…Aodhán Brystion vs. Lilith Bloodmoon...
After professor Alaric called out their names, Aodhán turned his gaze to the left to find Lilith smirking evilly at him. He glanced away and muttered. “Fucking blood bitch can’t wait to rip out my innards and eat it.”
Daruk grimaced in disgust while Andrew grinned. “I’m sure you’ll be fine. Now go get your weapon and come give us a show.”
Aodhán chuckled, and without hesitation, he moved towards the large hammer that had elicited the most approval from his seal. When he got to the hammer section, he picked the large hammer and scrutinized it.
The hammer was long, much longer than would be considered wieldable, and Aodhán frowned in distaste. However, his frown soon vanished when he glanced at the hammerhead, which was crafted from what seemed to be ragnar steel, and saw that it was completely etched with runic inscriptions.
There were a total of four runes on the hammerhead, one on each side, and on its top was an elaborate activation circle that was more complicated than any Aodhán had seen before. The activation circle was connected to all four runes in a much more elaborate manner than Aodhán felt was necessary. However, closer study of the inscriptions soon revealed that each rune was directly connected to the activation circle, which meant that instead of activating all the runes at the same time, one could activate a single rune and turn it off without affecting the others.
It was an ingenious concept, one Aodhán had yet to come across in any of his books, and Aodhán quickly took out his practice note to sketch it out for further study. It was surprisingly easy to draw the activation circle despite how complex it looked, and after confirming that he got everything right, Aodhán returned the note to his spatial space and turned his gaze to the four runes.
The first rune was one he easily recognized: URDA—the rune of durability. It was inscribed with a lot more finesse and style than Aodhán currently possessed though, and he snorted, mentally noting that whomever inscribed this hammer definitely took a lesson in calligraphy or other such decorative writing.
The second rune was one that, although he recognized, was nowhere near ready to learn or perfect as it was an advanced rune. It was a size-adjustment rune, and although it was inscribed in a more elaborate and complex fashion than the pictures Aodhán had seen in books, it still carried the same fundamental structure and pattern. The third rune, however, wasn’t one he recognized, although he suspected it had something to do with sound. Impact perhaps? The rune was obviously an advanced rune, which put it firmly out of Aodhán’s reach for now.
The last rune was weird, and although Aodhán suspected it was still an advanced rune, he wasn’t so sure. The rune looked both complex and simple at the same time, but what surprised him the most was the fact that he could easily tell the function of the rune, which he shouldn’t have been able to as he’d never seen the rune before.
Essentially, it was an affinity rune, which, when activated, allowed a person to imbue the hammer with the energy of whichever affinity they bore. It was such a wide concept, meaning the hammer could have different affinities depending on the energy imbued within it. Aodhán gazed at the rune with wide eyes, and although he itched to take out his practice note and begin learning the rune, Aodhán contented himself with simply sketching it instead. He didn’t bother making sure he got the runic proportions right; he just wanted to make sure it was recognizable so he could research about it later.
When he was done observing the runes, Aodhán swung the hammer awkwardly, trying to get himself used to its weight, size, and balance. While he practiced, Andrew walked up to him, a slightly curved sword held confidently in his hands. The blade was crafted from tempered steel, but along its spine and edge, it was embedded with sharp thorn-like barbs that resembled the natural defenses of certain plants.
Aodhán glanced at Andrew, who looked a touch too excited for the exercise, and asked. “What in all the realms is that weapon?”
Andrew grinned and raised the blade for him to see it clearly. “It’s a Thornblade, and despite my lack of a seal, I can just feel the approval of my affinity roaring around me. It calls for blood and body parts. It wants me to hack, slash, cut—
“Okay, that's enough. I get it.” Aodhán quickly cut him off as gory images flashed across his mind again. Seriously, what was wrong with his mind today?
Andrew shrugged and swung the blade, his familiarity with the weapon evident. “Ah, it feels even better than I imagined. Did you know it was inscribed by a nature awakened?” Andrew raised the hilt of the blade and squinted his eyes to see the name of the person who had crafted the blade. “Syvelis…Crockster? What sort of name is Crockster?”
“I don’t know.” Aodhán muttered as he searched for a name on his own weapon but found none. Perhaps the stylish runic engineer who had inscribed this weapon was a hermit too. “It’s obviously a commoner name.” He continued and swung the hammer again. “I’ve never heard of a noble family named Crockster.”
Andrew frowned. “It could also be a foreign noble name. Perhaps from Unoros or Calodan, although I doubt their nobles bear such lewd-sounding names.”
