The test barely took ten minutes to finish. It was just as easy as I thought it would be. The problem is that I’ve been waiting for twenty minutes after finishing my test and Roderick hasn’t even picked up my paper. He’s just been staring at his paper for minutes at a time before occasionally writing something down. I don’t want to seem rude by saying something but I’m out of patience.
“Sir? I finished my test awhile ago and was wondering when I’ll be able to get it graded to see if I passed.” I try my best to be polite through my irritation, but as time passes without a response I feel myself giving up on it. “Sir, you’re supposed to be grading my test, and I finished it over twenty minutes ago at this point.” I point at the clock on the wall before stepping up to his desk.
“Hm? Yeah yeah I’ll get to it in a minute, just have to finish this week's crossword. What’s an eleven letter word with the definition of “not having or showing the necessary skills to do something successfully”? It’s the last one that I have to fill out, then I can take a look at your test.” He replies after a bored glance at me.
“Incompetent.” I answer with an unintentional snort
Roderick locks his gaze directly on me before realization dawns on his face. “Ah, the answer is incompetent. Thought I’d have to handle your combat test myself.” He fills in the final line before glancing at my test for all of two seconds before nodding. “Yup, looks good, let’s head to the training grounds and I’ll pass you off to the combat instructor for the day which is… Oh, that's unfortunate.” He chuckles lightly before heading out of the room, expecting me to follow.
“Is everything okay with my test?” I really hope I won’t have to come back and spend another day waiting.
“Yeah your test is fine, you just got real unlucky with your instructor. You’re getting tested by the big man himself! Saldir has been a guard for over forty years but refuses to take any type of administrative job because “I hate that paper pushing bullshit”. He knows his stuff, don't get me wrong, but he is incredibly strict and has a bit of a... Heavy hand when it comes to training so don’t disappoint him.” Before giving me a chance to respond he opens the double doors to the training area and steps through.
The training area was a large circular area with a simple dirt floor. On the edges of the field there were a few beat up looking training dummies alongside a small assortment of wooden weapons in racks, most likely used for training spars. Above the walls were a small set of stands for people to spectate and there were actually a few people lounging about, seemingly having heard about Saldir performing a test personally. After looking around for a minute I approach the giant of a man in the middle of the room. The man, who I presume is Saldir, stands a head and shoulders taller than the guard I’ve been walking with, so he naturally towered over me completely. His slightly graying hair and occasional wrinkle permanently shaping his face into a frown does nothing to make him seem old, if anything, it further portrays his obvious power by saying not even time can wear this man down. “Hello sir, I am Liam and look forward to being able to take my test under your tutelage.”
“You’re the one trying to join the guard? You look like you’re twelve, come back in a few years and stop wasting everyone’s time.” He turns and begins to leave the training grounds, heading for the far door immediately after our brief introduction.
“Despite my height I’m fifteen and already completed the written portion of the exam! I have spent the entire day waiting in the guard office and the fact that a guard has led me to the training grounds proves that I have earned the right to attempt the physical exam. I refuse to be dismissed before even having a chance to prove myself.” I raise my voice, which has an edge to it after being dismissed at every turn and forced to wait the entire day just to take a simple test. I’ve kept my tone polite the entire day and it has gotten me nowhere, so I’ve decided to take a stand. I refuse to just go back home empty handed before doing everything I can.
Saldir stops and turns to me, a harsh expression covering his face before he sighs like he’s been through this same situation countless times. “Boy, the guard isn’t a place for someone like you. I’ve seen too many youth come to the guard with big dreams of saving people and making the world a better place just for them to flinch at the wrong moment, to hesitate, to die a dishonorable and painful death. People like you don’t make for good guards because they often can’t do what they have to. This job will wear you down, make you do things you regret, and eventually, you’ll either stop caring about anything, or die to a blade in your back from giving mercy to the wrong person. Give it up.”
