Aurelius was walking back from his Sword Mastery 101 class, preparing to head back to the dueling coliseums when he saw it, then he heard it

He could vaguely see smoke in the distance, rising above the city's buildings and into the sky. At first, this didn't concern Aurelius too much. It was a big city, after all, and he had seen smoke many times, rising from fires in districts. However, as minutes passed, Aurelius started to grow slightly concerned about the amount of smoke he could now see in the distance. He had never seen so much of it before. He started to wonder if a fire had gone haywire and erupted into gigantic proportions.

Then he heard it. The shouting and the screaming, as people became aware of what was happening. And to top it off, Aurelius heard a siren, a sound he had never heard before, but one he could immediately recognize. Propelled by wind magic and runes, everyone in the city instinctively knew the sound—it was the sound of an attack.

Immediately, Aurelius sprinted to his dorm room. He knew there was likely a protocol for this situation, and the academy would probably warn him to stay in his dorm room until further notice, but Aurelius doubted that many would comply, including himself. However, before anything else, Aurelius needed to get his bearings and his belongings.

Nearly breaking down the door, Aurelius entered his room, finding himself alone in the room. Aurelius frantically tried to gather his valuables, some rune-creating equipment, a couple of runes he had hidden under some textbook, and some of his notebooks that he thought he would need later. He placed all of the items into his spatial storage, which afterwards was nearly full.

"Fuck," Aurelius mumbled. He still didn't have perhaps the most important item right now: a weapon. Rapidly thinking, Aurelius tried to identify the best place to get his hands on a couple of weapons. He could try the armory, but that was probably heavily defended by now. Then a thought struck him: the dueling grounds.

They had extra weapons there that Aurelius could hopefully use, at least temporarily. But first, Aurelius needed to assign the essence he had accumulated over the past couple of days from winning duels.

Aurelius opened his stat screen, looking it over. Including Saturday's wins, over the past four days, Aurelius had won nine duels—seven times in the Gold-Ranked tier and twice in the Platinum. When he had reached Platinum, he had originally been very excited, becoming one of the only first-year students in the history of the academy to do so. However, he soon realized it was more a curse than a gift, given that there were only eleven other students currently in the Platinum-Ranked tier. Meaning over the course of two days, Aurelius only had the chance to fight twice.

Despite that setback, the duel wins had garnered him a staggering amount of essence. Originally, the total essence he would have received would have been 10,000 on the dot. However, combined with his new skill, adaptive resilience, he had garnered an extra 5,000 essence, reaching a total of 15,000, nearly doubling his total essence gained, which now stood at 33,485. It was enough essence to shoot him up to level 15, giving him six attribute points. Aurelius quickly brought his agility and wisdom up by three, hoping they would give him an edge in whatever was upcoming.

Looking at the state of his classes, Aurelius needed to decide which classes he wanted to level up. He then realized that leveling up the Chronomage class would be the only one to have any effect. Both his Arcane Artificer and his Blade Dancer Evolved abilities were non-upgradable, and he couldn't level any of his primary abilities. This left him with his Chronomage Evolved ability, which was his spatial storage. Although not the most important ability he had for fighting, it could be useful. If anything, the +1 to both wisdom and intelligence would be helpful. Seeing no better place to put the essence, Aurelius leveled up the class four times, bringing it to level 14. 

Aurelius still had roughly 7,000 essence left over after he leveled the Chronomage class to level 14. Deciding he needed the strength stat and it wouldn’t hurt, Aurelius leveled up his Blade Dancer class three times, bringing it up to 15. Just as Aurelius did so, Valen rushed into the room through the still open door. 

“Aurelius!” he said, coming in panting. 

“I think we have to go, the city is being attac…” Valen said, his voice trailing off. “What are you doing? And what the heck is that floating in front of you? Is that some kind of rune?”

“Oh, so you can see this?” Aurelius asked, gesturing towards the screen. “That’s cool, I’ve always wanted to know, guess I do now.”

Aurelius quickly looked over the screen, looking at the changes he had recently made. 

==========

Stat Screen

=========

Name: Aurelius Lusam

Race: High Elf

Age: 18

Health: 290/290

==========

Overall Level: 15

Overall Essence: 33,485

Evolution: The Fractured Chosen

Attribute Points: 0

==========

Unassigned Essence: 180

==========

Next Level Progress:

Essence (3,715/6050)

==========

Classes:

 

Chronomage

• Level: 14 (Evolved)

• Progress: 0/2830

• Description: Harness the power of time and space

• Primary Ability: You can teleport yourself 25 feet away for 15 mana

• Evolved Ability: At level 14, you can open a spatial storage with the dimensions of 15x15x15 (in feet) for 25 mana.  

• Attributes: Each level grants +1 to Intelligence and +1 to Wisdom

Arcane Artificer

• Level: 10 (Evolved)

• Progress: 0/1450

• Description: Carve mystic symbols into objects, granting the objects enhanced abilities and elemental effects.

• Primary Ability: At level 10, you can expertly carve and empower common, uncommon, rare, and epic level runes onto objects. 

• Evolved Ability (Passive): See the way mana moves through enchantments, runes, and objects. Makes it easier to both detect magical objects and to create them.

• Attributes: Each level grants +1 to Constitution and +1 to Perception.

