“Hello, milady,” he said with a familiar emphasis. “Nice to meet you again.”
Those ice-blue eyes. That voice. Talia's mouth fell open as she recognized him from the Star Field.
Beside her, Nami was practically choking, trying to hold in her laughter.
"You," Talia managed.
"Me," he agreed with a slight bow. "I'm Keahi. Since we were so rudely interrupted last time, maybe we could have a proper introduction? Unless you're still planning to cut my head off."
More whispers erupted from the crowd. Several students looked between them with obvious curiosity.
"You know him?" Nami asked, finally getting her laughter under control.
"Not exactly," Talia said through gritted teeth.
"But we did share a lovely moment under the stars," Keahi said with a wink. "Though she spent most of it threatening me with her glaive."
Nami cooed after hearing that, and Talia had to incinerate her with a burning gaze.
“Milady,” he said with a little touch of naughtiness in his voice. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“I didn’t tell you my name,” Talia said, turning back to him.
“May I know your name, milady?”
“Talia.”
“Ah, yes,” he said. “Would you object to one quick sparring round before the lesson starts? I’ve tried getting my hands on the talented people here, but they seem to be nowhere to be seen.”
The cockiness of Keahi made Talia more than happy to accept. “Sure.”
“Step aside,” Keahi raised an eyebrow and moved from in front of her.
Talia walked to the center of the circle, making several people nod appreciatively. Everyone knew by now how strong the Kraken Slayer’s daughter was. She had saved their lives in Placid City. So, especially when it came to the boys who weren’t happy about this new guy monopolizing the attention of the girls, many couldn’t wait for Keahi to get his face punched in.
Nami gave Talia a not-so-subtle thumbs up, and Fiora started confabulating with Agalei before shouting, “Get your hands on him, Talia!”
Not fazed by the joke, Talia put a hand on her glaive.
“No weapons,” Keahi said. “Just hand to hand, if you don’t mind. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Hurt me?” Talia said, feeling a vein pulsing in her temple. She knew the guy might have been trying to throw her off and that getting mad wasn’t good before a fight. She herself had used such tactics in the past. But she wasn’t going to underestimate the guy, nor was she going to let him leave the circle standing.
Talia activated Blood Confluence, the Skill that empowered her own constitution, making her blood water resonate all across her body. She was about to step forward and start the beating when she heard him say, “Blood Confluence. Interesting. I could feel Blood Water when I was above you. I didn’t know you had already unlocked the Skill, though. More expert practitioners of Blood Water usually keep it up at all times.”
After saying that, Keahi lunged forward. Talia, a little disoriented, simply dodged a very quick jab and tried swinging at the guy.
“Okay,” Keahi had already stepped back. “You’re very fast,” he said, shaking his head.
Before they could continue, however, they heard someone’s voice from outside the circle.
“Little wretched rats.”
The two fighters stopped and turned. Three people, two guys, and one girl, made their way through the crowd and stopped once they had reached the circle.
“Keahi, I didn’t know the Kahulu family still existed. How’s that embarrassment of your uncle these days? Is he still in the family dungeon?”
Keahi, who had been very cheerful, boastful, and cocky up to now, immediately went very serious. “Maleko.”
“Oh, you must be the whore’s daughter,” Maleko smiled. The entire crowd reacted as if they had just been physically struck.
Talia, with the whiplash sensation still lingering, went to pick up her glaive and asked, “Did you just call my mother a whore?”
“Why? Is the Kraken Slayer’s daughter a little sensitive? It’s not my fault that your mother was indeed a useless whore.”
This time, Talia didn’t even say a word. Instead, she lunged forward with her glaive covered in mana crystal. However, before she could cut down that bastard, an elderly lady appeared in front of her from thin air. The lady pinched the blade of the glaive, shattering the mana crystal as soon as she touched it and holding the weapon in a death grip. Talia tried wrenching it away from her but felt an insane strength behind that lady.
“Oh my. I am away for a few years, and the academy becomes a den of thugs. You didn’t just try to kill a fellow student, did you? Do you know, child, what the penalty for that is?”
Talia looked at the woman with a frown and immediately activated Eyes of the Abyss. She felt a vast, enormous reserve of mana coming from her body, shining almost as bright as the sun. Immediately, Talia put two and two together. This was an elder. Several elders had been out when she had arrived at the academy, so she hadn’t met them. But the power contained in the old woman’s body spoke clearly to her identity.
