[Quest Complete. Achieve total victory in round one of the Academy War.]
[Reward: Lesser Artifact Upgrade.]
Sen’s heart skipped a beat. The first upgrade he’d received, and he already knew just the artifact to use it on. With this…
“Great job out there,” Anonymous Student said, floating over to him.
Sen looked up at the blue-haired boy leaning on his pillow. “You too. Thanks for helping everyone. Saved me the trouble.”
The boy shrugged. “Meh, if I don’t do enough, teach would just threaten to kick me out again. I don’t think she ever will, but…well, the beds are really comfy back home. I don’t wanna lose out, ya know?”
Sen laughed. He rose and offered a hand. “I’m Sen.”
“I’m Anonymous Student. You can call me Ano. I’m not trying to be mysterious or anything. Just don’t have a name. It feels lame to pick one for myself, so I make everyone address me as such. Nice to meet you, Sen.” He eyed him for a moment. “They must be desperate to put you on the team.”
Sen raised a brow. “Because I’m a first-year?” he asked.
“Because you’re powerful. Surprised they’d risk you getting recruited by someone else or seriously injured this early on,” Ano said.
Sen laughed. “I don’t think Calabari cares very much if I’m injured. So, you and Fire Kite had an agreement, I’m guessing?” he asked. Ano seemed friendly enough, but he hadn’t had any problems teaming up with Fire Kite against them.
Ano shrugged. “The Dean of Fire Kite told us they’d throw round one to us if we wanted. I think they just want Brightsail to come in last. I don’t care too much for this kind of thing, so I thought, why not? At least teach won’t yell at me for throwing the match this way. Lotta good it did me.” He smiled. “I don’t like to try too hard in these things.”
A woman suddenly appeared behind him. She had long black hair and matching eyes. A thin sword hung at her side.
Ano’s eyes widened. “If you’ll excuse me, Sen, I’m going to float about a hundred feet upwards and sleep out of reach. Just wanted to introduce myself!” he blurted.
He floated upward about a foot before the woman grabbed his foot and yanked him back to earth. She casually swept his feet with a leg and he fell backward. His pillow shot underneath him and floated with him atop it. The woman leaned down and looked into his face from behind. “What was that about not trying too hard?” she asked.
“High Professor Laurette, I think you heard me wrong. What I said was…I try not to not try too hard. So, really, I’m trying super hard. Heh…” She grabbed him by the ear and stormed off with him in tow.
Ano held his hands out toward Sen. “I’ll never forget you, old friend.”
Laurette tugged his ear again. “Ow!”
Sen pursed his lips. “Good luck, Ano.”
Sen dusted himself off and headed for the rest of his team. Aside from Ano, the members of Green Book were mostly unharmed, but still collecting themselves. The members of Fire Kite surrounded their captain, Alari. Snake had hit her pretty hard. She still wasn’t awake.
He approached and peeked over their shoulders. She was breathing, which was good. But Snake had done a number on her. He sighed and continued walking toward his group. But not before tossing a full restoration spell in her general direction.
Alari shot up like a flame in a house full of kindling. “I’ll kill that—” She paused, looking around. “Where am I? Did we win?”
Dasai sighed.
Sen chuckled at that.
The announcer quickly took over after an inappropriately long silence. If Sen had to guess, they weren’t sure what to do about the fact that one team now had all three spheres. As he regrouped with his teammates, they found out.
“Well! It seems Bright Sail Academy has outdone themselves this year. It’s been attempted before, but never has it been successful. One Academy took all three spheres. The judges needed some time to deliberate. Initially, we were going to assign second place based on how long each of the other academies lasted before Brightsail. But in the interests of fairness, we’re assigning them a tie for third place. Neither school will receive any points in the first round. Brightsail will receive the points for both first and second place, making Academy War History!”
That was satisfying, and he’d actually found himself impressed by the other students. Slipping past his defenses and altering his mind without him realizing, forcing him to use his new maximizer and multiple spells. It was…it was exhilarating to be honest. He’d had fun. Fun. It was almost too hard to believe.
Joseia hurried over to him. He spoke as if he’d enhanced the speed of his mouth. “That was incredible! Those vines? Being invisible! Oh, and you made a freaking clone of me! How the heck did you do that! I didn’t even realize what was going on until I saw myself running next to me! It was creepy as hell! It was awesome!”
