Welcome Party
We´re finally at our destination, the capital of Kirk, which is named Mardor. It has the Magic Academy Malindor at its outskirts. And a large forest is directly next to it. The forest is surrounded by a large wall and is the place, where the survival round will take place.
The female students kept bugging me about Dex until I said that Dex is not my real brother but something akin to it, I said he is someone from where I grew up and came with me as I wanted to travel. I then suggested asking Lilia about his "skills" which they eagerly did. The males cursed him for his luck with Lilia.
The trip on itself was boring as hell and slow, we needed two-months just for us getting here.
The only slightly interesting thing that happened was the day, where one of the boys tried to sneak on us while we were bathing in a nearby lake. I noticed him a few hundredths meters before and simply put a bikini on while doing the same with Lilia. I then tripped him with roots and he fell into the lake, where the girls noticed him. They hung him up and beaten him half to death.
He would have died if this world had no healing magic.
But most of the time we had to sit inside the coach, at one point I simply sat on top of the coach and watched the scenery, which was also boring after a week, we had to travel on the main roads for safety. The books I bought helped only slightly, even with a downgraded [Fast Reader] skill.
And the interactions with my fellow schoolmates and teammates were annoying, it´s hard to stay friendly if you have to be with someone you don´t know or like for 24/7. Well, it helped with our teamwork, as we kept training during the trip. And I think my teaching skill kicked in because my teammates and even the guards got LV ups in their skills.
Anyway, we were driving into the academy this morning and will stay in an especially made dorm at the school grounds. We´ll live in rooms of two and my roommate is Ley.
Currently, we´re sorting our belongings.
"Hey, Clair do you think there will be hot guys at the welcome party?" Ley asked as she pulled some dresses out of her luggage.
There will be a grand party, our school was the last to come, as it is the farthest away.
There´ll be over 300 people at the party. 200 students, around 50 teacher and another 50 high ranked nobles or other important people.
"Sure why not, you´re pretty and there sure will be some guys you deem hot," I said while deciding between a black and red dress.
"I´ll give you the leftovers," She said with a laugh.
"I don´t think there will be someone good for me," I replied.
"You´re 13, isn´t there anyone who you are interested in? Or are you just broken because you´re able to see your brother every day?" She asked with a smirk.
"I think I´m more into girls," I replied nonchalantly and hold both dresses in front of me.
Leys head snapped around, she looked at me as if she heard something unbelievable.
"Really? You? Poor guys, but that would explain why you rejected all of them. But why did you also reject the girls? Some of them were really good looking," She said.
"They just confessed for my outer appearance and skills, that´s not love. I´d like to find someone who doesn´t knows my skills beforehand. She has to love me even if I had no skills," I said.
"That´s surprisingly romantic from you," She said.
"Why is it a surprise?" I asked.
"You don´t seem like someone with such tendencies, more like the efficient person, who´s not interested in emotions. But that makes you more human or in your case elf-like," She said with a laugh at the end.
"What do you think black or red?" I asked while presenting two dresses and trying to change the subject.
"Black it matches your white skin. So is there someone you like?" She said, not falling for the trick.
"Don´t know, maybe, not used to this feelings," I said vaguely.
"Who is it?" She asked, now really interested.
"Not saying," I said and stuck my tongue out.
"Come on!" She said pleadingly.
But I just shook my head and put the ankle long, black dress on. I also put earrings on. Earrings feel funny to wear but I have to use clip ones. The regeneration rune on my body would heal the hole in my earlobes.
"How do I look?" I asked and made a spin.
"Good, like a true goddess, what about your hair?" Ley said.
"Can you braid them? I will make yours then," I asked.
"Sure, sit down," Ley said and began to braid my hair in two braids on each side, with free hair in the middle, while the front has also a free strain on each side.
Ley finished, got herself dressed, and I tried to imitate her braiding.
Skill:
Braiding
Braid simple hair or steel wires, the higher your skill the easier it is to braid materials in different forms. LV: 0
These skills make live as easy as breathing. Thanks to the skill I was able to braid Ley´s hair in a real pretty form.
"You´re even good at braiding!" Ley said as she looked at the mirror. I gave her a nod and put black shoes on. No high heels, they only hurt the feet.
