Nocturnio (11.10.9973 AS)
Tristan was sitting on a bench next to the entrance to the Guardian academy. Every Thursday afternoon Tristan’s class would have P.E. As usual Tristan was waiting for Laura, who had a little bit longer to change clothes. Tristan had promised Nana to take good care of Laura, therefore he would always walk home with her.
Unlike the other Thursdays Tristan wasn’t alone on the bench. He was sitting there with Ernesti. Every Thursday Ernesti’s class would have the afternoon free. Today, he had stayed after longer in the school to practice the use of his catalyst with some friends. They had finished one hour ago, but Ernesti had decided to wait for his beloved sister.
“Say, how is Abigail doing in class?” Ernesti asked. “She is doing fine; she doesn’t seem to have any trouble in following the classes.”- “I didn’t mean it like that,… I know she is smart enough to keep up with her studies, but… Well, you know, to be honest… Sometimes her personality can be perceived as annoying…” Tristan knew just too well, what Ernesti was trying to say. In the two months he had known her there were too many moments he had to suppress the urge strangle her.
“I kinda get what you mean. She is doing fine with Laura. They both seem to get along quite well.” – “What about the other students?” Tristan smiled bitterly towards Ernesti’s question. “Before I answer that, you should know our class isn’t like the other classes. Our class consists out of people who have always been considered and treated as geniuses by others, so most of our classmates have a lot of pride.” Ernesti nodded, hearing Tristan’s explanation. He himself had called and treated Abigail as a genius before.
“And what happens when someone that has been considered his whole life a genius finds someone younger and smarter than them?” Tristan asked and answered the question before Ernesti could give an answer. “They get jealous and start avoiding or even bullying.” - “Does that mean, people in your class are bullying my Abigail?” Ernesti asked outraged while jumping up, glaring towards Tristan.
“Calm down! I didn’t say they were bullying her! At least not for now. Since Laura and I are always around Abigail, they’re too afraid of doing something against her or us. The problem is: the more jealous and annoyed they get, the bigger the possibility they stop hesitating and go for something really stupid. Laura understands it pretty well and we already tried to talk to Abigail about it, but she didn’t want to listen. Maybe you can convince her, to try not to stand out much in class, to give the others time to forget their jealousy.”
Ernesti sat down again. “I’m sorry, if I scared you, it is just… She is special… She is an Elder… And you know, no matter how hard the government tries to glorify the idea of having offspring with Humans, Elders are still looked down upon in our society. I had to witness too many times, how people treated her differently after realizing she is an Elder. Therefore, I’m really grateful to you and Laura for treating her like a one of us and for being friends with her.”
Tristan smiled wryly, thinking about it, he had never thought of Abigail as a friend. ‘Maybe she really is a friend. Talking to her isn’t as annoying as talking to other people so it probably is safe to consider her as my friend. Same goes for Laura and Ernesti, I guess…’ Till now the only person he had considered as a friend was Nana, the woman who had been taking care of him since his birth. “Yeah, I will give my best and I’ll try being a good friend to her,” he replied to Ernesti.
Both of them continued chatting till they saw Abigail and Laura approaching. Both stood up and walked towards them. “Took you long enough” Tristan said towards Laura with a teasing voice. “Shut it! Girls are allowed to take longer.”- “That is only if they look good after taking so long.” Tristan looked at Laura making a grimace. “Well, we can’t say that about you.” Laura turned red not knowing what to say. “I’m sorry to interrupt this cheap comedy act, but Abigail and I would like to head back home. Ernesti said, moving towards the school gate. “See you!” Abigail hugged Laura and sprinted back to Ernesti to catch up with him.
“Do you have to always embarrass me in front of Ernesti?” Laura asked Tristan with a moody voice. “I don’t get what you mean. You do a fine job in it, just by being yourself.” Tristan smiled at her. She hit him on his arm and ran away. “Hey, wait, don’t leave me behind, I even waited for you!” Tristan started chasing her.
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“So are you looking forward to tomorrow?”- “Is something special happening tomorrow?” –“Yeah, in practical magic class we finally get to fool around with our actives!” - “Wait, that’s already tomorrow?! I thought we would be playing with the catalyst this whole semester.” – “Do you even read the memos we get every Monday morning?”