I take a moment to harden my resolve before meeting his gaze, determination clear in my eyes. “Be that as it may, the guard saved my life as a child and this is the only path I have ever seen for myself. If I don’t take it I know that I will end up living a hollow and unfulfilled life with nothing but regrets.
With a sigh Saldir walks up to me, a tired look on his face before he draws a wooden training sword. “If you believe that is true, then I will test your resolve.” He tosses one to the ground near me and patiently waits for me to retrieve it. “Draw your blade and I will show you what happens when someone has ideals and beliefs without strength to uphold them.”
I silently nod and draw my sword, preparing to finally start what I believe is my physical training test while silently vowing to myself to prove him wrong. His stance is completely relaxed, clearly not seeing me as a threat in the slightest so I move forward, stabbing at his gut before sweeping the sword up towards his throat. This faint is a common one that I’ve seen the guards use on each other to varying success during duels but unfortunately Saldir just snorts and bats it away with unbelievable speed.
“Feints are a decent idea and can be useful in battle, as long as they aren’t obvious like that one.” He responds in an almost bored manner before stepping forward and kicking me in the gut, sending me sprawling to the ground, before once again just standing with a bored expression on his face. I get up slowly, trying to keep my breakfast down from the unexpected kick before settling into my best impression of a fighting stance. I take a few steps forward, swinging the sword down at him while stepping to my right simultaneously, preparing to dodge his follow up strike I know is coming. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter and I’m once again on the ground, with the wind knocked out of me. Struggling to my feet I give myself a moment to breathe and recover, trying to figure out how to hit this asshole but I find my mind drawing a blank.
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“What are you done already? I suppose you did just about as much as I expected.” He shakes his head, somehow seeming smug about being right and disappointed simultaneously. With steady steps he walks towards me, my blade coming up in a defensive stance before I once again find myself on the ground, staring up at the sky as a stinging pain slowly blossoms in my cheek from where I was apparently struck. I think I hate this guy. I’m supposed to be in a test but all he’s doing is knocking me around and talking down to me. I need to do something, I know I can do something, I just need to figure out what that something is. Through the fog of pain I come up with a plan that is either stupid, or stupid enough to work.
“Of course I’m not done” I wheezed as I slowly stood, taking a few steps back to give myself distance as I glared at the man. At this point I’m certain that there isn’t much I can do against this man, he’s just too fast for me to follow, has too much skill under his belt, and is clearly taking his anger out on me for having to deal with my exam. On the other hand, he doesn’t see me as a threat, at all. So, here goes nothing. Either it’ll work or I’ll just get hit again.
Sliding one foot back I take a large running step forward, making it look like I’m about to charge him before raising my sword and throwing it directly at the man. For the first time I see something other than boredom on the man's face as he’s clearly surprised by my actions. One of the first things that is taught in the guard’s training is to never lose your weapon. Lose your weapon, lose your life, but here? I know that he won’t kill me, so I’ll make use of that. The sword is easily deflected, of course, but it gives me enough time to get a couple of extra steps in and time to draw my dagger. I drop low and thrust with the weapon, aiming for his armored torso, I don’t need to cut him, I just need to get a single hit in and I’ll be happy. Right before I manage to make contact I see his sword blur before pain blooms in my dagger wielding hand, forcing me to drop it as I clutch the most likely broken limb. I don’t get time to adjust to the pain as a hand makes contact with my cheek, knocking me flat on my back. Through the blur of pain I’m greeted by yet another new emotion, and this one I immediately don’t like. Pure rage.