"You sure, you won´t wear high heels?" Ley asked as she looked at my black shoes which are quite similar to loafers.
"Yes, I don´t like them," I said.
"But you would be higher," Ley said while patting my head, which is quite easy, she´s 20 cm taller than me.
"But my small frame lets me look cute," I said while looking up with puppy eyes.
Ley blushed and said, " Stop that, I get the itch to pat you."
I giggled and moved to the door, followed by Ley.
We walked over a highly decorated campus with many statues. Some represent kings, other ex-students, and some even monster, from the school forest, which were a problem to kill. Each of them has a plaque with its history on it.
Other well-dressed students are walking in the same direction as we. They wear either special cultural clothes or dresses for females and brown suits with coats for men.
Guards let us in and we walked inside a grand hall with small groups of people here and there. Tables packed with food were placed in a buffet like manner and waitresses were walking around, serving drinks to the guests.
"You are late," Hilde, who wears something akin to a dirndl speaks to us from the side. She has a plate with food in her hand.
"Hi Hilde, are these traditional dwarfen clothes?" I asked.
"Jup, we wear them for festivities," She says and led us to our other teammates.
"The king will make the opening speech when the important people are here," Baldrich said excited, as we stepped to the group.
"Is that so?" Ley said absent-mindedly and ate a spoon of something like pudding, which she grabbed from somewhere.
"Look there´s the student council group of the Malindor school. They won the last tournament," Tiri said and pointed at a group of 10 young people.
"They will be our strongest enemy...," Baldrich muttered.
Walt turned towards me and asked, "what do you think about the other people?"
"Most of them are around your strength, some are stronger," I said, scanning the people with my [Identification] skill.
"How do you know?" Hilde asked.
"[Identification] I said and spotted a plate with chicken, which suddenly vanished from the table and reappeared in my hands.
"It´s really amazing how fast you are," Tiri said and looked at me, who´s already eating the chicken.
"I thought [Identification] is for items and materials," Plinch said confused.
"If it´s high enough from its LV you´re able to look at the status of animals, then monster and finally humans, after that come skills and I heard that the last LV even gives you some explanation to the person. My LV is on LV 4, I´m able to identify materials up to the fifth Tier and animals weaker than me ," Hilde explains, while looking at me with interest in her eyes.
I ignored her and dipped my chicken in spicy souse.
"Hey Clair how high is your highest skill?" Liria asked from the side, she´s wearing a dress with a cleavage that goes down to her navel. She always dresses in exposing clothes but I never saw her with a man, during the whole trip.
"Nof sayfing", I said, not stopping to eat the well-cooked chicken.
"You are a real glutton if it comes to chicken," Hilda said and tried to steal a piece from me, her hand was received by a slap.
"Mine," I said with a full mouth.
Plinch shook his head and said,"but if they´re as strong as us, wouldn´t it be a hard fight?"
He got a lot less frightened by me. He realized that I don´t mean harm to him, but Tiri keeps her distance since I used her tail as a cushion during our trip. I hugged and cuddled it thoroughly.
I gulped the food I had in my mouth down and said, "It´s not surprising that they are as strong as you. I mean our school has low requirements for acceptance. It´s surprising that you are as strong as them."
"That is not really reassuring," Walt says worriedly.
I shrugged with my shoulders and said, "Most of them have the same stats as you, their leaders are also at the same rank as Ley and Alfred. They are mostly a little stronger but not by far. But the student council team of the Malindor academy is strong. Everyone is at least as strong as Ley, if they come from Malindor. The Odys guys won´t be a problem. The real trouble comes with Ecus."
I put another piece of chicken in my mouth and saw my teammates looking at me, waiting for me to continue.
"What do you mean? They aren´t looking so strong," Hilde asked.
"I´m just saying that you should not fight them," I said with a grin.
"Are we able to beat them?" Plinch asked, but I didn´t gave him a reply.
Truth be told? No, but I wouldn´t say that. This is the status of their leader.