Every Monday morning Miss Doctri would hand them a memo containing the week’s timetable, so that the students could come to school prepared. Usually Tristan would prepare himself very well for the practical magical classes to better hide his true powers, but this week he had other things on his mind.
Tristan had spent the whole week trying to learn how to create magic circles. Even though, he had a cheat in his passive there weren’t any results. He spent night after night without sleep. All he thought of were magic circles. Every free minute he had, he spent in learning more about magic circles. But every time he tried creating a simple magic circle, it just didn’t work. All this led to him getting really frustrated because this was the very first time in his life, things didn’t go the way he wanted them to. This made him excited and desperate at the same time. Feelings he had never before felt in such intensity. Therefore, he had lost interest in anything besides magic circles.
At that moment, walking home with Laura, Tristan finally realized how fixated he had been in magic circles. He had almost got his true powers found out! ‘Right now I don’t have a single weapon in my armory, except for that kitchen knife I stole from Nana! What am I supposed to do for tomorrow’s practical class? I don’t want to steal, that’s why I started this project in making money, but it seems tonight I will have to do go on a little raid’
“Tristan are you ok?” Laura pulled on his right arm. “What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” Tristan smiled at her. “Anyways, see you tomorrow. It looks like I’m going shopping with Mom.” Laura said, pointing out towards Dolores, who was coming out of their apartment building. “Yeah, see you tomorrow” Tristan said absent minded waving at her who ran towards her mother.
Coming home, Tristan was greeted by Nana. She asked him about how his day was, like she usually would do. He answered like he always did. “Tiring, but fun, I guess.” Although, his response wasn’t really friendly, Tristan felt really happy when Nana would ask him this question. He often wondered if this is how Lamia would have treated him if it wasn’t for ‘them’. Nana would then ask him to go and take a shower before they had dinner together. They had dinner really early because Tristan often mentioned how tired he was.
After diner Tristan went to his room and activated his ‘illusion magic’. He made a clone of himself, who was sleeping on his bed and opened a gate to his ‘armory’. Tristan was standing in a wide, empty room. Except for him and an old kitchen knife there was nothing in the room. ‘I don’t have much time and I don’t like the idea of stealing, so let’s see how much stuff I can grab tonight.’
Tristan activated his ‘Invisibility Spell’ and opened a gate to the nearest smithy. He was standing in front of a shop window displaying the finest magical weapons the store had to offer. Tristan eyes were glued on a two handed sword named ‘Shattenklinge’.
The ‘Shattenklinge’ was the perfect sword for any member of the ‘Schatten’ clan. The blade was made out of a black metal alloy that allowed the swordsman to channel its ‘Shadows Magic’ through the sword. Making it not only able to slice everything close range, but also everything on a distance of fifty meters. Its handle was made out of gemstone, the catalyst that allowed members of the ‘Schatten’ clan to use magic outside their passive’s range.
Tristan had never seen such an amazing sword. ‘Once I’ve eraned enough money I’ll get that sword!’ Tristan swore to himself. The lights inside of the shop were still burning and there were still costumers inside the shop. So Tristan decided to take a look of the shop from behind maybe he would find something useful in the trash of the shop.
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While walking around the shop he suddenly felt like hundreds of needles stabbing his back. What caused him to drop his ‘Invisibility Magic’. Panicking, he opened a gate in disappeared into thin air. Fortunately, no one was around to see the scene.
Tristan was inside his secret base. He was screaming in pain. Tears ran down his cheeks. He didn’t know what was going on. Was he affected by some kind of curse? Probably not, if this was the case he would have seen it coming thanks to his passive. Was this an evil prank from Bella? Maybe, he didn’t know her too well to deny that option, but he felt this wasn’t the case either. But what could it be?
Slowly but steady, the pain started to decrease. Three hours had passed before Tristan felt like moving again. The pain was not gone completely, but now it was at least bearable. He stood up and opened a gate to his room. As he had expected, the decoy was gone. He created a new decoy, activated his ‘invisibility magic’ and once again opened a gate to the smithy.
