Azura was happy when Sunday came around, although admittedly it was for a very different reason than last time. Most of his preparations were complete, and convincing Reign to be his ride had been even easier than he thought. As soon as he said he wanted to go deep into the wildlands the dragon jumped at the chance to go with him. He supposed it wasn’t too surprising that Reign was getting bored with the only excitement he had to look forward to being the spars against him.
Not only that, but his research into Lake Spire had all but confirmed the bartender's words. If there was anyone willing to brave the deepest parts of the wildlands as a guide, they’d be in Lake Spire. Plus since he had only been having 2 copies go to class that left 3 of him to do other things. So while 1 copy had been doing the research, and another copy went out getting materials. He had been forging and enchanting. Everything made was quickly sold, which was making him a fair amount of money. He didn’t know how much he might need, so he felt it best to make as much as he could.
As far as he knew he’d only need to hire a guide, but he didn’t know if there would be any other supplies he might need to buy ahead of time. Of course he could only carry so many coins with him, and only nobles and very well off merchants accepted vouchers. Since they worked with sums of money that could not be reasonably carried. He didn’t think he’d be making any big purchases, but he might make enough small ones to empty the bag of coins he carried. He was fairly sure he had a solution for that, but he hadn’t cracked it just yet.
He was interrupted from his mental checklist by Cynthia’s ‘voice’ entering his head. “Do you have any idea what today’s event is going to be?” He didn’t, but he really hoped it wasn’t anything like the last one. He hadn’t received so many bruises since his training with his father. At least Auros was pretty cool. He had sparred with the 2nd year once more outside of the event, and with his copies out it had been a close fight. He’d lost of course, Auros was apparently one of the strongest of the 2nd years, and had even beaten Lily rather roughly when she made fun of him for losing.
“Not a clue, but surely it won’t be something as ridiculous as last time.” If only because the higher years didn’t really gain much from the last event. They were almost entirely fighting weaker foes with less numbers. A select few of them may have learned not to underestimate an opponent, but that was really it.
“I sure hope not, I didn’t even end up fighting anyone but it was still terrifying.” He didn’t doubt it. He had been nervous about it well before he had ended up face to face with the heir of Crimson. Though Kaiser beating the crap out of him had kind of helped with the nerves. Since he no longer thought he had a chance at winning. He knew if it had been a life or death battle Kaiser would have killed him 30 times over… at minimum.
“I thought it was exciting! A chance to see what our seniors were capable of. I hope this event is just as exciting!” He shuddered, silently hoping that Roran’s wish didn’t come true. Well maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it did, he’d only get to go to a few more events before he had to leave on his journey anyway. Thankfully since his friends had no idea what World’s end was they accepted him going on his own easy enough.Once they knew the truth that would change, but by then it would be too late for them to hinder his preparations to force him to let them come along.
There was always the risk that they’d try to follow him, but he took some precautions on that front too. “I wouldn’t mind another event like that, sneaking around is easy.” He rolled his eyes, he knew Katy knew better than that. She was just trying to rile everyone up. Probably because she was still upset about the prize. He still had the feeling it would be important, but hadn’t found anything yet.
“Personally I’d prefer a more complex challenge. It can be easier, but I want to be something that makes me think.” Of course no one was surprised about his preference in challenges. Physical tests were all well and good, but the mind was one’s strongest weapon, and it would be a shame to have it not put to the test.
“You are the only one that wants that. You know that right?” He rolled his eyes. Lily was an interesting character in that she didn’t like physical or mental exercise, and yet her magic power was so freakishly high it rarely mattered. Granted they had all been forcing her to do their morning routine with them, which meant her physical abilities were leagues above what they were when she first got here, and even she couldn’t argue with the results said training had gotten her.
“Just cause everyone else is willing to let someone else do their thinking for them doesn’t mean I have to.” That had been an ongoing argument between them. She didn’t see why she had to know anything about tactics, since he was the leader, and she didn’t seem to care when he said he wasn’t infallible, or that he wouldn’t always be around to give orders. She was as usual too confident in her magic power to really think about how important tactics could be in a fight.