Name: Max Mustermann
Profession: Captain of the Raska Elite Unit
Age: 34
Class: Front Fighter
Title: Prodigy, Captain of the Raska Elite Unit
LV: 75
Health: 120.000 [HP regeneration 260/sec]
Mana: 1500 [MP regeneration 15/sec]
Strength: 31.240
Intelligence: 1230
Gender: Male
Agility: 24.980
Wisdom: 970
Race: Human
Max is the elite of the elites of Raskas Empires soldiers. He lived through many hardships and survived countless battles, which brought him into his current position. His appearance is changed by magic.
All of the students from Eicus are in his unit and each of them is stronger than Ley. They all have at least one stat in the mid-twenty thousand. But they are also focused on a profession, there is no one who has an equal status. Either intelligence and wisdom or agility and strength are their high stats. None with high intelligence and high agility.
Max looks like a young blond youth with a well-trained body, but not overly muscular.
"Let us just evade them during the survival round," I said.
"Are you able to beat them?" Ley asked worriedly.
"Why should I?" I asked.
"Because it would win us the tournament?" Baldrich said, as if its a matter of the fact.
"The survival round is not for fighting, I will fight if they manage to find us but I will not seek the fight," I said in a tone that states the end of this topic.
"I hope we´ll not cross paths with any group, it would only be unnecessary fighting, " Plinch said and a commotion at the entrance broke out as he finished his sentence.
"It´s the king, the king is here," Baldrich said and rushed to the entrance.
"Why is he so hyped?" I asked as we slowly followed him.
"His family is a strong supporter of the royal family and it seems like he was drilled to hold them in high regards since birth," Walt explained.
We reached the entrance and stopped behind a wall of onlookers.
"THE KING LUDWIG BRALING THE THIRD AND THE QUEN IRILEE SOPHIA BRALING!" An announcer screamed and many knelt down, but not all. The Ecus students, I and a few other kept standing.
"Clair!" Baldrich hissed in a hushed tone.
"What?" I whispered back.
"Kneel!" He said.
"Why should I?" I asked.
"He´s the king," he hissed back.
"Not my king," I said and people noticed our little dispute, but none said anything.
"Why are you not kneeling in front of the king?!" A knight in an ostentatious armour screamed and stormed in my direction.
Everyone looked at me. The king just looked disinterested and the queen has a sadistic smile. Even one of her titles is Sadist.
"Speak and get cut down for your insolence of not kneeling in front of your king!" The knight screams and unsheathed his sword.
"Shouldn´t it be speak or get cut down?" I asked in a sarcastic tone.
"You dirty elfen bitch!" The knight screams and makes himself ready to cut me down but Max, the elite unit captain, steps in, grabs his arm and says,
"Calm down, yes she is an elf so King Braling is not "her" king. Everyone should only kneel in front of his or her respected king. Loyalty would mean nothing if we kneel in front of everyone."
The knight did not look like he would stop but then the kings speaks out,
"Rupert, he´s right, step back," and continued to walk to a podium. The queen followed him and looks disappointed, but quickly changed her expression into a faked smile.
The knight sheathed his sword, looked as if I were dirt and got back in line, following his king.
They reached the podium and the king begins his speech.
"Welcome, we´ve found together to hold the yearly magic academy school tournament. Many important people and, of course, the best students of all four schools found together to take part in the tournament, where we will find out which school is the best in this world.
Students out of Raska," he looks at the Ecus groups, "Tragon," now he looks at the Odys groups, "Solo," he looks at our group, "and, of course, students of Kirk," Malindors groups, "are here to find out who´ll be the strongest.
As you all know, the survival round will start in two days and each group has to complete a specific task this represent the hardships of an adventurer and nature. The best 14 will then hold a team death match tournament. The member of the winner team will get a wish granted. I, the Kink of Tragon, the Empress of Raska and the council of Solo will do our best to fulfill this wish.
But for now, let us celebrate and make acquaintances." He finishes his speech and everyone claps.
"Thanks," I said to Max who stayed next to me.
"Don´t mention it, I think it´s right what you did. You should only bow towards someone you deem worthy," Max said.
"Do you know what he meant with the best school of the world?" I asked him.
"You don´t know?" Max
"Know what?" Me
"The schools in Kirk are all sponsored by the human countries. Only Kirk has the runes which restore the body. So there were some heavy fights about them in the past.
