New Friends: Part Eight

The dining room was simple, just a long room with a table in the middle. It looked to be able to seat an entire party of people but only a few were seated at the end for their morning breakfast. Julian sat at the end of the table groggily sipping coffee while reading some papers. His sister put a muffin on his empty plate, "Eat, you know you get headaches if you don't." 

He waved her off and took a bite of the muffin. Rosaline sat back down next to Eren who was currently stuffing his face in the most polite way possible. Maves sat on the other side of the table next to the female knight from before. She was quietly sipping on a cup of tea. 

Alex sat next to Eren munching on a cinnamon roll that he snached from the table. After cleaning his plate he wiped his mouth with a napkin, "Lady Rosaline, should we set off early to the library today so we can make it back sooner." She nodded, "That's the plan." Maves sat her cup down, "Actually I'll be keeping you two hear today. The academy is starting soon so we need you at your best for the entry exam." 

Eren looked at Julian, "Speaking about the Exam, are the rumors true? Have they changed the criteria for the groups?" Julian laid his papers down, "You have heard correctly, the director made a few minor changes to the original plans. It has us professores scrambling at the moment." Eren shrugged, "What did they change?" 

He glanced at Alex and back to Eren, "Originally you would be sent into some ruins to the North-West in groups to collect a number of artifacts from the dungeon there. They are setting up a more robust challenge this time around, one I do not agree with but cant change." North-West, Edge talked about some ruins in that direction that she was having some trouble with.

Julian crossed his arms, "The members of each group will Compete against the members of other groups. It's more like a competition now, what the director is thinking I have no idea, but his orders are absolute." The two looked down at their plates and Rosaline looked back up, "So, we'll be competing against other teams for spots in the school?" 

The female knight sitting next to Maves shook her head, "I swear that old man's lost his marbles." Maves smiled, "Monsters hold no real challenge but training with one's bitter rival is the best training you can ask for." She smiled, "Indeed, I don't know what I would have done if I couldn't fight you every other day." 

Maves laughed, "You would have probably died of boredom like I almost did." Julian sighed, "I hope the days of you two's rivalry is done, I do not have enough swords to spare for you." Alex was listening to each detail about the Academy intently, he needed to know as much about such an important area of magical study. 

"I have not heard much about the academy, what kind of school is it?" Rosaline looked up, "Well, it's a school of Magic and Knighthood. Mages and apprentices all around the region hope to hone their skills under the guidance of powerful teachers and warriors." Alex rubbed his chin, the academy trained both mages and knights, so that included summoners and this new mention of Priests. 

Alex slid a piece of bacon underneath the table to the maws of the awaiting Red Wolf. Julian looked at him with firm eyes, "They also allow the entry of summoners, as per new guidelines. How old are you, Alex?" "Uh, sixteen." He nodded, "That's the age of the starting members, including these two." 

Alex realized that he was younger in this body, if only by a few years. Maves set her cup down on the table, "Say, Sir Alex, could you join us for our training. I'm sure Rosaline could use a partener to train alongside." Rosaline looked at her plate, "I-If you feel like training, that is?" 

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The training room looked like a small gymnasium. One wall was filled with wooden weapons of all types and a ring was set up against one side of the room. Eren and Maves grabbed wooden swords from the wall and entered the ring. They were both eyeing each other with smooth grins, like they were hiding their excitement. 

Maves lowered her sword and pointed it to the ground, "Come Eren, show me what you have learned." Alex watched Eren as he studied his opponent. Maves was making a huge opening with her stance, unorthodox for most swordfighting, or at least what he's seen on tv. Eren clearly saw her openings and despite seeming like an easily tempted guy he resisted the urge to strike. 

He instead went for a left swing attacking her lower section. Maves parried the wooden sword and lifted the point of the wooden sword to his chin, "I'm not holding back today, try again." Even someone unexperienced in swordplay could tell she was a master at her craft. She lowered the sword and took a step away allowing him to regain his own stance. 

Without hesitation he threw another attack at her, a swift stab to her stomach. She danced around the blade and swung her own sword. Eren must have predicted this far ahead because he dragged his sword back through the air blocking her assault and jumped out of the way of another one of her attacks, "Good job, always expect your blows to never land." 