She didn’t respond in their telepathy group chat, but he could practically see her sticking her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes, but dropped the topic nonetheless. He was actually surprised with how many people showed up to this event after the last one. The school probably hadn’t expected it either, because the space they had set aside was much smaller than the last time. Hence why his friends had ended up getting separated in the crowd and were talking over mental links.
“Hello again students. I must say I am quite surprised at the turn out we have today, it would seem you all are quite enthusiastic. Now as the higher years already know, events will not usually have all the years participating together. For most events each year will have a separate version of the event with different rules and difficulty levels. So for all of our new students, you won’t have to worry about your upperclassmen this time. Though I’d advise not to take it lightly just because they won’t be part of it.” How were they planning to hold 4 separate events in a space this small? Or were they going to drop them into separate areas with magic like they did for the first trial.
“This particular event is going to be done through a simulation. In other words everyone will be given a special pendant. This pendant will transport you to a specially designed subspace, where everything is set up to provide certain conditions and challenges. If at any time you feel that you can’t continue you may break the pendant. Doing so will instantly transport you back here.” He raised his brow. That was complicated magic. Definitely not something they would be able to prepare in just a week; the subspace for the simulations must be something they always have access to. He wondered how much mana and work went into its upkeep.
“Now my last bit of advice. In the last event many of you fought till exhaustion. Do not do that here. These simulations are set up in advance, If you are ever rendered unable to break your pendent you may very well die. We haven’t had a student die on our watch for over 10 years. Please do not break our streak due to hubris.” He supposed the trials didn’t count, after all the people who died during those weren’t students. Still risk of death or not, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little excited about seeing just what this simulation was all about. He had never heard the term before, and that was a pretty rare occurrence for him.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Sounds like we’re each on our own for this one, good luck everyone.” He couldn’t say how well they were going to do without knowing anything about what the simulation would hold, but he was confident in the skills his friends had honed. Of course he was also confident in his own skills, but that went without saying. He heard a chorus of good luck from everyone else as he was handed his pendant and his world went dark.
***
It was an odd sensation Azura felt as his world went from black to a massive city. The buildings were made of stone, with many having glass windows. All in all it looked like a scaled down version of the capital city. Ok so he was in the subspace now, but he didn’t remember being given any instructions on what to do once inside. Clairvoyance gave him a decent sensory range, but all he found were more buildings. The insides of all the buildings near him were also empty though they looked lived in, and not like they’d been abandoned for a long time. He couldn’t see into the ones without windows, but he imagined it would be much the same.
So what was he supposed to do here? Wander around aimlessly? He made a copy. Normally in this situation he’d make more, but he had to get used to there only being 2 in the academy, and also to only being able to make 2 while out in the wild. “You take left, I’ll take right?” His copy nodded and ran off to the left. He sighed he hated working on no information he was about to run off in his own direction, when an explosion rang out in the direction he had been facing originally. Guess the correct answer was forward.
He ran towards the explosion, not getting very far before his copy joined him. It would be a waste of mana to dispel the copy now. He sighed if only the explosion had happened just a little bit earlier. Something about this situation seemed oddly familiar though, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it though. Too many different things came to mind to be sure which one it was reminding him of specifically.
“Help please!” A desperate feminine cry rang out to his left as he passed the halfway mark to the explosion. His copy split towards the sound without hesitation. It didn’t take very long after that for him to reach the city center, and the sight that awaited him was gruesome. The fire raged on, with bodies strewn about. Some might still be alive, and others very clearly were not. One tended to not survive being blown to pieces. Or at least that’s what he assumed the body parts and gore scattered around was from.
He quickly scanned for magic just to see who was still alive. Only 2 of them had any mana left in their body. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to know they were still alive. He quickly set to work on the 2 survivors using basic first aid. One was an older man, the man was balding on top, and the hair on the sides was in the process of turning gray. His injuries weren’t too bad, a bunch of scrapes and bruises and possibly a mild concussion. The other was in significantly worse condition. She had a long cut that went from her right shoulder to left hip, and it was bleeding profusely. He wasn’t a healer like Cynthia, but he could at least use his enchanted first aid equipment to give her a chance.