Until they agreed to build four schools, each school has one arena.
They are near the borders so that students have it easier to come from other countries.
The schools might seem like they are managed and owned by Kirk but that´s not true. Most students of the student councils are from the nearby country and the headmasters are also from them.
So it´s more like the schools are small outposts of each country," He explained, and I think I heard some underline tone from his last sentence.
"But why are the schools so different in their fighting power if they are outposts?" I asked.
"Hm, that might be because the countries have different opinions about power.
Kirk regards magic as the most powerful, this shows themselves in their mage to warrior portion, Tragon deems technologies as powerful, so their interests are in new inventions.
Solo is more like an all-rounder and Raska has more warriors." He explains.
"But aren´t all-rounder better? Why is Turon losing then so often?" I asked.
"Well, all-rounder are better but only if they have a better tactic or are in the majority. The first might be manageable in the survival round but the second requirement is not possible with the "10 people each team" rule.
So Turon might win more often in the survival round but then loses in the real tournament. They just can´t win against highly qualified opponents," Max
"Seems logical, who do you think will be an opponent?" I asked with a smirk.
"Ha, should I tell you?" He said while doing a pondering gesture.
"Meanie!" I said and nudged him.
"OUCH, okay okay, I think the student council teams will give us the most fights," He said and smiled.
"I have to go back to my team, it was nice, by the way, what´s your name?" he asked.
"Clair, and yours?" I said.
"I´m Max, it was nice to meet you, Clair," He said with a smile and then walked back to his group.
Ley came from behind, pat me on my shoulder, leaned forward and asked teasingly,
"Wasn´t that the student council leader of Ecus? You sure you´re not straight?"
"As if," I replied.
"But he helped you with the knight, he also looks good. And I think he likes you," She continued.
"I told you that I´m not into guys," I said and turned around, looking for some chicken.
"Killjoy," Ley said a little disappointed but followed me.
We ate, danced and then went back to our room.
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Max POV
"Why did you help her?" Rits asked as I walked back to my group.
"Better to be on her good side, her team is on the list we will not engage," I answered.
"Why? Sure they are a student council group, but still from Turon," He questioned.
"Because she is trouble," I answered.
"Trouble? She doesn´t look strong," He kept on with his questions.
"My [Premonition] skill kicked in as the knight raised his sword," I said.
"So?" He said, not getting it.
"Not she was in danger, it was him and us. Be back in your rooms in twenty minutes, we have to make plans, we have orders for the survival round, " I answered and went off, letting a stunned Rits behind.
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Clair POV
Our team made a few adjustments in our plan in the next two days and scouted the school forest out.
It´s really like some kind of dungeon, monster dwell inside and they get stronger the nearer you get to the middle.
Our strategy consists of hid and run tactics. We will try to evade the other teams as much as we can but will fight in guerrilla style if we must fight.
It´s the first day of the survival round, which will be one week long, and each team is ready. We´re all standing at a nearby guard house, at the entrance of the forest. The headmaster of Malindor is in front of us and will start to explain the rules.
"Okay, these are the rules.
First, you are not allowed to leave the forest for seven days, the exception is by finishing the task I´ll give you in a minute.
The second rule, you can use everything you have, on you or inside the forest, for the task or against the monster and other teams.
The third rule, everything is allowed to finish the task, may it be stealing from other teams or building alliances. But only the fastest 14 will advance.
And the final rule, which is also your task, find the necessary resources to make a Tier 4 healing potion," The headmaster says.
Tier 4 healing potions are regarded as quite strong potions and mostly cost around 10 gold. They are able to cure almost any diseases and are even able to regenerate limbs. There aren´t many Tier 5 potions, Tears of Siria is one of them. This might show how seldom and strong Tier 5 potions are.
Even I have no Tier 5 potion, I´m also not able to make them, as I don´t have the ingredients. Each ingredient of a Tier 5 potion is also a Tier 5 item.
Anyway, a Tier 4 potion is regarded as the highest possible made potion. And the students show this with disproving groans.
"Good, then let us start the survival round, don´t die and come back in a week," the headmaster says and most teams spring into motion, only a few stayed for a quick discussion. My team stayed behind....