Aodhán chuckled and swung the hammer again, getting more used to its weight. “Who are you paired against?”
Andrew’s grin widened. “Harnoth Darkwater. I’ve been itching to fight the fucker ever since the simulation exercise. It seems Lady Luck is finally on my side.”
Aodhán laughed, already sympathizing with Harnoth. Not that Harnoth wasn’t powerful, but Andrew was much stronger, so Aodhán had no worries on that front. He swung the hammer again, but this time he nearly lost his balance and had to create a construct to keep himself from falling.
“That’s got to be heavy.” Andrew noted curiously, and Aodhán snorted. “It weighs a fucking ton. If I smash it against the head of anyone below tier 15, it’ll definitely kill them.”
He wasn’t even exaggerating. The hammer was heavy, and Aodhán wondered why it didn’t have a weight displacement rune to help alleviate that particular issue.
“I guess that’s one reason why constructs are considered better than metallic weapons.” Andrew mused, and Aodhán was just about to nod in agreement when he suddenly paused, coming to the realization that he’d been making his constructs wrong all this time.
The creation of constructs was so simple and intuitive that Aodhán had failed to actually learn and research how to create these weapons. The hammers he’d been creating were nowhere as heavy or as dense as the one he currently held, but with a little time and effort, Aodhán was certain he could add a bit more complexity to his constructs. Perhaps that was what he needed to work on first before attempting to create anything more complex.
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Daruk’s relative ease in the creation of constructs made more sense now as he was taking a course on forge mastery. Most likely, he’d applied the knowledge he got from the course to refining {Forge}.
When he shared his realization with Andrew, Andrew scowled. “I blame the system.”
“How is this its fault?” Aodhán asked confused, but rather than explain, Andrew simply shrugged and muttered. “I’d rather blame the system than blame myself for my failures.”
Aodhán chuckled. “I’m not sure the system would take kindly to that.”
“What will it do to me?” Andrew snorted. “Award me a useless skill?”
They laughed, and a moment later, Daruk and Yurin joined them. Daruk held a double-edged, mid-sized dagger he called the frostfang in his right hand. The dagger gleamed with a cold metallic sheen and had a slight taper towards its needle-sharp point, but what set it apart was the fine razor-sharp teeth that lined its edges.
Daruk swung the dagger slowly, looking a little more familiar with the weapon than Aodhán felt with his hammer. Yurin, on the other hand, held a sword called a Jian in his hand, although from the way he held the weapon, Aodhán doubted he was familiar with the use at all.
A glance across the room revealed that most of the other students were in a similar situation. Some held their weapons at arms length as if afraid of injuring themselves with them, while others, like Imani, still hadn’t found their weapons of choice.
Aodhán thought it was a disaster waiting to happen, but even he didn’t realize just how true his thoughts were until Yurin swung his sword and almost cut Andrew’s head off had the latter not ducked just in time.
“Are you fucking crazy?” Andrew yelled, patting his head in shock as if to make sure it was still intact.
Yurin sputtered. “By ascendants, I’m so sorry, Andrew. The balance of this weapon is off and so unfamiliar.”
“I thought you were good with the sword.” Aodhán asked, now a lot more careful with his swings to avoid smashing someone’s head to pieces.
Yurin scowled and glared at the Jian. “I’m used to my sword construct, not this metallic bullshit.”
Before any of them could respond, professor Alaric, who had been moving around the hall, helping students pick out their weapons, suddenly appeared before them and glared at Yurin. “I didn’t realize I had to remind you guys to be careful with the weapons. They are uncommon ranked, which means they aren’t toys for you to carelessly swing around.”
“I’m sorry, professor Alaric.” Yurin responded.
Professor Alaric glared at him for a moment longer before sighing. “There are protection runes all over the hall, Mr. Willowood; I assure you that you weren’t in the least bit of danger. Still, let's not test them. Those runes are ancient.”
Andrew, who was still patting his hands, frowned and glared at the arm. "Well, that takes all of the fun out of it. I was looking forward to telling my offspring how I almost lost my head during a combat exercise.”
“Very funny, Mr. Willowood.” Professor Alaric muttered dryly. “Let’s see if you can still keep that head during the duel. Unlike the rest of the hall, the dueling ring is not protected in the least.”
Andrew grinned and shot a look at Harnoth, who was standing with his usual group. “It's Harnoth you should be worried about, sir.”
Professor Alaric sighed and shook his head, but as he turned to leave, Yurin asked. “Can we use our constructs instead of these metallic weapons?”