“I know that things must have been unorthodox, especially considering who your mentor is. But do you think you can just do whatever you want like your mother used to? Because she was allowed to do so by a bunch of spineless men.”
She heard Nami walk to her side and bow her head, trying to force Talia to do the same. “Elder Kawena, I’m sure that Talia didn’t want to kill Maleko.”
“I better believe it,” Elder Kawena smiled thinly. “Maleko is part of the Kanaloa family, the current strongest family in the North Deep. But I expect an ignorant child coming from nowhere might not know what the greatest talent of her generation looks like.”
Talia looked at the guy again and then at Elder Kawena. “If he’s so strong,” she said, “why don’t we have a little sparring?”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Sparring?” Nami tightened her grip on Talia.
“Why, child? Do you want to hurt a Chosen? You aren’t happy with the trouble you caused in Placid City because of that disgusting father of yours? Now you want to kill the great hope of your generation? Is this a plot from that disgraced mentor of yours? The man who let a thousand die under his watch, who bloodied his hands because he trusted that whore mother of yours?”
When Talia heard Elder Kawena insulting her mother, she grew so red she struggled harder to get the glaive back. And when she felt like she had no chance of getting it at this rate, she was about to do the unthinkable. She didn’t care about her future here if these were the people around her. She didn’t know whether it would be enough to get rid of this fresh woman in front of her, but Talia started merging Blood Water and Dark Water.
The only thing that stopped her was that she felt a slap at the back of her head. As she turned, she found Keahi, who just smiled at Elder Kawena. “Elder Kawena, I think that’s Professor Iakopo.” Keahi pointed toward the man , who waswalking with heavy steps toward them. “I don’t think we want to cause a bigger scene. Right?”
“I suppose not, Keahi,” Kawena said. “It seems that despite your ruined family, you still have some sense left in your blood.”
Professor Iakopo suddenly arrived and stood between Talia and Elder Kawena. “What are you doing here?” the man asked, not one inch, not one bit of respect, reverence, or fear in his voice.
“I’m introducing the new students of my school to yours,” she smiled wickedly. “Why, Iakopo? Is that a problem?”
Professor Iakopo stared at her and raised an eyebrow. “Kawena,” the man said, “I’ve told you that my lessons are not open to useless, honorless pieces of shit like you and your students.”
Elder Kawena’s eyes narrowed, and the three students behind her started clamoring. Maleko first: “How dare you speak like that to an elder? You reject from the Kain family?”
Professor Iakopo licked his lips and slightly tilted his neck to look at Maleko. “He doesn’t know, Kawena, that you’re a coward, does he? You must have gathered a lot of support if you think you can come here and speak to me like this, you old crone.”
“Elder,” Maleko said, “teach this man a lesson. He cannot speak to you like that.”
Talia knew that Professor Iakopo, because of the Space Water, could indeed speak to Elder Kawena like that. She had been told by Shaker, who now went by the name Saikai, that the professor was, without a shadow of a doubt, stronger than any elder present. The only reason he hadn’t become an elder himself and the next candidate for the role of principal was that Iakopo had thrown away his political life and heritage in Placid City twenty years prior. But now that he had decided to get into the arena again, and since he had never stopped training, he had become overnight a force to be reckoned with.
“Silence, Maleko,” Elder Kawena said with a wry smile. “This man’s days are numbered. I won’t humiliate him in front of the students because I still have dignity, unlike him. But notice, Iakopo, I will be there the day you die like a dog.”
Iakopo just looked coldly at her and gestured to Saikai who followed him to take the students away. Takai started herding the students, while Professor Iakopo and Elder Kawena stared each other down for a while. Then with a sigh, Professor Iakopo broke eye contact first and turned away.
“Go, Kawena. My lesson is about to begin, and you and your kind are not welcome here.”
* * *
Talia and the rest gathered in silence around Professor Iakopo, who waited for the whispers among students to die down.
The mysterious stranger from the Star Field - now revealed as Keahi - had thrown her completely off balance.
"So," Nami said with a knowing smirk, "want to tell me about this 'lovely moment under the stars' you shared with our handsome new classmate?"
"There was no moment," Talia protested, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks. "He showed up while I was minding my business. I nearly cut his head off."
"How romantic," Fiora said, having caught up with them.