Class: Blade Dancer

• Level: 15 (Evolved)

• Progress: 0/3250

• Description: Develop an innate aptitude for wielding bladed weapons and gain Blade Dancer’s Intuition, allowing for precise strikes and heightened combat proficiency.

• Primary Ability: Bladed weapon strikes possess a 20% chance of landing critical hits, inflicting double damage.

• Evolved Ability: Infuse the Blade Dancer's weapon with the user's mana, enhancing its effectiveness against magical barriers and targets. The infused blade also deals an additional (Intelligence + Wisdom)% of damage.

• Attributes: Each level grants +1 to Strength and +1 to Agility

 

 

==========

Attributes:

 

• Strength: 25

• Constitution: 30 (30% increase (Overall Level * 2) of base value: 23)

• Intelligence: 35 (30% increase (Overall Level * 2) of base value: 27)

• Wisdom: 30

• Agility: 29

• Perception: 24

• Luck: 26 (30% increase (Overall Level * 2) of base value: 20)

• Charisma: 15

 

==========

Mana: 350/350

Mana Regen: 3/sec

==========

Skills: Adaptive Resilience — Permanently increases experience gain by 50%

==========

 

Satisfied, Aurelius closed the status screen. Walking up to Valen, whose jaw was slightly slack, Aurelius patted him on the shoulder. 

“This will all make sense in a second, once I explain this to you. Unfortunately, I have somewhere to be right now,” Aurelius said, taking off out of the dorm room. 

Valen spun around, his eyes chasing Aurelius. Still stunned, Valen managed to recover enough to speak.

“Where are you going?” Valen yelled out, but no reply came.

 

---

 

In a minute, Aurelius was in front of the building housing the dueling practice grounds. Thankfully, the doors were still unlocked and Aurelius rushed inside.

The scene inside the dueling practice grounds was chaotic. Students were scrambling, some trying to grab weapons and equipment, others trying to flee. Instructors and senior students were attempting to calm the situation and figure out what to do.

In the confusion, Aurelius managed to slip into a room and grab a sword that fit his preferred dimensions. Then he decided to grab a couple more and store them within his spatial storage, which was now larger, given his recently upgraded space. 

With his weapons secured, Aurelius darted out of the building, ignoring the frantic shouts and calls from students and instructors alike. He needed to get to the bottom of what was happening and where he needed to go.

Rushing towards the gates of the academy, Aurelius noticed several familiar faces – instructors and guards huddled at the entrance, conversing and monitoring those entering and leaving. Eager to gather information, he approached one of the familiar figures.

“Instructor Donovan!” Aurelius called out. “What’s happening here?”

Instructor Donovan turned around, his expression serious. Recognizing Aurelius, his gaze softened somewhat.

“Aurelius! You shouldn't be here. Return to your dorm room until further notice,” Instructor Donovan commanded.

“I understand, but please, what's going on?” Aurelius pressed.

With a sigh, Instructor Donovan replied, “We're not entirely certain, but it appears we're under attack by Dark Elves. They have surrounded the city. We are collaborating with the city’s defensive forces and garrison to protect the capital. For now, we need students to remain calm and avoid panicking. Panic will only worsen the situation. Spread this information to your classmates as well.”

Instructor Donovan’s eyes narrowed and he continued with a warning, “We also don't need students attempting to fight the Dark Elves. Let us handle it.”

Though Aurelius heard the warning, his mind was preoccupied with thoughts. 

The Dark Elves here? Weren't they in Silverhaven just a week ago? How did they arrive so quickly? And what was their purpose in attacking the capital city? Was their Chosen here as well?

Aurelius had to assume that the Dark Elf Chosen was here. It was inconceivable for the Dark Elves to attack the High-Elven capital without their Chosen. But amid these troubling questions, Aurelius had to decide what he would do next.

 

Was it worth it?

As the High Elven Chosen, he bore the responsibility of defending his people from attackers, especially if those attackers included another Chosen. But the burning question remained: was it worth it? Was it worth engaging in a battle with a Chosen who was likely much stronger than him? Was it worth fighting to protect a people who had, in reality, always looked down on him and abandoned him from birth?

Aurelius finally grasped the gravity of the playful hint, the question, Augustus had dropped earlier. Yet, now, the question didn't seem amusing at all. It was something he had evaded, ignored, and wrestled with for far too long. However, he could no longer turn away from it; he had to confront the harsh reality.

As Aurelius stood there, torn between his duty as the High Elven Chosen and the memories of his past, he couldn't help but feel conflicted. 

But then, another thought intruded on his anger and frustration: the innocent civilians of the city. Looking through the gates of the academy and seeing the streets of the city, he could see ordinary people, running and shouting, some seeking cover, some looking for their loved ones.

Regardless of his feelings, there were countless ordinary people, families, and friends caught in the crossfire of this attack. People like Valen, who had been nothing but good to Aurelius from the moment he arrived. Most people had nothing to with the prejudices he faced, and they certainly didn't deserve to suffer.

Realizing that his decision needed to be more than just a response to his own emotions, Aurelius took a deep breath, trying to find some clarity amidst the chaos. Before he could change his mind, Aurelius sprinted right past Instructor Donovan, out of the academy campus, and into the city.