He had just finished stitching the wound and rapping her up with his special gauze when a bunch of beasts suddenly appeared in his sensory range. Not like he saw them enter it from the edge, but they just suddenly appeared in the middle of it. He narrowed his eyes. It seemed the simulation didn’t need to follow the same rules reality did. These were a dangerous set of monsters and being caught unprepared would put someone in a very bad position.
They weren’t far enough away that he had a lot of time to prepare, and even if they were he still had to try and help these people. He sighed and made another copy, his academy copies wouldn’t have the luxury of a 3rd, but as long as he didn’t make any more it was still practice for his own experience. “Stall the shades.” His copy nodded and ran off towards the beasts. Shades were nasty creatures, they were formed out of dark miasma, and had bone plating, as armor, claws, and fangs. All of which were the color of blood, with black miasma flowing through them. Their scary appearance didn’t do their danger justice though.
Even if you managed to get past their armor and cut them to pieces it wouldn’t matter. The miasma could just reform, and the shade would be unharmed. They were solid enough that they could block his sword and deal some very real damage, but when you did manage to injure them it was like they were smoke. They would just reform like nothing happened. They weren’t unbeatable, but properly cleansing the miasma was not an easy process.
He got to work on the 2 survivors, he had already done all he could for the injuries, but someone was going to have to find a place to hide them so they’d be safe, and he was the only conscious person in his sensory range. On the bright side the first copy he made was heading towards him with an unconscious child in his arms. The scream had been adult, so he guessed the person who screamed for help either was already dead, or in bad enough condition there was no way he could save her. He gingerly picked up the women, her injuries were much worse so moving her had to take priority.
“I’ll place the kid on your back, then I can take the guy.” He nodded at his copy who placed the kid on his back wrapping the boy's little arms around his neck. It took a little bit of mana to keep the boy secure, but not enough to really matter. He and his copy decided to hide them in one of the windowless buildings a ways from the town square. They then enchanted the door to only open from the inside. It wasn’t full proof, but shades rarely tried to break into buildings, so it should hold.
On the bright side he finally knew why this seemed so familiar. This was in the book he had been given after winning at the first event. The main character had chosen to ignore the women's screams for help, because the explosion was likely to have put more people in danger. She wanted to save as many as she could, but it was for not, she had only been able to save the man, since the woman was beyond basic first aid, and then the shades had appeared. She managed to slay them all, but not before one of them had impaled the man with their claws.
Later she discovered that the woman she had ignored had been attacked by a robber. She had found her and her child’s bodies surrounded by dried blood. This scene wasn’t in the beginning of the book though, it was about halfway. In fact it was the turning point in the book, where the hero went from enthusiastic and hopeful into a downward spiral as the pressure of reality began to crush her.
“Go back him up against the shades. I’ll try and figure out what comes next.” His copy nodded and ran off towards the ongoing fight. 2 should be enough to handle the shades. One would distract so the other could finish the spell to eradicate them. He had more important concerns. Would it just do scenes from the book at random? Or would it be in order from here on out, and the early parts were just skipped because most of the early scenes had happy endings.
If he remembered correctly, the next scene after this one wasn’t too bad. She had needed a pep talk from her friends, after how horribly wrong her mission in the city had gone. After that she went on a ton of random missions, and given that she swore to herself she’d never leave someone to die again she had put way too much pressure on herself. The missions got worse and worse, to the point where even when she succeeded she didn’t feel happy to have saved someone, but relieved to have not failed them.
He wasn’t exactly one to talk, but even he knew that was an unhealthy outlook, and she had paved a road for her own self destruction. He didn’t remember each of the missions she had gone on during that part of the story, they had all blurred together, but he was sure he’d remember them if he was placed into the situation himself like he was now. He just hoped his friends were doing ok, they didn’t have the copies to split up, whatever each of them chose a life they could have saved would be lost..