Talia still wondered why Keahi had decided to hide them both when Elder Krakatoa had appeared. To be honest, she wouldn’t have minded giving the man a piece of her mind. But in retrospect, it wasn’t such a bad choice, and she couldn’t blame the guy for being cautious. It did feel like Elder Krakatoa had been up to something, and Talia wondered about it. She had mentioned it to Professor Iakopo, but he seemed to think that whatever Elder Krakatoa was up to, they had no way of knowing it. And, honestly, it wasn’t rare for elders to know more Siren’s Passages than anyone else. They wouldn’t have their position in the first place if they didn’t.
Professor Iakopo promised to keep an eye open for her. He’d warned her that Elder Krakatoa and Elder Kahua were up to something, but the man was now stretched thin. There were many things to take care of, especially given the announcement that the school year would only be two months before students got dispatched to clear up dungeons and infestations of Abyssal Creatures.
Professor Iakopo snapped his fingers, making more than a hundred floating discs appear behind them. “All of you, please spread around, and I will start explaining today’s lesson.”
Everyone distanced themselves from the others, and the man started giving instructions as the discs floated in front of the students, one each.
“One of the most important things when it comes to Mana control is not just the granularity. It’s not just how granular your control is over Mana, but also how much Mana you can call forth at once. In these two months, we’ll be focusing on training your capabilities.”
He continued, “I would usually include a rather daunting test for all of you. But since most here were at Placid City last year, I know that at the very least, you have your heart in a good place. Do know that going into dungeons on your own might result in your death. So if you feel like being a Water Rider is too dangerous for you, do drop out. Because even though I won’t fail you, you might simply die in about two months.”
Professor Iakopo made a small pause. This year, unlike the previous one, there was no fear from the students. Everyone had been radically changed from the experience they had gone through. All those who had wanted to drop out had already done that. And even then, just a small contingent of people had found what happened in Placid City a good reason to leave. Now most had grown past their fears and been inspired by their classmates to catch up to them. In particular, Talia, Fiora, and Takai had all earned quite the reputation.
“Well, if no one leaves, then let’s begin. These discs slowly absorb raw Mana from the environment. They convert the Mana to plain, Water-attuned Mana.”
Most students who knew how dangerous working with raw Mana was widened their eyes. But Professor Iakopo quickly calmed their surprise.
“The discs can only convert a very small amount of Mana. However, there are inscribed into the discs very thin pathways. To extract a lot of Mana at once, if not all of it, you will need to get a feeling for it.” Professor Iakopo paused. “You will need to get accustomed to putting your own veins through a lot of strain. Sucking that Mana in is very much like trying to pump a lot of Mana out of your body. Your veins must create a vacuum, and you must try really hard to extract the Mana.”
“For those wondering, Charisma is the main attribute that will help you in this type of training. I don’t recommend you start dumping points into Charisma unless your class calls for it. Training with these plates should allow you to gain a few points in the stat by the end of our course.”
Talia suddenly noticed that the disc that had flown in front of her was different from the others. It was much thicker, perhaps a full four inches and double the size.
“I’ve adjusted the discs of a few of you because I know you might have dumped a lot of points into Charisma,” Professor Iakopo said, looking straight at Talia. “It would have been too easy to go through the normal test. And if someone else finds this to be too easy, please come tell me, and I will replace your disc with a more advanced one.”
Immediately, everyone heard someone from the front address Professor Iakopo. “Excuse me, professor. I think I’ve already done it.”
Everyone turned toward Keahi, who was holding the disc, now responsive, in one hand, and a ball of water full of dense Mana in his other hand.
“Impressive,” Professor Iakopo said, raising an eyebrow. “Keahi Kahulu. Your talent paired with your family’s heritage, definitely made this too easy for you.” He made a thick disc appear right in front of Keahi. It was the same size as Talia’s disc. “This should prove enough of a challenge,” the man said and then turned toward the rest of the students. “You can now begin. Expect to be able to practice only a few hours a day before you will start feeling excruciating pain all over your body. If you’re worried about the pain, do know that the pain is good. The pain means you’re making progress.”
Talia ignored Professor Iakopo’s words and simply started to extract the Mana from the thick disc. Activating Eyes of the Abyss, she saw that Keahi had a surprising amount of Mana and vitality inside his body. But then she realized that if he practiced Blood Water like her, it wasn’t such a preposterous thing, especially since even Professor Iakopo seemed to have praised the guy’s talent.
But when Talia turned toward her own disc, she smiled complacently. He might be good with his Blood Water, but I doubt he has poured more Charisma than me.
She placed her hands on the disc, ready to start the training.