The next sparring lesson approached faster than Sean thought, and he was anxiously anticipating who his opponent was going to be. He did not have to wait for long, as Félix Deloffre already limped in front of his pupils and cleared his throat.
"Since there was no problem with the papers you submitted, we shall begin with the mock-battles right away. I assume you all have your wooden swords? As usual, you are to use your skills or magic only after I declared the start of the duel. Whoever finishes their preparations first will therefore be able to strike first as well, as it would be the case during a real fight for your life.
I will emphasize once more that the reason for this is to train you in efficiency, as during a real fight you will need quick decision making skills and a keen eye for analysing the situation you are in, so winning should be considered secondary. Since this is a training environment, I will immediately stop the fight if either one of you accepts defeat or is no longer able to continue.
Last lesson, I received a request from Cadet Crevier to chose a suitable opponent among you by himself, seeing as he was not able to show his skills properly last time. Under normal circumstances, I would dismiss such proposals, as knowing your opponent in advance takes away from the authenticity of your experience, and thus cannot be considered a proper simulation.
However, there was one more among you who was not able to show his own skills during the last lesson, as he chose to attack right away without preparation and thus defeated his opponent before they could use a single bard-skill. Though it was clearly a victory, again, winning the duel itself is not the point of this lesson. By chance, it just so happens that this student was the proposed opponent of Cadet Crevier, thus I decided to match up these two and have them carry out the first duel.
Cadet Riddar, Cadet Crevier, please step onto the platform."
Sean's heart immediately dropped upon hearing his name. He looked up towards the instructor, then towards the platform, where Crevier had already taken position. However, as he looked at the mocking face of his opponent, anger started to well up inside of him, and he decided to face him with all he got.
'He thinks he's so much better than us just because he's a noble? Also, he probably thinks that I'm going to do the same thing I did last time, so I might be able to catch him off guard.', he thought as he approached Crevier, who assumed a fighting stance.
"You know, if you just give up and beg for forgiveness, I might show mercy on you and just break your legs!", Crevier mocked Sean, but his taunts meant nothing to Sean.
"We'll see about who breaks what now."
"Both of you, in position!", Deloffre called out to them, before counting down.
"3...2...1...GO!"
Crevier began to hum a quick melody, causing his entire body to glow briefly, an indicator that his bard-skill had activated.
"[I'm more of a less haste more speed kinda guy!]", Sean shouted, and both of them clashed.
"Huh, I thought you would just attack without a shred of honour like last time, but I guess there's a first time for everything!", Crevier kept up his taunts as he kept trying to get a clean hit on Sean, though no matter what he tried, every attack was blocked.
"I learned my lesson, Crevier, as will you! [Less talk, more action!]", he fired off a second skill, which was aimed at his opponent.
The effect was immediate, as Crevier tried and failed reply with a comeback, as he had lost his voice.
His eyes shrunk to pin-pricks upon realizing that he could not even produce a whistling sound, which meant he was not able to follow up with another skill to increase his strength and quickly end the fight. Sean, however, was not hindered to do so.
"Didn't you know? [The fist is mightier than the sword!]", Sean stated, and with a quick punch of his left, unarmed hand, knocked Crevier off the platform.
"Hoho! Magnificent! It seems like Cadet Riddar finally managed to properly wield his abilities! Cadet Crevier, I hope this will be a valuable lesson to all of you, not to underestimate your opponent. As you can see, there are many ways to deal with an opponent who uses verbal skills, and muting them is indeed the most efficient. Therefore, it is a necessity to become adept in the casting of spells as well, as there is no need for them to be used verbally. Now let us see, next will be...", Deloffre commented, before announcing the next pair-up.
While the others got into position, Sean decided to approach Crevier, who was still lying on the floor, and reach out his hand to help him up. However, it was batted away, and Crevier rose to his feet on his own. It looked like he wanted to say something belittling, but due to him still being under the effect of Sean's skill, not a single tone escaped his mouth, causing Sean to grin.
"What was that? I can't seem to hear you? You gotta speak up!", he mocked the arrogant noble, who was silently seething with rage.
"Ah, ah, ah! We don't want to pop a blood vessel now, do we? Also, instead of looking down on others, you should probably look at yourself some more! If you weren't so arrogant, this fight probably wouldn't have ended this easily! Anyway, see ya in the next bout, peace!", Sean chastised him as he walked off, leaving behind an utterly humiliated Martin Crevier.
