The trip was surprisingly boring. Kest had nothing better to do than to read for the entirety of the trip, eat when hungry, or sleep. It was nothing like the adventure books that his father had (rarely) let him read. No monsters, no bandits, and no treasure. For what was at least the hundredth time, he released a loud and audible sigh. It was the fourth day of their journey, and at this point Kest was almost certain that Sven was making the trip longer as a form of punishment. The man had said few words during the trip, only speaking to tell Kest to sleep or eat. As someone who was new to the idea of a wide and dangerous world, Kest wanted to know more. Any questions he’d asked were either met with silence or a grunt though.
“We’re here,” Sven said suddenly and quietly. The two words that were enough to pull Kest from his endless boredom had been said, and suddenly he was sitting upright at the front of the wagon. Kest winced as his legs ached with the quick movement, but nothing was going to take away his excitement. A sprawling city stood before him with walls of sand surrounding it. He was able to see that, luckily, not everything was sand. Sand was rough and got everywhere after all.
The two continued traveling towards the city and arrived at the gate.
“Sven, is that you? I haven’t seen ya in a few months!” An old man nearly shouted. The guard seemed a bit old to still be on gate duty, but it wasn’t Kest’s place to question it. “Looks like you found a promising one if you’re traveling with him yourself.”
“Yeah, or I found one that has an extremely hard head and nearly died while trying to escape going to the academy,” Sven murmured in response. Kest lowered his head, knowing that he fully deserved the jab, but it didn’t make it any more enjoyable.
The two entered the city and went straight to the entry hall for the academy. It was there that reality started to set in for Kest as people that he didn’t recognize in a new place surrounded him and there was no one there for him. The nerves began to get to him as he walked beside Sven, shivering.
“Careful, if you shake like that people will think you’re scared or something,” Sven said, shocking Kest with a joke.
“I’ll be perfectly fine. It’s not like I’m incapable of functioning,” Kest said haughtily. He refused to look weak in front of Sven, or rather he hoped he wouldn’t look weak and fearful. He wanted to show that he was brave and prove that he wasn’t deserving of the jabs and being made fun of anymore.
“Good morning you two,” a woman said from above and began floating down from the balcony of the welcoming hall. Kest was in the midst of trying to calm his nerves, but this goddess on Theraveil. Brunette curls fell upon a beautiful face, and Kest was unable to speak to the woman.
“I think you broke him Lydia,” Sven said with a rare chuckle. He lightly slapped Kest on the back of the head to get him to refocus. “Listen, this is Lydia Planthen. She is one of the instructors here, and she has personally promised me that she will help you to be set up for success. This isn’t going to be easy kid, and the fact is that you’re going to be overwhelmed. I’ll be coming back to check on you, so don’t disappoint. Your parents would hate to hear about bad things happening to you, especially since I’m the one reporting it.”
“Don’t scare the little guy,” the woman said patting Kest’s head, “he’ll be fine. I’m sure that he’ll surpass you soon enough, just watch. Kestevere, right? Let’s go ahead and get you taken care of. It looks like you’re one of the outliers that appear at times.”
The two continued on, and Sven watched on. Lydia was sure to be surprised when Kestevere was inspected. It wasn’t every day that a kid of his potential walked into the academy. Sven stepped out of the welcome hall and back into the sun, fully intending to disappear for a while.
* * *
Kest followed Lydia into a room where he was to be tested. The room was four bland walls and there was half of some kind of sphere sticking out of the ceiling. Lydia glanced down at Kest before telling him to listen carefully as they reached the center of the room.
“Kestevere Avalon. Welcome to Sandervale Academy. This is a preliminary test to see how you place among your peers in terms of magical power, physical prowess, and statistical strength. Please wait a moment before we begin your initial test of strength,” she said as the room began to flash between altering colors. The flashing ceased, followed by a voice announcing the completion of the initial readings.
