Torrin
Torrin sighed as he walked away from the battle area. The mongoose were still around, but he didn’t have the will to fight for them anymore. Corriss and his lot would have it anyway. Just injuring that Tier 7 mongoose had taken a lot out of him, golden light might look good, but it wasn’t the best element.
The Order of Mage-Warriors had not been what he had expected. The Academy program had always been something of a dogfight, but this was something else. The higher ranked disciples would steal others' things in the open.
And demand it if they couldn’t. The amount of times Torrin had to go to his room in his underwear was more than he could count. The higher ranked disciples would never be subjected to things like this, but low-ranked barely nobility like Torrin? The Order was a competition, and Torrin was on the losing end. At least that had helped him when the rebels raided the fortress.
A good armor would help him immensely in a fight, but wherever he got one, it would be stolen. The worst thing? The ones doing the stealing were usually his old friends, the ones he had helped bully Ray. And on whose request he had manipulated him into going into the woods.
But he’d been betrayed. The second they had no use of him, they had started bullying him too. The professors hadn’t helped at all. Torrin was apparently supposed to use the embarrassment as fuel. The only thing it fueled was his shame. The hunt had been his hope. A way for him to get mana that wasn’t related to the Order.
The reason he’d joined the Order was this, he’d told himself. The Order was the most loose with the licenses it dispersed, the Academy had the largest amount, especially of the more valuable ones, but the Order had a significantly smaller number of recruits.
A disciple would gain at least one each year, and this was his chance. But it had been hopeless. Torrin was already Tier 5. The second he’d heard that it was a Tier 5 area, the hope had died. But he’d persevered and used the mongoose as an opportunity, taking on the biggest one. And then Corriss came in.
The guy was famous, how could he not be? The baby-faced son of the Order head. The same one that had lost to Ray Rosenmund. The same pretty boy he’d humiliated. Torrin could never say why he’d been so bullied.
Perhaps it was his pretty face. Perhaps his ridiculous mana and memory. Or even his apathy. The boy didn’t have any friends in the program, nor had he made an effort to be friends with anyone. In fact, he barely talked at all. A fact that had clearly changed.
Corriss had described him as some sort of evil mastermind that had lured him into a trap and used his Aunt to bully the College Dean. The bullies had tried to awkwardly flatter him, but even they found it hard to reconcile the weak boy that could barely hold a sword to Ray Rosenmund, the evil mastermind.
Torrin couldn't stop himself from laughing. Oh, it had meant losing yet another set of clothes, in fact it had meant losing all his clothes, but it was worth it. The week in his underwear had even helped him. [Swordsmanship: sturdy light] had leveled up to 5, bringing him closer to Tier 6.
After all, even that needy skill couldn't not level up after practicing it all day every day wearing barely anything. Torrin couldn’t exactly attend classes in his underwear. The Order treasury had delivered this new set of armor after a week, and he’d had it since.
‘Torrin Harris, you’ve been thrown out of the Order of Mage-Warriors.’ The voice of the Order head said into Torrin’s mind. Torrin paused in his steps. The world seemed to dull around him. The rustling of the trees faded to him, the bees returning to their post seemed unimportant to him.
After all this…he’d been kicked out? Just like that? Did the Order head want him to confront Corriss? Or was it that he had outshone him? What had happened? Torrin could barely make sense of it. Not even anger, just confusion. After all that blood, sweat, humiliation, only to get kicked out. And for what? No, Torrin couldn’t accept this. No, he had to…what could he do?
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At the moment, Torrin wanted to destroy something, light something on fire, just do something. Not to vent his anger, but to prove that he wasn’t useless, he could do something, he was a Tier 6 close to Tier 7.
A thousand rays emerged from his hand, scorching the trees, the bees as he vented his anger. But he didn’t feel satiated. Perhaps it was the fact that the bees had survived. Or that the trees did not seem particularly hurt. Or just that everything reminded him of a simple fact: he was weak. A weakling that couldn’t even vent his anger.
“Is there a particular reason that you insist on using magic instead of a sword?” a voice said to him from a tree. A woman jumped down onto the ground, looking at him with curiosity in her eyes.
Black hair, brown eyes and a light brown complexion. The description wasn’t particularly uncommon, but no one in Afrieal would mistake this woman. Marchioness Ariana Salazar, the newly revealed Tier 23.
Torrin bowed low, greeting the Marchioness. The proper thing was to wait for her to address him, and he knew better than to break decorum before someone so powerful. Oh wait, she’d asked a question.
“Umm, it has better range? I can’t exactly use it in a forest, Marchioness.” Torrin replied, scrambling to remember the proper way to address a Marchioness.
“Why does someone use a sword then? Why teach it at the Academy?” she asked.
“The weapons are useful against other humanoids, Elves and such, Marchioness.” Torrin said, still looking at the ground.
“Do raise your head, protocol only calls for bowing once, a noble may raise his head after. Though a commoner has to remain bowing until they are allowed.” the Marchioness said. “Though I think Ray missed the memo. I have never seen him bow to anyone, tell me, have you?”
“Uh, no, Marchioness.” Torrin replied. Ray hadn’t bowed, ever. Not to sons of Earls, Viscounts, or Barons. The lot of them had to let it pass, Ray had a special status in the program. A genius always did. A fact Ray reminded them off every day, perhaps not verbally, but with his action.
The reason he didn’t raise his hand wasn’t that he didn’t know the answer, it was that he couldn’t be bothered to.
“On to your sad education. The sword isn’t just to go around parrying elves, in fact, I highly doubt you will be doing that. Elves are generally better at sword wielding. No, it is because a large number of elements can be manipulated into weapons. And act better that way. Come on, give it a try.” she said.
Torrin wanted to say no, he had little mana left. And what he had, he would need to protect himself. But one simply did not say no to a Marchioness. So he did it, conjured light and coalesced it into the shape of a sword. Torrin had tried it before, but it didn't work at all.
“No, not like that. Not a bunch of light put together to look like a sword, put more mana in one ray and make it into a sword.” the Marchioness said. Torrin obeyed, he hadn’t tried anything like that before. Just hadn’t thought of it.
To his surprise, the technique worked, light turned into a sword. Torrin stared at it, and then chucked it at a tree. The sword cut into it, instead of burning, a mark in the shape of a sword appearing.
The Marchioness nodded, looking satisfied.
“The technique will need a lot more work, but I think we are on the right track here. Come on, we need to go.” the Marchioness said as the two of them lifted into the air. Torrin could not understand what was happening. Why was the Marchioness helping him?
“Oh, don’t look so confused. I am not kidnapping you. I just bought you off that idiot of a fart we lovingly call Erkland. Now, you’re my disciple.” she said, smiling, but Torrin just felt danger.
“Why? I don’t have any relation to you, and you know as well as I that I am no genius, just why?” Torrin asked.
“Why? Well, dear, clearly we have differing opinions on your genius. Did you not see the hole you carved into the tree?” she said.
“The hole wasn’t anything abnormal, any other Tier 6 could do more, not to mention you were the reason I could do even that.” Torrin said.
“Oh dear, you have no idea what actually happened, do you? And as for the help, expect more where that came from. The Academy might want its students to be independent and figure things out themselves. I think that a little help is ok sometimes. Now, tell me, what options do you have for your class?