After the lesson had finished, Crevier was once again surrounded by his followers, who tried to help him with advise.
"Why not just tell your father that he disrespected your family, young master? I bet he would only need to speak a single word and that commoner would get expelled from Rouclier in an instant."
"No! Absolutely not.", Crevier yelled at them angrily, as if disgusted by the mere thought of someone suggesting something like that.
"I will not stoop so low as to use underhanded tactics to reclaim my honour. Doing so would only tarnish my name beyond recognition. No, I shall meet both of them on the same field, fair and square, and utterly crush them in defeat with my own abilities. Anything else would be without meaning. Today's loss may have seemed devastating, but be not mistaken! He only won because he caught me unawares, as I was blinded by my own arrogance, an error on my part which shall not be repeated. Seeing how we are unlikely to be matched up anytime soon, I will probably have to wait until the end-term exams once more to show off my skills. However, this time I will crush them without fail. Be that as it may! Follow me to the training-grounds! I need to blow off some steam before the next class starts!", he announced, and walked off, his soon to be human sandbags reluctantly running after him.
Meanwhile, in the elemental-magic-course, Corvo shared his findings with Professor Lambert.
"Hm...combining light and fire? That is actually a pretty good idea.", Lambert replied, and started to mull it over in her head.
"However, it might not be feasible to do something like this in a few months... or maybe it could be? The reason why it took me so long to come up with the magical formula for blue flames was that I was not able to use the air-element myself as I was not attuned to it. It could be different for someone with the affinity for two different elements, seeing as they occur naturally in the form of hybrid elements. However, we are talking about the light-element... Could that even work outside of miracles?", she mumbled on, deep in thought, before coming to a conclusion.
"You know what, come to my office tomorrow, I'll see if I can find some literature on spell-crafting and rune-tables related to elemental-magic. Maybe you'll be able to come up with an entirely new spell? A discovery like that could start off a carrier that would directly lead you to become an archmage...or it would, if Edenia was still around. Nonetheless, don't worry if you think this has exceeded your abilities or something, there are still other options you could choose from, such as trying to learn spells from other schools of magic. Getting through this year's end-term exam might not be possible just with spells like
The next day, Corvo received a guide on spell-crafting and spell-alteration, as well as a list of runes that were related to fire, light, and attribute changes from Lambert. From now on, while the other cadets studied to master their own elements, he would have to find a way to create spells of his own, a sheer monumental task. Others in this situation would probably have quit right away if confronted with such a challenge, and opted for the easier path instead, but Corvo was fascinated by the prospect of contributing to magical knowledge as a whole, something many would consider the mindset of a true scholar of magic.
As Corvo and Sean kept dealing with their own problems, Mira could not help but feel jealous about how well Eleonora seemed to do during her lessons, causing her to increase her own training after lessons had concluded. This did not go unnoticed by Irene Karm, who herself would often train in the evening hours by herself as most students of Rouclier were too exhausted to keep on training. At first, Karm decided to just stay back and watch her repeat the moves she had taught her students during their lesson, but when she noticed the empty potion flasks lying on the floor behind her, she decided to intervene.
"Cadet Adelaide. I see you are still out training?", Karm called out to her, causing Mira to drop her spear in surprise.
"Instructor Karm? Did something happen?"
"That's what I should ask you! Didn't I explicitly warn you not to overdo it with your training? If you keep destroying your body during training while drinking potions like water, you are running at risk of your muscles regrowing in an abnormal way. You'll try to move them and be met with searing pain for the rest of your life. If it was that easy to grow stronger, we would just work you to death and bring you back with healing pots over and over.", Karm chastised her while lightly kicking the empty bottles on the floor to emphasise her point, and Mira collapsed to the floor, looking at her shaking hands.
"I know. It's just that...you know Eleonora? She seems to be a natural at everything she's doing. Last year, she beat me in the end-term exams, and now she's even excelling during the lesson, being asked to help her instructor and all. Meanwhile I can barely keep up with the lessons.", she explained.
"I see...so you have found yourself a rival?"
"But...she's my friend, shouldn't I be happy about her being good at all of this, instead of frustrated?", Mira inquired, not quite understanding what Karm meant.