“This is a training match you dumb fuck.” He punctuates his statement with a kick to my ribs. “You don’t *smack* pull out *smack* a god damn dagger *smack* during a training match.” After a few more kicks to my side and back I’m officially curled up in a ball, sobbing on the ground and hardly able to think through the pain. It hurts. Everything hurts. I want it to end. I NEED it to end. I need to stop this guy before he kills me, but I can’t. There’s nothing I can do but lay here and take the beating. The pain slowly fades away and is replaced by a burning hot rage. He won’t stop. This fucker is going to kill me. Beating the shit out of me constantly wasn’t enough for him, he knew he wasn’t in danger from my dagger but he's still beating me senseless. The blows continue to rain down as my rage builds. I can’t take it anymore, I feel like I’m about to burst from my anger. I manage to take in a deep breath, the urge to scream overwhelming me, and with the breath comes a flood of mana. I don’t notice, my mind is too muddled by pain and rage, but even through all of that I feel the power coursing through my veins, a power that feels completely unstoppable if I release it.
Vengeful God's Scream has activated
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I look down at the thankfully unconscious kid at my feet. That was too close. I don’t know what he did but I haven’t felt danger like that in over twenty years, only that lunatic cultist Zariel gave me a feeling of death at this level. This served to snap me out of the haze of rage so I didn’t immediately kill the kid, thank god. His life wasn’t the only one in danger there however, had I not acted quickly enough I am certain that I would have perished. After taking a moment to get my mental state in order I pick up the kid and try to find our only competent healer in this place. After a small amount of wandering I drop the kid on the bed in front of the healer, making them turn away from their current patient.
“How many times do I have to tell you people…” With a look of dread consuming her features she takes in the sorry sight of the kid. “What the hell happened?!” She immediately begins waving her hands in arcane patterns to find the worst issues. I’ll admit, the kid doesn’t look great. I might have taken my training a bit far but pulling a real weapon on someone trying to teach you is the dumbest thing I’ve seen in a month, and I’ve seen a lot of dumb things in the last month. I probably broke a couple of his ribs, he's bruised black and blue, and I seriously doubt that dent in his skull is helping things. Yeah, definitely went a bit far but the little shit tried to stab me, with an actual dagger. He needed a lesson.
“Jesus christ…” Mary, the doctor performing the scans, mutters under her breath and drags me out of my thoughts.
“That’s one of our new recruits, if he decides to stick around after this, and the initial sparring match got a bit out of hand. I won’t go into details as to why he was brought back unconscious but that kid has something as dangerous as Zariel. Don’t let him die here, I need answers as to what he did.” I glance back over the kid before looking hard at Mary, not a trace of humor on my face.
“The cultist? The one that managed to kill Luke, our god damn tank?” Her expression is a mix between fear and disbelief, knowing that I’m not one to exaggerate, or even bring up that day.
“Yes. Now he’s not going to bleed out before I can get some answers out of him right?” I gesture to the boy and that seems to snap Mary out of her daze as she quickly begins casting healing spells on his ribs, head, hands, and everywhere else. Damn I really did a number on this poor kid, I’ll have to apologize when he wakes up and hope that he doesn’t try to activate whatever weird magic that was again.
After almost two hours of constant healing magic the kid’s breathing is steady and his face finally relaxed from the constant grimace of pain. He clearly isn’t completely recovered but it should be enough as long as he spends some time in bed. Mary is a sweaty mess and looks like she’s about to pass out, channeling that much mana from stones is incredibly stressful on the body and the kid may very well have died if we didn’t have them on hand. Whatever he did completely cleaned the mana out of the area, possibly even the entire town. I’m surprised he didn’t explode just from holding it all, but even stranger the mana isn't in his body still. Mary’s scans would have picked up on it and pulled it from him to fuel the healing, from what I can tell is the mana just vanished, which is NOT a thing that should be able to happen.
“He’ll be fine but next time that you bring a child in that you broke that badly I swear I’ll give you dick cancer.” She tries to shoot me a glare but with her level of exhaustion, it probably didn’t have the effect she thought it would.
“Last time you did that I lost an entire month’s worth of pay in order to get it fixed in the capital. Why’s it always dick cancer with you?” I shake my head and turn to leave, still needing to give the captain a report on what happened and why it feels like we entered the barren desert. Then I’m getting a drink, the kid shouldn’t wake up for some time and I need it after today.