bid is 1 to 20, so make your bets.” said the commentator.
The crowd chattered, and supposedly they all placed their bets on Thunder Lion. They were shouting for him to defeat him.
Then the beastman showed him one finger. “Do you mean you can take me out with 1 move?” asked Raven, amused.
“No, it’s one second.” he arrogantly corrected. For the second time since coming here, Raven was ticked off.
“MATCH START!!!” shouted out the commentator.
Thunder Lion turned into lightning and launched at Raven. It was a piece of cake to hit an unexpecting prey, or so he thought. What he had hit was the robe Raven wore.
As an experienced fighter, he panicked and turned around. He was nowhere to be seen. ‘Black Dragon, so that means.’ before he could look up, Raven fell down on him like a comet. Although muscular and thick-hided, they weren’t enough to protect him from the impact.
He coughed blood as his shoulders were dislocated. If he hadn’t blocked with his hands the last second, it would’ve been worse. In plain sight, he disappeared again. Luckily, Thunder Lion’s hearing was top-notch, and saved himself from a [Shock Blade] to the neck.
Thunder Lion realized that he was taking his opponent too lightly, and almost suffered a crippling injury. ‘I’ll counter attack when he attacks next time’ he thought. Surprisingly, Raven launched upwards instead of towards him, up until he only looked like a spot in the sky.
He then used the falling attack last time. Thunder Lion wasn’t one to fall for the same trick twice and moved backwards. That was the worst decision of his life, except having to fight this dragonman.
At that moment Raven had used [Shadow Pull] to trip him. He then proceeded by using [Lightning Movement] to turn into a lightning himself, and fell down on his fallen prey.
It was like a lightning falling upon its unsuspecting victim, as Thunder Lion didn’t have any means to protect himself. He vainly crossed his hands in front of him in hoping to block off at least a small portion of the damage.
Raven stopped right before he hit him, and noticed that Thunder Lion had lost consciousness.
The crowd got out of control, and everyone was rooting for Raven this time, and he easily won 4 more matches. It was the end of the day, and when he had to collect his reward.
“Where can I get my reward?” asked Raven from a worker.
“You just have to go to the end of the hall, the treasury’s there.” said the old man.
Even Lily was shocked by his combat prowess, as seen in the matches. He overpowered all of his opponents, and even scared 2 of the contestants out of the ring. One wasn’t as lucky, and suffered the brunt force of his attack. The result was horrible, the victim’s hand was missing and the right side of the chest, now missing arm’s side had been crushed. His ribcages were all broken and he was immediately sent into a coma.
As for the last one, it was better left untold.
The crowd was cheering on him, and he was sure to get more reward for the entertainment part. He opened the giant door with one hand, and asked “Can I get my reward?” in a commanding tone.
“Of course, sir, here it is.” said the fat treasurer and handed him a small pouch of money.” It wasn’t as full as Raven thought, but then Lily kicked in. “Huh, you think you can reward us with so few coins even after that, maybe we should just kill you and take your money?” she threatened after slapping the table.
“No, honorary guests, you’re mistaken.” the treasurer had grown quite nervous.
“Do you think that I made a mistake?” said Lily in a grave tone.
“I mean, there are 50 gold coins inside the pouch.”
“Then we’ll be taking our leave.” said Raven and motioned for Lily to follow her. “That worked out nicely, huh?” asked Raven from Lily.
“Of course, I devised this plan.”
“You might become a terrifying woman when you grow up.”
“Ahem, I’m 30 years old including my old life.” she shouted.
“Actually, you were always a teenager, so you’re not a woman quite yet.” said Raven sarcastically.
“The same goes for you.”
It was already night time, and they were tired after all the work. Lily had bid 10 gold coins on the first match and won 200, and was currently richer than she ever was. As for Raven, Lily had bid for his 15 silver and made it into 3 gold coins. After that, they had bid on Raven for the rest of the matches, but only came out with 220 gold and 3 gold 30 silver each. Adding Raven’s reward, he had 63 gold and 30 silver.