I walked down the street, suddenly nervous now that my bag held more gold than most people would see in their lives. If I was robbed, I’d be in more trouble than I’d anticipated. My meeting with Lisia had gone better than I’d expected, and it would doubtless save me some time. I’d handed over the schematics and backup prototypes I’d crafted to the secretary and collected my gold.
Now it was time to set up a bank account. I looked up and down the alley at the countless buildings and bustling people, then I promptly decided that this was a job for Siegfried. Instead, I traveled over to the Market to purchase things.
My gold was heavy, even in my pocket-dimension bag, and I was nervous about haggling with it. Luckily, this was only a fragment of the riches I’d make soon, so it was fine to splurge a little.
I stopped into one of the more expensive alchemical shops, easily dropping over a thousand gold on ingredients for a specific ritual, one that was very important to his long-term happiness if not his power.
After getting those ingredients, I made a stop at the tailor. Fancy garments hung in the windows, some glittering with magic while others glittered with jewels. I pushed open the door, a bell announcing my arrival, and an older man in a finely made suit hurried up to me. I was dressed well, but not extravagantly, so his hurried service was a mark of a good shop. I inclined my head at him out of respect as he approached.
“Greetings, sir, did our window wares draw you in or are you looking for something a bit more custom?” He asked, head stuck out like a vulture’s. Despite the horrible posture, he had kindly eyes and seemed eager to be of assistance.
“Hmm. I was hoping you’d walk me through some of your wares. I’m mainly looking for a cloak that has a bit more defense than your standard Cloak of Protection or something that aids in movement. Got anything in that vein?” I asked. The man stroked a small goatee for a moment.
“I’m afraid not much. Most of that would be custom order, and our enchanter is out for the month. I have a cloak enchanted for repairing itself and basic protection against the elements. It’s thick and heavy, but it’s enchanted to adjust its weight to whatever you prefer. It’s rather expensive, though, as its designed for the rich instead of the magically inclined–the weight is adjusted through a series of buttons rather than your mana…” The man explained. Little did he know, it was perfect for me.
“And how much would that be?” I asked. The man waffled for a moment, considering.
“Our price has it set at 2,500 gold. It’d be more expensive, but it’s rather plain looking,” He said, and my eyes nearly bugged out of my skull. It was an exorbitant amount of money.
“Let me see it,” I commanded, and the man walked into the back to retrieve a heavy brown cloak. He carried it over and laid it over my outstretched arms. He was right–it was heavy.
“So, how’s it work?” I asked, and the man pulled a flap of fabric aside to reveal a small button, like for sewing, attached somehow beneath the flap.
“The cloak comes with three buttons,” He showed off the other two buttons in his hand, “and they attach through a passive enchantment. The green button, on the cloak now, is middle-weight. Red is heavy, and blue is lightweight.”
“What happens if I put them on all at the same time?” I asked, and he shook his head.
“The cloak is smart enough that it only checks the heaviest button that is there,” he said. I considered it.
It was a very nice cloak, I had to admit. It was also very expensive. I still didn’t know exactly how much the average person made, but it was about five times what I’d come in with! Still, it was about 2.5% of my overall windfall, and I was confident that I’d have more coming my way.
Though it felt like I had more gold than I knew what to do with, I knew that Ascending would be a costly endeavor. Not only did I have to Ascend, though, I needed my students to ascend with me. With that in mind, I purchased the cloak, draping it around my shoulders. I had a class to prepare for.
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The next morning, I set a course for my classroom. I trudged up the stairs, glove on my hand, cloak around my shoulders, and entered into the tiered room.
Two dozen desks sat on three tiers of seating. With my timely arrival, I was able to see who was late and who was early. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Morgan and Arthur were both sitting in the front row, a few seats separating them. Arthur was surrounded by a few of his usual hangabouts, and Thomas was sitting in the front row next to Morgan.
As I entered, a pale-looking boy I hadn’t seen before got up from his desk and came forward to me.
“E-excuse me, professor, I’m here with a note from Professor Vex. She said I’d have to transfer into your class due to a timing conflict with one of my other classes,” he explained timidly. Wait, what?
“You guys have other classes?” I asked before I thought about it too much. Of course they had other classes. The students in the front row overheard and nodded, bemused expressions on their faces.
Morgan spoke up.
“Of course, professor. Did you think we’d been twiddling our thumbs on the off day from your amazing class?” She said, equal parts patronizing and scathing with her comment. She fluttered her long lashes at me behind her glasses at the last comment, and I cleared my throat.
“My mistake–you’ll have to remember that I’m a new professor. I’ll be giving you all homework soon, and I expect you to finish it during your free time, is that understood?” I asked, and there were enthusiastic nods. Another student raised her hand.
“How much homework do you imagine, professor? I have a busy schedule this year,” She explained, and my eyes narrowed imperceptibly.