He now opened a gate behind the shop. There he found four big, grey waste containers. Tristan walked towards them and opened one of them. The container was full of small metal bars, pieces of wood and small gemstones. ‘Nothing much I can use, maybe I can find a way to use the gemstones…’
Tristan took the gemstones and sent them through a gate to his secret base. He closed the container and went to look what he could find in the other container. He found the very same picture from the first container he had opened. ‘Will I really have to steal? I but I really don’t wanna!’ Tristan felt conflicted. He wanted the goods, but he didn’t want to steal. Nana had brought him up well. But now he would be forced to.
Tristan opened the third container. To his relief this container contained an old rusty Hatchet and an old Morningstar, whose handle was bent beyond repair. He opened the last container. “Jackpot” Tristan cried out. In the fourth container there were a rusty ‘Zweihänder’, an old bent ‘Katana’ and a ‘Dual Broadsword’, whose handle was missing gemstones. Tristan took the weapons and opened a gate to his ‘armory’.
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Like every theoretical class, Miss Doctri would start it with a question. “Can someone tell me what ‘MR’ stands for?” And same as usual the only one waving her hand like crazy, so she would be asked to answer the question was Abigail.
“Tristan, can you help us?” Miss Doctri asked Tristan, who looked more absent-minded than usual. “I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer” Tristan waved with his hand. Tristan had spent the whole night trying to fix the weapons he had found in the containers. Therefore, he didn’t feel like answering the questions of his teacher. There was also the fact his back was still hurting.
Abigail did put on a superior smile and started waving even more enthusiasm than before, trying to make sure Miss Doctri would ask her the question. Miss Doctri sighed “Very well then, Abigail please enlighten us.”
“’MR’ stands for ‘Magical Rank’. Every being in our world is labeled with a ‘Magical Rank’. The ‘MR’ is bestowed upon us by the military after strict criteria. There are twelve documented ranks, but only ten ranks are achievable by mortals. The weakest rank is ‘Human’. The magical power one needs to have to achieve that rank is equal to the magical power a normal Human has. This means almost nothing.
The second lowest rank is ‘Elder’. As the name suggests the magical power one needs to achieve that rank is the one of an Elder with no magical education at all. They are about five times stronger than an ordinary Human”- “So weak”, Annemarie added making Seria laugh out loud. Miss Doctri glared at them “Abigail, please continue.”
“Yes, the third lowest rank is ‘Demon’ the magical power needed to achieve said rank is the one of an ordinary Demon. People labeled as ‘Demons’ are about ten times stronger than people on the level ‘Elder’. The spells we are learning right now with the catalysts are on that level. About 70% of the population of Umbra is at that rank.
The fourth rank is ‘Dragon’. Everybody who achieved this rank should be able to easily beat a dragon. Which means the ones, who achieved this rank are at least hundred times stronger than the ones of the rank ‘Demon’.
The fifth rank is ‘Super Devil’. To defeat someone of that rank, one would need a thousand people of the level ‘Dragon’. This is the highest level an Elder can hope to achieve. And also the level most of this school’s graduates in the political course are in.
The sixth rank is ‘Demon Lord’. People on this level are about ten thousand times stronger than ‘Super Devils’. On this level, are all of the Guardian Academy’s students of the military course graduate from. Obviously this is the level of most of the soldiers in Umbra’s military.
The seventh rank is ‘Conqueror’. ‘Conquerors’ are hundred thousand times stronger than ‘Demon Lords’. There are just six hundred people in Umbra on that level.” – “Daddy is on that level right?” Richard whispered and Seria nodded proudly.
The eighth rank is ‘King’. They are one million times stronger than ‘Conquerors’. There are just one hundred people in Umbra that reached that level. All of them are high level nobles with special privileges inside their clans”-“And mommy is one of them” Annemarie butted in trying to show off.
The ninth rank is ‘Emperor’. They are ten million times stronger than ‘Kings’. And there are only three people on that level in Umbra. This is the ranking the three current clan heads are in. It is said that the rulers of the seraphs are also on the same level.