Alex was impressed by the two's speed, each one seemed to act quickly without hesitation while trading blows. He had noticed they used very few attacks that consisted of the upper body, almost as if they were using their lower bodies to move and twist with surprising flexibility. It seemed like Eren had finally gained the upper hand but Maves was quick to turn the tide. She used his own momentum against him sweeping his feet right out from under him and slamming him to the floor. 

Eren groaned and Maves wiped sweat from her brow, "Up, were not done?" He lifted himself up in just enough time to block another of her blows. Alex felt like he could watch the two fight for hours, because each movement was unpredictable and exciting. He felt a shy tug on his sleeve and he looked over to find Rosaline, "We practice over here." 

She led him to the other side of the room where a number of dummies were lined up against the far wall. She picked up two staves from the wall and handed him one, "Don't worry about missing, that part of the room has a magic cancelation effect that sucks up any magic used in the building." Magic cancelation, that seemed useful. The ability to negate magic would be a powerful skill. 

Rosaline looked at the dummies and raised her staff, a moment passed and he could see a light slowly envelop the end of the staff. She opened her eyes, "Flare!" A burst of fire was expelled from the end of the staff and hit a dummy in it's sacked up chest. THe magic was instantly sucked up like a vacuum as the effects of the room activated. 

Alex felt a slight bit of excitement because as he watched the spell he also received a text bubble.

New Skill Learned: Flare.

He didn't have the time to look at it but he was certain that was the spell that she just used. That meant it worked on spells outside of his monsters. Rosaline lowered her staff and looking rather proud of herself turned to him, "What spells do you prefer? My brother taught me all kinds of spells but I'm only good with the simple ones." 

"You might not call it this, but I call it Ice Shot." He turned to the dummies and tapped the end of the staff onto the floor. Three spears of blue ice sprung forward from the staff and hit three dummies in their bucketed heads. It happened quick, in the blink of an eye. The ice was instantly sucked up leaving holes in the buckets. 

Rosaline looked at him, "You can use wordless casting!? At this age? Who taught you how, my brother only mastered it after his fourth year in the academy." Alex rubbed his head, "I just picked it up, really." She crossed her arms, "I guess I can't expect you to teach it to me, I'm nowhere near skilled enough for such things." 

He smiled, "Actually, could you show me some more spells." So, for the entire morning he watched Rosaline cast a number of different magics. After a number of times seeing each one casted he learned each of them and added them to his arsonal. He grew more excited with every passing hour and the dummies were showing it, most were missing heads and arms now.

After asking many different questions he was able to determine that the magic in this word wasn't limited to any set list but continues to grow upon itself indefinitely. There was an unlimited amount of magic he could choose from and learn, but it was a certain bit of information she let slip that grabbed his full attention. "Julian is always trying to study the old magic, but I don't know why. That magic is lost to us because we can't translate any of it." 

Alex gulped down a glass of water as he let his mana replenish, "Old magic? How does it differ with the magic you know?" She touched her chin, "The Old Magic was used by our ancestors, the ones who founded the kingdoms. They have mostly been lost to us but remnants of their power still reside inside existing spells. Magic cancelation is one of these spells, you could consider it watered down old magic."

So, there is hidden high tier magic he could also learn. It was no doubt stored away in ruins or in the old libraries of the Academy." Eren flopped to the floor, his sword falling to the ground a few feet away. He was defeated, his energy completely used up defending himself from Maves's attacks. Maves walked over and threw her sword back onto the wall, "You are ready Eren, that was the best fight you've put up yet."

Eren groaned and lifted a thumbs up into the air before letting his arm fall back down. Rosaline sighed and went to the young man's aid, "What did I say about overexerting yourself." He laughed, as he was pulled up from the floor, "That I shouldn't." She sighed, "I wished your brain worked as well as your memory does." 

Maves swished her hair back and sweat was sent flying, "Yes, you two are ready." Eren smiled, "I won't let you down master." Maves looked at Alex and lowered her gaze to the sword strapped to his side, "Do you know how to use that?" Alex shrugged, "I planned on only using it if anything gets close, but I'm untrained." 

She retrieved her sword back from the wall, "Then let's give you a quick crash course."