“Now, Kestevere. This is the test that really allows us to see where you’re at. You’re going to fight waves of enemies, and your goal is to survive. If you succeed, then you’re able to join the academy. If you fail though… Well, you won’t have to worry. After all, we’re raising the next generation of our great nation’s army,” the woman said with a gleam of madness in her eyes. She vanished from sight, leaving Kest alone in the room.
The silence was unnerving, and he was already on edge. A clanging sound resonated within the room, and Kest flinched from the sound. He opened his eyes to see that there was a short sword lying on the ground. It was slightly rusted, but anything would do for self-defense. A panel along the wall opened up and a single wolf appeared. Kest took a few calming breaths before squaring off against the wolf. They circled one another, but it was the wolf that lost patience first and was cut from head to flank after lunging at Kest who dodged to the side.
“First round. Complete. Pass. Next round, begin,” an odd stilted voice announced from somewhere. Kest was still ready to go, and moments later another panel opened. This time a couple of goblins stumbled out whilst hitting one another. Kest had only seen the small creatures once before during a hunting expedition his father had led, but they were hardy and violent creatures. If he wasn’t careful, he’d be taken apart piece by piece. A shield fell from above in front of him, so he grabbed the shield with his free hand. The two green creatures noticed him and ran his way.
One of the goblins fell in behind the other, and even though Kest was able to dodge the lunge from the first goblin, the jumping overhead attack wasn’t stopped so easily. He was able to block with the shield, but the angle knocked the shield from his grasp. He stumbled back and the first goblin came at him again with strings of drool trailing behind him. It lunged once again and Kest fell backwards and raised his sword, bisecting the goblin and letting the blood and gore rain upon him. The feeling and smell of the blood nearly caused Kest to lose his breakfast, but he stood quickly to face the first goblin.
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“Let’s g-” he tried speaking, but lost his breakfast instead. He discovered that speaking while covered in the blood of his enemies wasn’t cool, it was just vomit inducing. He looked up in time to see the goblin coming down with an axe, and he was able to barely avoid it by dodging the axe-head and stabbing upwards to impale the goblin. He saw the life leaving the eyes of the monster and felt no guilt.
“Second round. Complete. Pass. Next round, begin,” the same odd voice said before Kest could get his breathing focused. Each breath was a battle between breathing or vomiting, and he wasn’t sure how his father or any other soldier can focus on the smell of blood being all over them. Just as he was about to throw up once again, a torrent of water washed the filth from him. Able to breathe once again, he turned towards the next panel that was opening.
“There’s no way,” he said as a bear stepped out of the hatch. The bear raised its nose into the air and saw the wolf and goblins on the ground. The growl that came from the bear vibrated the ground that Kest stood on. It ran straight towards him and he knew that the shield that he’d lost on the ground wouldn’t be of any help. This wasn’t a test that he would be able to pass.
The ground shook as the bear rushed towards him and Kest tried the same tactic that had worked on the wolf, but he lacked that strength to cut the bear open. The animal roared and stood upon it’s hind legs. Kest was overwhelmed by the sheer power that the bear had, and he knew that this would be his end if he didn’t do something. He prepared himself as the bear fell towards him. Diving to the side, he lashed out in the hope that he would wound the bear in some meaningful way, but it was just another shallow cut. He cursed and stood back up just as the bear swiped a paw and knocked him backwards towards the wall. His head hit the wall, and he could feel his consciousness fading.
“Not yet. I’ll pass. I won’t fell my parents,” he whispered, stumbling back onto his feet. He could feel his body weakening by the second, and he knew that he’d sustained some major wounds. Adrenaline and magic began to course through him and he faced the bear who was back on all fours. He didn’t think before dashing forward with all of his might, the short sword striking true. In what appeared to be slow motion, he saw the sword cut cleanly into the eye of the bear and strike directly into it’s brain. The air itself seemed to stand still as the bear fell in front of him.
“Third round. Complete. Pass. Final round, begin,” the bodiless voice said, and the door that Kest had stepped through initially opened to reveal a soldier in full armor.