The tenth rank is ‘Saint’. They are supposed to be a hundred million times stronger than the ‘Emperors’. Currently there is no one with that rank. It is said there were only two beings ever able to achieve that rank: The emperor of all ‘Dunkler Schatten’, the one who ruled lonely over ‘Umbra’ and Queen ‘Helles Licht’ the ruler of ‘Lunae’. They ruled over their respective races before the three gods came down in our world.
Those were the ‘Magical Ranks’ mortals can achieve. Now let’s move over to the ranks only immortals can achieve. The first one of those is ‘Reiter’. People on that rank are estimated to be ten times stronger than the ‘Saints’. They are immortal beings that serve their respective gods.
The last rank is ‘God’. They are over a hundred times stronger than ‘Reiter’. We don’t know much about them, we just know that they slaughtered ‘Dunkler Schatten’ and ‘Helles Licht’, because they opposed their cults.” Abigail stopped her explanation and looked over to Miss Doctri expecting her praise.
“Well, done that was a good explanation. You just forgot to mention that each of the mortal ranks is divided into three levels: ‘Low ’, ‘Middle’ and ‘High’. My ‘MR’ for example, is ‘High Demon Lord’, our principal’s ‘MR’ is ‘Low King’. You see, no one just has the rank of ‘King’ or ‘Demon Lord’. So it is safe to say that the strongest being in Umbra right now is: Lamia Schatten, she is the only ‘High emperor’ of our world.
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“You… You! You couldn’t stand losing to me in theoretical class and talked to my big bro didn’t ya!” Abigail was pointing her fingers at Tristan, almost screaming at him. It was lunch break and the first time they could talk properly since the morning, because Tristan and Laura had almost arrived late.
“And what if I did?” Tristan wasn’t in the mood for Abigail delusions. “Soon enough, you will realize, I just did that to protect you. So stop being a brat and let me eat my lunch in peace.” Laura was shocked, this was the first time Tristan had spoken out his mind to Abigail. “Trist! Stop it! If you continue like this you will achieve the opposite off what you want to” –“I don’t care anymore, she can believe what she wants.” Tristan stood up from the table they had been eating on and headed towards the training room they would have class in this afternoon.
“What’s with him? Is he really that big of a sore loser?” Abigail said with a surprised voice to Laura, who had tried to calm Tristan down. “By Fors, you are just unbelievable,” she answered and took a bite of the cutlets on her plate.
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The practical class started. Tristan hadn’t talked to Abigail or Laura since he had left them at lunch. He felt really bad about it. He really didn’t mean to it. It was just the pain on his back and the sleep deprivation had made him act like a brat. He wanted to apologize to them, but he didn’t know how to go about it.
Miss Doctri clapped her hands. “Today we will start working with your actives. I’m sure by now you all know how to use it, since it’s really intuitive to use. Therefore, the goal of this class will be the perfection of the use of your actives. Today you will show me your actives, so I can come up with an individual training plan for you. We will start with the youngest!” She said while pointing to a spot next to her.
“Please come here and show the class how your active looks like.” Tristan moved slowly towards the point, Miss Doctri had pointed, his back hurting so strong he couldn’t move faster. “Are you ok?” Miss Doctri asked, noticing the sweat running down Tristan’s face. “YeAh…” Tristan said with a creaked voice. “Well then please start!” Tristan had to take a deep breath and activated his gate, trying to make it look like a weapon summon. As the handle of the ‘Zweihänder’ he had obtained yesterday was starting to appear out of thin air, everything went black in front of Tristan’s eyes. The pain had suddenly grown so strong, that he lost consciousness.
Everybody looked confused. Did he use too much energy? Laura ran towards Tristan’s collapsed body. Miss Doctri was just staring at the body dumbfounded. It took her several seconds before realizing, what had happened. “What am I supposed to do in such a situation?”- “Miss, Miss Doctri!” Abigail called towards Miss Doctri, who was still in shock. “We should bring him to the nurses office!” –“Yeah, you are right.” She walked towards Tristan’s body “Class is dismissed. You can all go home now!” She said while walking with Tristan on her arms in a princess carry.