A man below the gods

As the class finished up their basic introductions of name, where they were from, most having been local in the city itself or some of the surrounding smaller villages with my intro feeling lack luster with just a name the teachers began their introductions with more information on who they were and what they had acomplished.

"Good morning 1-3, i am master warrior Stan, i have served under the royal army, which is where i actually started my warriors journey. During the chaos of the first imperial-drathun war, i was but a merr foot soldier, barely able to hold my own sword.

I knew a lot of people who died in battle. And over time i began to feel like i too would not make it to the end. The first war lasted 8 years before the drathuns retreated from our lands to theirs at which point there was a grace period of about 5 years. During that time i enrolled here, requesting the leave to hone my skills and keeping the basic requirements i had as a soldier, the granted me the time.

In the 5 years i spent here i made it to the equivilent of the 8th years. But the war resurfaced and while no official truce was declared, most consider this the second imperial-drathun war.

There i proved my skills in battle and soon found myself rising through the ranks. Unlike some of the leaders before me i ensured i was always on the front line. After another 10 years fighting we pushed them back to their lands… the desert is no friend to anyone but the drathuns. But we persevered, and after a long 6 years pushing into their country we made it to the capital.

At this point i was third in command of the army. We thought their ranks were broken, back then we didnt have the rank system of the adventurers guild but in todays terms we stopped seeing their s rank troops. It was a slaughter. But when i lead the charge into the keep… Down into the dungeons… i saw the ritual… they had all their s ranks, ss ranks and sss rank leaders sacrifice themselves for one person to gain power.

He was still mortal and the price of the rapid gain of power came a semi rapid decay. He started the ritual as a 20 year old drathun, but the time we started fighting an hour later he appeared to be 30. When i landed the killing blow he was about 40 years old. We lost a lot of good men that day and the ones who lived to tell the tale… well most of us became teachers for the various academys and schools.

If you wish to know my power level now, im an S rank warrior… if you have any questions feel free to ask me during or after class, as i will be staying here with you all during your time at the academy."

Next the paladin teacher spoke up.

"Good morning 1-3, i am paladin master shafar. I have been a paladin for a little over 150 years now. I have served my god faithfully all this time, hence my age, as well as begining my ascension to god hood about 70 years ago when i turned 100. For those of you who wish to become paladins note that you do not need to devoute yourself to a god, but you should as it increses your power quite a lot. I have served in a few crusades and like master stan i too am at S rank."

Next the geomancer spoke up.

Hello 1-3, i am master Elementus… yes i know… my parents hoped my name would bring me power in the elements and while they did not understand that we are born to master specific attributes of life, i did end up becoming an elemental master. Before you guess how old i am, no im not hundreds of years old, i am 47 this year. As far as rank goes, theguildthinks i am an a rank power house. I have not updated my status in a few years, but given my experiences dueling your teachers here… lets just say im either SS or SSS. In the last 2 decades i have yet to meet someone who could best my elemental abilities and in the last decade no one could beat me in combat."

Master elementus then let his mana pressure out of hus body a little bit, suffocating most of the class with the sheer ammount of power emenating from him. I however was unaffected. He looked at me as he let his pressure extend a bit before letting the mana inside him return to normal.

"Im going to keep my eye on you…"

"Look you might be a powerful geomancer, but you cant deny having trouble dealing with me. I am master Y'teari.

I am capable of casting two spells at a time in a sort of rapid fire. I can teach you how to cast spells and how to memorize mana flow between nodes for you to rapid fire them. The more advanced a spell the harder it is, and when dual casting, try not to dual cast oposing elements unless you have an affinity for it. Even then though, do proceed with caution… opposing elements don't tend to mix well."

Once he finished his statement the archer master spoke up.

"Im master Henthal, i will be your archery instructor. Im not one for flash so i will soare you a dramatic story. I am S rank. As are most of the teachers here, save for the geomancer master. He is indeed either SS or SSS rank."

"And i am master Thalkor, master of stealth." He spoke from amongst the students and thats when i relaized his body in the line of teachers was an illusion. Interesting skill…

"I can sneak up on my target and get away with out ever being noticed. I also dable a little in alchemy so to any of you who wish to learn to brew potions feel free to ask, i can show you how to make potins to increase your health or mana for a time, how to increase spells from the different schools of magic, how to increase your speed by a margin or whatever potion your hearts may desire…"

Elementus spoke up again.

"I will be the head teaher of the class for this year, and every year we will rotate until you reach your 6th year here, at which point we will no longer be doing individual assingments at all. At the 3rd year mark we will begin to introduce group assignments as though you were a party. And from then on we will fade out single person tasks. Any questions?"

The class remained silent for a while until one of the student geomancers spoke up. Tom was his name i think…?

"Exceuse me sir, Master Elementus… are you the same Elementus from the great war 20 years ago…?"

Master Elementus nodded his head.

"Then that means you are above SSS rank then… my book on the history says you defeated 3 gods at once during the last battle…"

"Indeed, but they were not magically attuned gods, two of then were warriors and the third was a berserker… so they were not as resistant to magic as say a mage or geomancer god wouldve been…"

"Still… you were able to fend against a god so that makes you a man above the gods in terms of raw power does it not…?"

"Below… a man below the gods… i will die in maybe 60-80 years time should i choose not to ascend."

"Ok… well you are incredibly powerful and i am glad to have you as a teacher master…"