"There can exist rivalry even between close friends, especially if one among them seems to show more talent than the other. Rivalries can spurn us on and make us try harder in what we try to accomplish. However, if you only focus on your shortcomings compared to your rival's, and not on your own improvements, you will just destroy yourself in trying to surpass them. I speak from experience, though it was others who tried to catch up with me. I lost a good friend who died in an attempt to surpass me, and I would hate to see a student of mine suffer a similar fate.", Karm continued and offered Mira a hand to help her back on her feet, which she accepted.
"Thank you, Instructor Karm. I will dial down my training from now on.", Mira stated, and a smile spread across her teacher.
"That's good to hear! I will hold you to that! Anyway, you should stop worrying about the end-term exams so much. In my opinion, my group will have an easier time this year than most others. I'm not allowed to disclose the exact contents of the exam, as they change every year, but from what I've heard so far, the exam for rouges will be the hardest we had in a while.", Karm explained.
"Really?", Mira asked, her mood slightly increasing upon receiving this information.
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"Indeed. However, don't think that this means you exam will be lacking in difficulty. No, I will make sure that if you were to slack at any point this year, you will definitely regret it on the day of the exam.", Karm replied with a mischievous smile, which send shivers down Mira's spine.
"Now then, back to your barracks. And don't forget to keep your promise, or I'll see to it that you will not even be able to think of training after my class!", Karm continued, her calm voice doing nothing to conceal the severity of the consequence if Mira was to go back on her word.
"Of course. Have a good evening.", Mira hastily wished her goodbye, before running towards the dormitories.
"Heh, still remembering the spar at the beginning of last year, eh? I wonder how she'll react once she hears about what exactly the end-term exam of this year is about.", Karm thought out loud with a chuckle, before stepping onto the platform, so she could start her own training. However, a loud clanging noise stopped her, as one of her feet had kicked one of the glass bottles on the floor.
"Damn, I forgot to tell her to clean up after herself."
----------------------------------------
The months passed, and the end-term exams were fast approaching. First were the written exams, which were no different from those of last year, though second years now had to prepare for more subjects than before. After the written exams, the details for the practical exams, which would commence one week later, were given to each of the students, giving them enough time to prepare a strategy on how to approach their tasks. As each profession would receive a different kind of test, the practical exams for 2nd years were not all held at the same time, and were spread over 3 days.
On the first day, the exam for long-ranged professions were held, as they were considered the easiest among all practical exams as they almost exclusively consisted of some form of target practice. To Corvo's chagrin, this not only meant that his exam would be the first of his group, but black magi would also be the first ones to be judged. However, since they were to come forward alphabetically, he would be the last one to attempt the exam, meaning that he would be able to compare the strategy he had come up with to theirs and maybe even change it to better fit with what was asked of them.
The task seemed simple: destroy 25 out of 50 wooden targets, 30 of which would be placed stationary in three groups of ten targets, with the first group being 20 yards away from the examinee and the following groups each 20 yards further away from the others, and the other 20 hovering and moving in fixed patterns above the stationary ones.
To accomplish this feat, the moving targets were enchanted by an old friend of Salazar Blanche, the archmage and synergist known under the nickname "Living Fortress", Lothar Cornelius. The archmage seemed to be in his early 70s, though his light-green eyes under his silver, bushy eyebrows still seemed sharp and youthful. His silver-grey beard was well trimmed and much shorter than that of Blanche and he was wearing a robe similar to that of Salazar Blanche, though Cornelius's robe was a dark-orange and he had 8 stars over his chest.
He was currently chatting with Blanche, who introduced him to Kassandra Lambert, as the two did not met prior to this day due to Cornelius being busy with enchanting the moving targets for the ranged-profession-exams.
"So, you are that disciple Hauska kept bragging about every time I visited him? Now that I think of it, I remember seeing you at his funeral... I thought that old scammer would end up rotting in some gaol in his last years, but you seemed to have had quite the positive influence on him. It is truly a shame that he is no longer with us, but I am sure that if he were, he would keep singing praises of his favourite pupil."
This caused Lambert to blush deeply, and she pulled her wide-brimmed magician's head lower to hide her face.
"Thank you. Hearing this from someone as close to my teacher as you means a lot."