“No, you cannot.” Professor Alaric shook his head and raised his voice so everyone could hear him. “Today’s exercise is weapons training, which means we’re only dealing with actual, metallic weapons. Not all of you can make constructs, so I structured the class this way to make it fair for everyone. Also, you’re only allowed to use your innate skills. The use of any other skills aside from those will result in the immediate loss of forge points.”
Groans erupted from the whole class, and Aodhán grimaced. To fight using only his innate skills was severely limiting, more especially since it cut {Create Construct} and {Lightning Beam} out of the picture. They were arguably his most utilized skills because of their versatility, and Aodhán soon found that most of his strategies and tactics might prove ineffective without them.
Aodhán glanced at the hammer in his hand, but before they could ask any further questions, Professor Alaric flashed towards the center of the hall and said. “There’s so much more work to be done on you guys than I anticipated, and for that reason, I’ll be scheduling an extracurricular class dedicated to weapons training during the weekend, so I can help you all get more familiar with your chosen weapons. The better you get at wielding these weapons, the more you align with the nature of your affinities, which in turn pleases your origin plane and increases your chances at gaining a seal or another, if you’ve already gained one, so please, pay close attention.”
In today’s exercise, each pair will step into the dueling ring and fight for a maximum of ten minutes. This exercise isn’t about victory or revenge, but to help you test your new weapons and fighting styles in a battle scenario. I’m not asking you to hold back, but I’m asking you to refrain from causing serious injuries. Like I said earlier, the ring is not inscribed to minimize damage, so please, be careful.” Professor Alaric’s eyes narrowed into a glare, and he continued. “I shouldn’t have to repeat myself, but I will for the overeager ones among you. This is a simple, friendly exercise, and I expect you to treat it as that. Take your individual grievances to the arena. If anyone takes this exercise too far, I will be very cross.”
“Bummer.” Andrew muttered unsatisfactorily. “I guess I’ll have to wait till next week before enacting my wrath on Harnoth.”
Daruk snorted. “You don’t know the meaning of wrath.”
Andrew scowled. “I wasn’t even talking to you.”
While Andrew and Daruk bickered, Aodhán patted Yurin on the back and said, “You’ll be fine. It’s just a simple exercise.”
“Yeah…” Yurin sighed. “I know. I’m just concerned. Azul Fetherson isn’t exactly an easy opponent.”
Aodhán chuckled and shook his head. “At worst, you’ll lose. It’s not so shameful to lose to the goddess of imagination.”
Yurin snorted and glared at his Jian. “I wouldn’t lose if I had a decent weapon. This thing is unwieldy.”
Aodhán frowned and glanced at his own hammer. Yurin was right; the weapons were unwieldy, but there was a solution to that. Aodhán glanced to the side to find Ankaz Urdania staring at him, both of them seemingly thinking the same thing. They only stared at each other for a minute, but a whole conversation passed between them in that minute, and after it was done, they both grinned.
Aodhán raised his hands, and when professor Alaric gestured for him to speak, he asked. “Can we activate the runes?”
His question caused multiple heads to turn in his direction, and professor Alaric raised a surprised eyebrow. “Can you activate the runes, Mr. Brystion?”
“Yes sir.”
Professor Alaric stared at him for a moment before nodding. “Then go ahead. The runes are a part of your weapon. If you cannot activate them, then that is your problem.”
Professor Alaric’s response caused the other students to begin scrambling, searching for anyone who was taking the course on runic theory, and as one, Yurin, Daruk, and Andrew turned towards him with pleading expressions. Aodhán grinned and stretched out a palm to them. “Activation will cost you a single gold each.”
Daruk gasped in surprise. “I’m your brother.”
“Do I look like I care?” Aodhán frowned at Daruk and turned his gaze to the others. “No money, no activation.”
As he spoke, more students gathered, and while his friends hesitated, Ayisha and Gwendolyn each took out a single gold coin and stretched out their weapons. “Activate our weapon douchebag and take the blasted money.” Ayisha scowled, and soon the others followed. Daruk, Andrew, and Yurin glared at him, but since others had already begun to pay, they finally relented and produced their gold coins.
“Isn’t there some sort of discount for family and friends?” Yurin scowled. “What sort of business are you running here?”
“It’s a scam.” Andrew muttered as he added his coin to the growing pile on Aodhán’s palms. “Commoners like him will do anything to get rich.”
Aodhán ignored his friends, his grin widening as more people came to him with shiny coins and their weapons. It soon became obvious that only him, Ankaz, and Celeste Reginald were advanced enough to activate the runes, and two minutes later, Aodhán placed a total of 41 gold coins into his spatial storage and cracked his fingers. “Alright, who’s first?”