“End of the road, kid. Most don’t make it this far, but you’re something special, aren’t ya?” the man behind the armor said. Kest rest his sword with one arm and covered the gashes he now felt with the other.
“I’m not going down. I’m not gonna die, and I’ll end you and join the academy!” he yelled as he raced towards the soldier in a magic-fueled rage. He thrusted the sword towards the opening in the man’s armor, right between his chest plate and his helmet. The man moved slightly to the side and struck Kestevere in the stomach, causing the boy to fall over. His over momentum had contributed the most to the counter, and he found that he couldn’t breathe.
“I’m not an animal or a weak monster. I am a living weapon of the empire. I am the sword that leads the charge. I am a knight of Graeden,” the man said before lifting Kestevere and throwing his limp body against the wall. Kestevere hit the wall and wasn’t able to keep fighting, or to even stay conscious. As he began fading a warmth surrounded him and brought him back to consciousness before he could even find some rest.
“I see you’re coming back to us,” the man in front of him said. The man was the same one that had defeated him. “You know, most of you that come through here really can’t defeat the goblins, much less the bear. You’re something special. You even startled me for a second when you tried to kill me without hesitation.”
“I still failed though, didn’t I,” Kest asked as the tears began to fill his eyes.
“Not at all. This is just to test you all. Some can’t kill, and those people become healers, medical assistants, or even scholars. Others, like you, have a strong sense of survival and are able to become stronger and more resilient when faced with overwhelming odds. Most of the others are in the middle. They can engage in combat, they can take lives, but their own morale often shatters before the fight is even finished or started. Being a soldier isn’t for everyone,” the knight said with a sad smile that spoke to what he’d experienced.
“I… see. In that case,” Kest said as he finished healing and someone helped him to his feet, “I’ll take what I can get as far as wins.” Lydia walked into the room as Kest tried to clean himself up and she held a hand up as water came down on him once again.
“We’ll get you cleaned up again. Looks like your biggest weakness is the smell of blood,” the woman said with a barely stifled laugh. Kest felt his face begin to burn as he followed her to the assessment review area. “You did well. Sven’s message informed me that you had fought before, but I was really surprised. Most kids don’t have the same proclivity to violence against animals and monsters that you do. You even tried killing Evan there at the end!”
“He was the last trial. I didn’t want to fail or die,” Kest said in his own defense, as his brow furrowed.
“Be that as it may, it was impressive. Let’s see where you’re at right now,” Lydia said, pointing to a sphere. “Place your hand on this device. It will let you see your current strength and the level that the world has you currently assigned to. With what you’ve faced before, as well as your most current battle, you’ll likely be above your peers.”
Kest placed his hand on the sphere, and the numbers appeared before him. His experience had accrued, and he was level seven now. It came as a shock to himself and Lydia, but the rest of his statistics were equally shocking. Due to the higher level, he’d gained points in each of the stats, and this placed him in a higher bracket to start in than most students.
“Let’s go ahead and discuss your future here. You’ve had a long journey, a long day, and I’m sure you’re quite hungry after the exercise earlier. I’ll show you to the cafeteria, and then I’ll teach you what it means to be blessed by the system,” Lydia said, offering him a smile and leading him to a room that smelled like heaven compared to the dried meat and bread he’d eaten. He hoped that he’d be able to begin liking this place soon.
Kestevere Avalon
Age: 10
Class: Undecided
Awakening: Undecided
Awakening Level: N/A
Level: 7
EXP: 0
EXP to next level: 100
VIT: 20 (Base 8 +6 levels)
STR: 18 (Base 6 +6 levels)
AGI: 19 (Base 7 +6 levels)
MAG: 14 (Base 2 +6 levels)
INT: 16 (Base 4 +6 levels)
WIS: 15 (Base 3 +6 levels)
Skills:
Mana Manipulation lvl 1: The ability to control mana throughout the body. Mana can be used for strengthening, or manipulated for attacking. As levels rise, less mana is wasted and activation is faster.