"Oh, it is nothing. He may have been quite agitating at times, especially when it came to cashing in favours one owed him, but I still considered him a good friend, and the student of a friend is someone I would consider a friend of mine as well. Anyway, enough sentimentalities, today we are testing the future scholars and protectors of this empire!", Cornelius exclaimed, and turned around to face the students, together with Blanche and Lambert.
"As you already have been told, you are to break at least 25 targets out of the 50 we have provided in 10 minutes, and you are to only use elemental magic to break them. As usual, a spell focus is the only tool you are allowed to use, but this time, each of you will be allowed to use a single arcanum-potion as well to quickly replenish the energy you spent and ensure that you will not lose consciousness during or after the exam. If you were to spent too much arcanum and lose consciousness despite having ingested the potion, you will automatically receive a failing grade, so listen to your bodies and do not overdo it if you already managed to pass.", Lambert explained, though her explanation was not aimed at the attendees, but at the spectators who decided to watch the exam from a safe distance away, which consisted of students who currently had nothing else to do as well as a few nobles and soldiers stationed in Caelum.
"Any questions?", she concluded her explanation, and, seeing as there were none, she was given a clipboard with a list of their names and a stopwatch by Salazar Blanche, who seemingly procured them from behind his back despite wearing a robe the only pockets of which were at the front, and read out the first name.
Out of the 11 magi which attempted the exam before Corvo, 5 failed, and 2 managed to destroy all targets, with the 5 failing students consisting of 2 water-magi and 3 air-magi, and the two who passed with a perfect score both being dark-magi. Though all had received a decent amount of applause, the two dark magi received the most enthusiastic laudations from the spectators.
When Corvo's turn arrived, he could see Lothar Cornelius lean over to Blanche and Lambert and whispering to them, though he himself could not quite make out their words.
"Is that the student you told me about?"
"Yep, that's him.", Lambert whispered back with a wide grin.
"I watched him train. You will be surprised, old friend, I guarantee it.", Blanche added while stroking his beard, and Cornelius shrugged in response, not quite knowing what they meant.
"Alright then. Last but not least, Cadet Rhedi, if you may.", Lambert called out, and Corvo approached the line which he was not allowed to cross during the exam.
"You may now drink your potion.", Lambert continued, and Corvo opened the flask with shaking hands, before taking a deep breath to calm himself, then downing the deep-blue liquid in one gulp. The liquid had a rather sirupy consistency to it and tasted similar to cherries, and as soon as the small vial was empty, he could feel a pleasing warmth spread from his stomach to the rest of his body.
"Ready your staff. You may begin casting on the count of three!"
Corvo raised his staff and aimed it at the 3 groups of 10 targets, which were lined up in front of him.
"3...2...1...GO!"
Upon the count having finished, Corvo concentrated on the formation of his first spell, and spoke the incantation.
"Prima flamma, globulum finge, inimicos meos frange et incende...", he began, and Cornelius started to furrow his brows as he saw the red-glowing spell-circle.
'That incantation...
Midway through the creation of the spell-circle, it's colour suddenly changed from red to golden, a change which caused Cornelius' eyes to grow wide in surprise and Lambert's grin to widen.
"I still can't believe it either.", she whispered giddy with excitement, as a ball of golden flames formed in front of the spell-circle.
Shortly after it had formed, the spell was released and the ball now hurtled towards the furthermost group of wooden targets, hitting the target in the centre and exploding into beautiful golden flames, which burned all ten targets to ash much faster than it should, causing sounds of astonishment among both instructors and the other spectators of the exam.
Corvo would cast the spell twice more, thus destroying all 30 non-moving targets. Just like when he was practising the spell, he could feel that casting the spell thrice was his limit, and the familiar nauseating feeling of having spent too much arcanum made itself known. However, due to the potion he drank in the beginning, the feeling left as quick as it started.
"Professor Lambert, how much time do I have left?", he asked.
"7 minutes."
"Could you please tell me 2 minutes before the time is over?"
"Certainly!"
"Unbelievable!", Cornelius blurted out in surprise, as Corvo sat down as he waited for his arcanum to replenish.
"Those... Those golden flames! They were just like...?", he stammered out while looking at Lambert, whose grin doubled in size.