Susanna nodded. “It was a skillful display of magic, Sen. I had reservations about allowing first-years on the team this year, but you proved me wrong.” She bowed, and somehow her long blonde hair didn’t fall all over the place.
Snake sighed. “Focus. That was just stage one. It’s not enough that we crush them here. We need to win all three rounds. Starve them of points. Embarrass them so they can’t even look their families in the eye.”
Girch stood there with crossed arms. “Still not over last year?” he asked, his voice a grumble.
Snake turned on him and glared.
Girch held his hands up. He didn’t seem afraid, just apathetic.
The announcer promised details of the next round would come soon and sent the competitors back to their waiting areas. Milim fell behind to walk with Sen. “I’m sure you’ve noticed by now.”
Sen glanced at her. “I have. We’ll talk about it later. In private.” He wasn’t sure how she could tap into his ability, but he’d allowed her to this time, and she’d made it count. He needed to investigate, but not where people could overhear them.
Milim nodded. “We embarrassed the other schools. They’ll be more prepared in the next round. Especially Alari. Fire Kite is favored to win this year because of her. She’s dangerous, Sen. Her father is a Warlord.”
The ranking system was interesting; there were words for people who reached their peaks at various levels. At lord, one could become a warlord but never progress, instead developing greater mastery over the skills already in their possession. But a Warlord in today’s time had several hundred more stat points than a god in Sen’s time. He needed to be careful about making enemies that powerful this early. If he drew too much attention, the other students might be in danger. He could handle himself, but he didn’t want innocents being drawn into the fight.
“So, what happened last year? Snake took part?” he asked.
Milim looked ahead at their teammates. She lowered her voice. “Yeah, I heard about it from Joseia. Our school got really close to winning, apparently, and Snake almost achieved victory for us. But the team captain, a fourth-year at the time, wanted the glory. He forced Snake to stand down and…failed. That’s why Snake’s in charge this year, I think. Professor Calabari knows how hungry he is for it, and Brightsail really needs the win.”
Sen had wondered about that. “I thought our school was among the best. Why are they so worried about winning? They have plenty of trophies already.” Of course, his competitive spirit gave him some hint as to why people might care about winning. Even so, he wondered why victory this year was so crucial.
“We used to be number one. But our reputation started slipping recently. The other schools are getting better candidates, and nobles aren’t sending their children here as often. Something happened between the academy and someone influential, and the schools been suffering ever since. I heard Alari wanted to join Brightsail, but her father sent her to Fire Kite instead. I don’t know, it’s something behind the scenes. Orttha only knew a little about it, but he threw some hints when he learned I’d be partaking in the Academy War.”
That was interesting. Something had damaged the school’s reputation behind the scenes then. He’d come here to make a name for himself; he couldn’t have his new identity marred by the reputation of the academy. This was worth investigating, but not until after the competition was over. First, they needed to win, and Snake had the right idea.
Overwhelming victory was their mission.
Professor Calabari was waiting for them in the lounge designed for Brightsail Academy students. When he saw them, he hurried over. “Students! That was excellent! No matter how the next two rounds go, people will speak about this for years! Fantastic showing!”
Snake glared at him. “No matter how they go? They’re going exactly the same as this one.”
Professor Calabari scratched his head. “Yes, well, actually, I would like to win. But we must be careful not to offend the other academies. There are some…powerful people with children at those schools. If we offend them, we might risk severe consequences. Win, but don’t embarrass the others. That being said, I think a humbling in the first round is fantastic.”
Snake shook his head and walked off. Sen had a feeling he wouldn’t be holding back on Calabari or the academy’s account.
Susanna sat down at one of the tables. She raised her hand. “Sir, do you have any idea what the next round will be?” she asked.
Calabari frowned. “In previous years the second round is sometimes an elimination round, but not always. I’m afraid we won’t know the official event until it starts. However, unofficially I might suggest that the next round will actually be a dungeon.”
Snake perked up at that.
Sen stared at Calabari. “And how did you get this information?” he asked bluntly. If it was discovered he’d bribed an official or something, it might jeopardize their victory.
“I did nothing without the approval of Dean Withershade, if that makes any of you feel better. All I can say is that my actions won’t come back to hurt our chances of victory. On the contrary, our team is uniquely suited for the next round.” Calabari grinned. He tilted his head as if he heard a voice. “I have to go, they’re calling the instructors. They’ll summon you for the next round in the morning. Eat, refresh, rest. You won’t have a chance to once the next round starts.”