“You’ll do as much homework as you want. The less you do, the less you’ll get, and the less you’ll improve. For those of you that give me your all, I’ll return the favor in kind,” I said with finality before walking to the door.
“Now, I trust you’ve all been fixing the spells you know with the formations I gave you last class?” I asked, not bothering to wait for an answer, “Good. We’re going back to where we had class last time. From now on, expect to meet there unless I say otherwise.”
I started to walk out, but I noticed that the student with the note was still standing there, lost.
“Come on, my new friend. I’m happy to take you in. What’d you say your name is?” I tried to be friendly, and he gulped.
“Uh, I didn’t, s-sir. My name is Mordred.”
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As I marched the students down to the practice area from last class, I fumed inside. I really didn’t want to deal with the Arthurian Cycle now, and it was a major pain in the ass that it seemed to be progressing at a fast pace. Loki was clearly doing something, and I’d need a way to combat his actions if I had any chance of winning.
I gathered the students in front of me.
“Alright, kids. I’m going to put you into groups of three. You’ll fight until the other side submits, and we’ll go over what you can improve on. Arthur, you, and Thomas are against Morgan, Mordred, and that kid,” I said, pointing at Arthur, one of his lackeys, and Thomas then Morgan, Mordred, and some other kid I didn’t recognize. The two unknowns introduced themselves as Lance and Kay. I recognized the first as Lancelot, but not the second.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
The two groups organized themselves across from each other, maybe 50 yards apart. They stood, looking at me expectantly.
“What are you waiting for, a written invitation? Start whenever you feel like it!” I yelled, amused. They turned back to each other, neither side moving.
Suddenly, Morgan took the first move–I wasn’t surprised, she had a penchant for being vicious. A burst of purple energy flared out from her hand and sped towards Arthur, who was in the middle of casting something. He was taking longer to cast than a more experienced mage should have, but I wouldn’t fault him yet. I recognized the spell, and it was one I’d written out for him yesterday.
He managed to finish casting it before the purple energy threw him backwards and onto the ground, and a golden light surrounded Lance. His muscles seemed to grow slightly as he cast another spell onto himself, and green energy melded with the golden light surrounding him. A sword of that green energy appeared in his hand and he ran forward. It wasn’t bad, honestly. He was a Second Circle mage and he’d just used two spells in quick succession.
He ran forward to attack Morgan as she prepared another spell, but Kay ran forward to intercept with flaming fists. I watched, taking in the battlefield as a whole. I noticed Mordred standing, unsure of himself, as the others battled.
Arthur recovered from being thrown to the ground and cast another spell, this time targeting Thomas. Thomas shone with light, and he flooded the area with burning whisps of flame. Lance grimaced as the flames restricted his movement, but Kay continued to swing at his opponent without caring about the enemy flames. I shook my head.
I couldn’t have picked the teams better if I’d tried. This was exactly what I had been talking to Thomas about–Kay’s spell made him resistant to the flames, so Thomas was useless.
Arthur noticed this and called out “Thomas–switch targets!”, dodging to the side as Morgan shot another blast of purple energy at him. He called up a shield spell and blocked it, forcing me to re-evaluate him as he did so. Merlin had told me he was behind the other students, but his foundations were pretty good.
Thomas nodded in Arthur’s direction and launched a flaming lance at Morgan, forcing her to drop the spell she was casting in order to dodge out of the way. Thus far, she’d been relatively immobile, but now she repositioned to take further cover behind Kay and the petrified Mordred.
Kay and Lance were still locked in combat, neither warrior able to land a blow against the other. If it weren’t for the floating minefield of flames, I was confident that Lance would have won by now, but his movements were greatly restricted.
Now, like Mordred, it was Arthur’s turn to stand there awkwardly. He kept shooting me glances like he wanted to ask me a question, and I rolled my eyes.
“Alright, that’s enough. Stop here!” I shook my head. These kids had a lot to learn.
“Next group.”
I started rotating around students into groups to let them fight, but they all faced the same problems.
“Alright, new idea,” I started, walking out in front of the lecture seating, “We’re going to play tag. You’re all going to try and hit me with spells. If I take you down, you’re out. If you hit me, you pass the class. We start in ten… nine… eight…” I trailed off as the students frowned and frantically got down out of their bleachers.
As soon as I hit zero, I leapt ten feet to the side. It wasn’t even necessary, as the spells that they were casting were slow enough that there was almost a full second’s delay between when they launched and when they hit.
I turned to focus on my students.
“Good opening salvo, but you shouldn’t aim at me anymore. I’ll move out of the way, try to catch me while I’m moving,” I instructed, shifting weight side to side. Nobody moved, and I rolled my eyes.