"Yep! That's radiance, alright! He actually went and did it!", Lambert proclaimed proudly.
"But-But how? The Magician's Guild tried to look for ways to combine light with other elements for centuries while dealing with heavy push-back from the Ardent Path, and this young man up and solved the problem in less than a year?", Cornelius inquired, and Blanche nodded in affirmation.
"Indeed. We discovered it by chance, as he was taught fire-elemental magic despite being a light-elemental mage. Miss Lambert just pointed him in the right direction", the archmage explained, and Cornelius stroked his beard in thought.
"Marvelous! This could plant the cornerstone for us to finally get behind the secrets of the Ethereal School of Magic!", Cornelius thought out loud, and returned his attention towards Corvo, who followed the movement of the remaining targets as if to determine when the best moment to strike would be.
"2 more minutes!", Lambert called out after a while, and Corvo rose back to his feet.
"Alright, here goes nothing.", he whispered, and aimed his staff forward.
"Lumen ad ignem et volare!"
A much smaller spell-circle at the tip of his staff, out of which a golden flame the size and shape of a fiery golden feather appeared. However, he did not release the spell immediately, and waited for the targets to be in the right position. As he noticed them approach the line-up he discovered during the 5 minutes he observed the targets, he fired off his spell, causing the flame to shoot outwards at a much higher speed than a normal archer would have been able to shoot, destroying 3 targets in its path.
"Was that...
3 more times he fired off the
"Time's up! Congratulations, Cadet Rhedi! You have passed the practical exam!", Lambert called out to him, and he sighed in relief, as he had noticed his energy reserves running out faster than he had hoped.
Lambert's proclamation of the end of the exam caused thunderous applause among the spectators, as even though Corvo had only hit 35 targets, everyone knew that what he had accomplished was worth more than the result of the exam itself. Before he could leave and join his friends among the spectators, he was stopped by Lothar Cornelius, who wanted to personally congratulate him for his accomplishments.
"Magnificent, Mr. Rhedi. Truly splendid! If only Edenia was still in the sky, I would have personally recommended you for their most prestigious academy. Alas, I guess it should not be. Nonetheless, if you ever see yourself in need of funding for your research, do not hesitate to contact me. I would be all to happy to support the next generation of scholars, especially when it comes to discoveries such as yours.", he proposed and presented his hand for Corvo to shake.
"My sincerest thanks, Archmage Cornelius. I will be sure to keep your proposal in mind.", Corvo replied and shook his hand, before walking off.
Arriving at the spectator grandstands, he was greeted by Sean, who jokingly shook his head.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Only 35 targets? How disappointing.", he said with a smirk, before quickly cracking up.
"Just kidding. You did damn well. I knew you could do it!", Sean commended him before greeting him with a fist bump.
"Indeed, well done.", Eleonora stated, and Mira went for a quick hug, causing him to blush.
"A-Anyway, let's watch the others as well, okay?", Corvo suggested as his face started to flush slightly, and the four sat down and continued watching the exam.
This year arcanists were required to destroy 25 out of 50 moving targets within 5 minutes. Though it was similar to the task given to elemental magi, they were given less time, the wooden targets were not grouped together, and they were moving at various speeds. 15 arcanists attempted the challenge, and only 3 failed to hit at least 25. 6 even managed to get a perfect score.
"I wonder why they weren't the ones who had to do the exam first? It seems like theirs was the easiest...", Sean asked the others, who only shrugged in response.
Lastly, archers were required to find 5 specific targets within a group of fifty people that would move in a certain radius about 25 yards away and hit them with their arrows (which of course were of the harmless variety) within 10 minutes. If they managed to hit 3, they would pass the exam, though whenever they accidentally hit someone other than their assigned target, a penalty point would be given to them, with 3 penalty points leading to a failed grade.
Out of the 15 people that tried, Corvo's group watched 5 students fail, and 4 pass with full points.
After 12 hours, including a one hour break after each exam, headmaster Calros stepped forward and proclaimed the end of todays exams, as well as the line up for the next day.
"I want to, again, congratulate those among you who managed to pass, and wish those of you who have yet to attend their exam good luck in the coming days. Tomorrow, we will have the exams for Swordsmanship, mid-range fighters, and support-classes, starting just like today, at 0700 in the morning. I wish you all a calm rest and a good night."