Chapter 4: The Royal Academy (7)

~4.7~

*****

Once everyone caught up, the instructor coughed loudly to interrupt the sibling bickering. “The last of your classmates are arriving.” The two nodded and waited quietly for the next phase of the test. Now that everyone had caught up, Line directed the group toward the training grounds. Inside were several target dummies resembling scarecrows. The class stood near the door.

“This must be the magic casting phase,” Michelle said.

“Indeed,” the instructor replied. “As I call your names, you’ll step forward and unleash a single offensive spell. As you’ve surely noticed, there are many targets. You may unleash a single massive attack on one or a wide area attack to hit them all. This isn’t a competition, and I don’t need the school blown away, so those of you that are more capable... keep it manageable.” Kye, Alethea, Liliana, and Aliana all froze in their tracks. “Any volunteers to go first?” A handful of students stepped forward. “You may go first. State your name and cast your spell.”

“Rika Tachibana of Nippon Sekai.”

I wonder how much she’s progressed since we last sparred. Her mana is comparable to most of the class, but Rika was trained by Lady Ginchiyo and is quite clever with her spells.

“Show us what you’ve got.”

Rika stepped forward and raised her hand. Electric sparks appeared around her body as she prepared her attack. Once she was ready, she quickly lowered her hand with her index and middle fingers pointing at the target dummy. “<<Ikazuchi>>.” A bolt of lightning shot out from her fingertips and hit the target dummy in the center before splitting off and hitting all the other targets. Nothing was left but mana residue.

She opted for a simple spell with precise control. That’s very like her. I was hoping she’d do something more flashy, but since this is just a test she went with control rather than power.

“Well done, you destroyed them all.” Line snapped her finger and more target dummies appeared out of nowhere to replace those that were destroyed. “Next. State your name and have at it.”

“Colton Becker,” said a brown-haired boy. He formed a rock between his hands and after a few moments of concentration he launched it above the center target dummy. “<<Rain of Stone>>.” As the rock flew over the central target dummy, it exploded into shards that shredded all of the target dummies.

Impressive. No shards flew in any direction that had no target. He’s clearly practiced that spell.

“You are one of the commoner scholarship students, according to your profile,” the instructor said. “I’m quite pleased seeing a commoner control magic so precisely.”

“Yes, Ma’am. I hail from the countryside beyond the mountains to the west of the capital.”

“Keep up the good work.”

He bowed and stepped back into the crowd to make way for the next student.

“Luka Romanov of Alcanus.” He formed a blade of water in front of him. “<<Blade Dance>>.” Suddenly, he shoved his hand forward and the blade rocketed forward, splitting into several smaller blades and slicing each target dummy to shreds.

“Well done.” The instructor noted his performance and then added aloud, “This class seems to be setting a precedent of destroying all the targets. The bar is rather high right from the start. Next”

Liliana stepped forward next. “Liliana Venturi of Nippon Sekai. <<Flare>>.” She held out her hand and launched a simple, yet powerful, ball of golden fire at the central target dummy. The ensuing explosion incinerated all of the targets.

“Alaira Marshall of Alcanus.” She threw the same golden fireball as Liliana.

The rest of the class went before Kye and Alethea. Each of the Drachenheim royals used a different element to complete the test. Doran used an explosive fire spell, Danielle used a water blade spell, Elizabeth casted a ball lightning spell, Michael threw a boulder that grew until it smashed everything, and Michelle used a simple wind spell. Aliana went after the Drachenheim royals and disintegrated them all with a dark mana attack. Kye and Alethea elected to use the same basic-tier Flare that Liliana and Alaira had used. Kye’s was with light mana and Alethea’s with white mana.

“Very good, that’s everyone.”

*****

The combat test was held inside the training grounds and went by without incident up until Kye was called forward. She formed her weapon and stood ready to be tested by the instructor.

“Please use your dominant hand, Lady Kye. Your profile states you are left-handed.”

“Oh, a lefty?” said one of the boys. The instructor scowled at him, and he immediately apologized.

“Yes, that is correct, however, there should be a note in my profile stating that I may use my right hand in class.”

“What is with this girl?” one of the boys asked.

“Just because she has a high score in mana doesn’t mean she should be allowed to do whatever she wants,” said another.

“Silence,” Liliana ordered as she turned toward the rest of the class. “The Princess trains primarily with her right hand. These disrespectful outbursts will stop immediately.”

“Indeed,” Instructor Line said. “Lady Kye is a royal of both Nippon Sekai and Alcanus. You may consider Lady Liliana’s words as an order from me in this situation.” The instructor turned back to Kye and continued, “There is no such note in your profile, I’m afraid, but given the results of the previous tests, I will make an exception so long as you are proficient with your right hand.”

“Thank you.”

“Additionally...” Line glanced over at Alethea. “Rather than test you myself, I’d like the two of you to spar. Lady Astarte and Lady Allison are legendary, and if they have personally trained someone, they should be quite skilled as well. Do you both accept?”

“Yes,” they answered.

“Very well.”

“Wait just a moment!” Michelle interrupted. “If these two will be tested against fellow students, I would like to be matched up against one of them.”

“And I-“ Elizabeth began but was cut short by her brother.

“You two, honestly…” Doran said. Elizabeth gave him a pouty face and Michelle turned her frustration to him. “I swear you have a vendetta against Kye.” He gave Kye an apologetic smile.

“It’s quite alright, I don’t mind,” Kye said. “Alethea?”

“Sure.”

“In this case, Michelle… you’ll watch,” Doran said. “Elizabeth will fight Kye and I will fight Alethea. Is this acceptable?” Michelle begrudgingly nodded.

“Very well,” Line said. “I’ll allow these matchups. Kye and Elizabeth first.” The blondes nodded and stepped forward.

“I am Kye Akari of Nippon Sekai.”

“I am Elizabeth Maya of Drachenheim.”

“I vow to fight such that I bring honor to my people.” Kye branded herself with light mana while Elizabeth used orange-colored mana.

“Dragon mana, for anyone that doesn’t know what that is,” Doran said. “It’s a subtype of neutral mana unique to Drachenhiem.”

The orange mana surrounding Elizabeth was swirling fiercely. Compared to Kye’s light mana, it was almost wild.

“Considering the difference in our scores and the type of test, I’ll match your output,” Kye said.

“I don’t need your handicap,” Elizabeth said. Her already swirling mana transformed into a torrent. “<<Convert: Longsword>>. <<Dragon Force>>.”

“I see. <<Convert: Longsword>>.”

Her mana output is more potent with dragon mana, to begin with, and Dragon Force has multiplied that output one hundred-fold on top of that. The drawback is it’s consuming significantly more mana to maintain that output. She probably thinks this is enough to match me or force me to use white mana. It’s not a bad plan. Her output is quite a bit higher than my own right now, even if she can’t maintain it for long. But that won’t work against me.

Kye inhaled and exhaled slowly and drew in the aura of golden mana until it was a barely visible thin film clinging to her body. She ran her left hand over her weapon, with only her index and middle fingers, and several runes appeared.

The instructor was shocked when she saw not only Kye compressing her aura, but also the runes.

I think I need to have a conversation with Allison. Aura compression isn’t taught until year three and runes are in year four. The Drachenheim girl’s use of Dragon Force was alarming at first, but Lady Kye has closed the gap in terms of output. I’d estimate their output is close to 200K each now. This should be interesting.

“Begin!”

*****

Revision: 12-18-2023