Milim and Joseia invited Sen to eat, but he wasn’t hungry. If they were going into a dungeon, he wanted to take the time to prepare. He excused himself and made his way to one of the practice rooms attached to their lounge. In the first room he entered, he interrupted Snake, who was beating a training dummy within an inch of its life. He closed the door and moved into the next room. This one was empty. He locked it, applying a quick seal and wards to prevent anyone from spying on him. After that, he sat down and withdrew a magic artifact from his temporal space.
It was the artifact he’d taken from the cultists, or pseudo-cultists; he still wasn’t sure which. “Tutor, have you completed the full analysis of the artifact?” he asked. He already knew what it was capable of, but there was always the chance Tutor discovered something new.
[Affirmative. Magic Artifact of the Stone Prison. It’s capable of encasing an opponent in solid rock for a duration of time proportionate with the user’s mana and magic power.]
Sen lifted a brow like that. “No limit? If that’s the case, this artifact is already very strong in my hands.” If the duration was based on his mana, he could likely imprison someone nearly forever. He couldn’t even imagine what would happen if he upgraded it. Artifact upgrades didn’t exist in the past, as far as he knew. This was completely unique, and a sense of caution made him hesitate. He only had so many levels to gain; there would only be so many level-up rewards, and quests might not appear forever. If these upgrades were limited, should he really use one now? Should he wait until he found an artifact that might be more appropriate?
He sighed. “Well, this is my first opportunity, and if I don’t experiment now, I won’t be able to plan in the future.”
[You’re already decided to do it, don’t pretend for my sake.]
Sen smiled. He held out the artifact and focused on…
Actually, he didn’t know what to focus on. The upgrade was something the system said he had. It wasn’t like a magic essence sphere that he could feel or see. He just had the promise of something. “System, I’d like to upgrade this artifact?” he said aloud.
The artifact began to float.
[That’s amazing, now it’s a Floating Magic Artifact of the Stone Prison!]
Sen frowned. “I don’t think it’s finished quite yet.”
[Oh.]
The artifact glowed, and a surge of mana flowed out of his body and into it. The stone ball wrapped in green plants shifted. Its plants appeared healthier and more vibrant, and the stone was several shades darker than before.
[The Magic Artifact of the Stone Prison has become the Artifact of the Stone Tomb.]
“Stone tomb?” Sen wondered aloud.
[Artifact of the Stone Tomb - an artifact capable of imprisoning foes of great power relative to the user. This artifact has been bonded and may not be stolen or given away. This artifact will continue evolving with use, and will absorb power from those killed by its properties. It is considered a mid-grade artifact, and has the potential to grow to high-grade as it develops.]
There was a twinkle in Sen’s eye, he was sure of it. The upgrade had taken a low-grade artifact to mid-grade, and based on the description, it could go even higher. Evolving artifacts were extremely rare, and he hoped this was an effect the system would attribute to upgraded artifacts often. Regardless, the ability to imprison foes of ‘great power’ was intriguing indeed. Furthermore, being able to absorb the power of creatures killed with it was impressive as well. The question begged, however, how exactly would he get a kill that attributed credit to the artifact itself? Did someone simply have to breathe their last inside the tomb prison? Or did he need to leave creatures to starve and rot to get credit? That would be a bit morbid. Whatever the case, experimentation would yield results.
He closed his eyes and worked on a few more simple, experimental spells and waited for the announcement that the second round was ready to begin. It was only going to get more interesting from here, and he couldn’t wait to try out his new artifact and spell.
The dungeon would be perfect for both.
Tatter
“And everything is in order?” Tatter asked. They’d put the summoning circle together in record time. The tree-lines of the forest were thick and would obscure them from being spotted.
Acolyte Adrian bowed. His brown hood draped over his face. “Yes sir. Everything is going well. The faculty have no reason to suspect anything, and we’ve almost finished preparations. We’ll make our move in the upcoming rounds.”
Tatter nodded. He scanned the circle one last time. Mere students wouldn’t thwart their plans again. “Very well, I’ll return to the base then. I expect an update as soon as possible.”
Adrian bowed again. “Of course, in Harpis name.”