“Okay, well one of you at least needs to aim at where I am so you can figure out where I’m going,” I laughed, and Thomas sent a jet of flame my way. I whirled to my right, cloak swinging through the air, then ducked under one of Morgan’s purple bursts. It was literally just purple destructive energy.
Kay ran up to me, fists ablaze, and threw a hook at my head. I rolled under it and slapped his arm to the side, lightly kicking the back of his knee to keep him off-balance before another spell, this one lightning, shot at my face quicker than any of the others.
“Nice!” I praised as I leaned back and let it sail by harmlessly in front of me.
Tom went to punch me again and I slipped to the outside of his body now, bringing a solid knee up into his stomach before pushing hard on the back of his head.
“Game of tag, Kay, you’re out,” I said, grinning with exhilaration as my students dogpiled their spells on me. I bobbed and weaved, dodging flame and wind and force and lightning as it lethargically moved about.
Thomas cast his whisps of flame spell and set the battlefield alight with his floating mines.
“Excellent thinking, Thomas, but spells like these only work if the opponent can’t work around them and can’t get rid of them,” I said, raising my gloved hand and sending a wall of force shooting out from my finger, pushing the whisps all off to the side and out of my way.
“You’re all doing very well, but I ho-” I cut off as my eyes widened and suddenly I had to leap backwards over a spear of shadow launching up from behind me through my own shadow.
My eyes scanned my students for someone using shadow magic, and I dodged out of the way of another shadow spear again as I saw Mordred’s eyes flicker to black as he cast. I pointed a finger at him, a net of force shooting out of my finger as a slight distortion in the air, capturing him and throwing him to the ground.
“Phenomenal, Mordred. You nearly had me,” I complimented him as I continued to dodge the other spells. One by one I sent force nets at them until just a few remained. Morgan, Arthur, and Lance were still in the bleachers, the latter two just sitting there, evidently giving up.
“Not bad, students, but I hope you’re starting to see the difference in our styles,” I said lightly before leaping back as a sword of verdant energy swung up towards my face as Lance rose with it.
“Good, Lance! Had I not recognized your ambush from the moment you sat down, that would have taken my head clean off!” I yelled, and several students grimaced at the fact that it hadn’t.
Lance approached me ferociously, his noble upbringing teaching him swordplay. As he swung the blade at me effortlessly, I used my cloak to bat aside another bolt of Morgan’s destructive energy, holding up a hand to make Lance pause.
“Morgan, Arthur, use some other spells. Arthur, I don’t care what the target is or if they’re buffing spells. That was just a comment made to guide your path. Morgan, I heard you’re the most impressive student here. Right now, it’s feeling like you’re not. Fix that or I’m transferring you,” I said gravely. I beckoned at Lance to come fight me now and resumed dodging around each of his slashes.
“Good footwork, Lance, you’re clearly used to the blade,” I commented as I ducked under yet another slash.
“Vary your attacks more, you’re using the same pattern as you were a moment ago.”
He paused, consternation evident on his face, before pulling the sword back and stabbing at me with it. I tilted to the side to avoid it.
“Much better, keep going,” I said as Arthur’s golden blast reached my face. I leaned forward, closer to Lance, to avoid it, and the other man took advantage of my dodge. He swept the sword at my feet and I jumped up to get over it.
He used my momentary loss of control over my position to punch me square in the face. I tilted my head down to absorb it on my forehead, and he winced and shook his hand with pain.
“Fantastic, Lance, you’re done. Go sit down,” I said as a net of purple energy descended around me.
I immediately sent a blade of force energy up and sliced it apart, leaping through the hole to safety on the other side.
“Good, vary your casting, Morgan. Other spells, things I haven’t seen.”
She frowned and cast another bolt. I put up a wall of force and held up my hand.
“Morgan, what other spells do you know?” I asked, folding my arms in front of me. She sighed.
“A scrying spell, my blasting spell, my net spell, a shield spell, and a levitation spell. Only two that are useful in combat,” she explained. I sighed, and held a finger out at her. It wasn’t quite levitation, but I put some force barriers underneath her and tossed her up into the air. She wobbled around, arms flailing, and cried for me to put her down. I obliged.
“Now, were you disoriented up there?”
“Yes,” she said, her face beet red.
“Were you able to cast?”
“I think in a-”
“No, were you able to cast for the few seconds you were up there?” I interrupted, and she shook her head.
“Levitation is a powerful form of battlefield control. I don’t want to see you forget it again.”
Now I turned to the rest of the class.
“Alright, are you all starting to see your problems?” Numerous students shook their head.
“That’s okay, you’ve not been taught to critically think, I guess. You all cast slowly, and your spells travel slowly, and you’re slow to adapt. From now on, I’m going to make you all sink into your roles and forcibly get you to adapt to the battles. Dismissed,”
I said, cutting the class short. I had some monsters to kill now,