The dome like building where we have our classes was simply called that, the dome. It looked like it was ten stories tall from the outside, but I couldn’t exactly tell, because you know, it looked like a dome.
The inside however, was much much larger, courtesy to spatial sorcery and inscriptions capable of altering the fabric of space in an enclosed area.
Which was why, the chamber instructor Black led us to after the class, was massive beyond what it’s proportions from the outside stated. The room was at least as vast as half the entire floor.
Even though I had read about it, it still left me speechless. The room was filled with thousands upon thousands of weapons, of all kinds. Spears, swords, katanas, shields, daggers, bows, rapiers, great swords, halberds, whips, etc...
"Before you is the weapons vault. And as students of the Astral Mystic Institute, you are entitled to pick a single weapon each." instructor Black announced.
"I’m giving you all only five minutes to do so. Minus 20 points for anyone who hasn’t chosen a weapon in five minutes!" he yelled, which seemed to shook the students out of their awe, and send them into a rush.
I too didn’t stand on ceremony, I certainly didn’t want to lose the 20 points I had procured earlier. I rushed to the sword section, which was already bustling with students much to my chagrin.
It seemed most students preferred swords. Not surprising, it was a world of sword and magic after all.
Since I already knew what I wanted, I wasted no time in selecting a weapon. What I picked was an elegant two edged sword. The blade was about 30 inches long, while the hilt was about 8 inches long. It’s weight satisfied me, and not to mention, it was aesthetically pleasing. It had a black hilt, and a silver blade.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
"Good enough." I muttered giving it a couple of swings.
Turning my head I looked around the room, Alistair had taken a long golden spear.
’Tch, does he ever use anything that’s not gold in color?’ I inwardly snickered. Not that I was one to judge, lately I had found myself preferring black, or dark colors in general.
Anyway, Fabian had taken a katana, cliché if you ask me.
Rose just like me, picked a sword with around same dimensions as mine, only different in color. It was a given, after all, we’ve been using the same types of swords since childhood.
Delilah who was an archer had taken a long bow, and the bitch had taken a dagger.
The redhead meanwhile, had taken an ivory longsword. It seemed to fit her quite well.
"You’re staring."
"Gah.." I almost jumped at the voice that sounded behind me.
"Who the hell..." I turned about to give the preparator a piece of my mind, but stopped seeing who it was. It was a brown haired brown eyed young man smiling slyly. I had seen him in class earlier, but hadn’t paid attention to him.
Now that I think about it, there were quite a few people I hadn’t paid attention to. Two of them I even recognized from Darkfell capital, infact I could say I was a little acquainted with them, sort of.
Dion Williams, a side character. He was an heir of House Williams. I didn’t know which continent it was in though. In the novel, just like Damon, Dion didn’t go far. Infact both he and Damon died on the same event. Life was cruel for extras after all.
"Ha! so you were indeed staring at her." the brown haired you man put his sword on his shoulder with a smug smile.
I scowled.
"Keep your voice down!" I exclaimed in a whisper. "And no, I wasn’t staring at her, why would you even think that?" I hushed even though it was quite unlikely for anyone to hear our conversation due to how massive the vault was.
He was right though, I was indeed staring at her, but I had also stared at others before her. He just happened to see me when my eyes were on her.
"I’m pretty sure I saw your eyes on her." he leaned with a knowing smile.
"I told you I was not, and who are you anyway?" I asked even though I knew who he was.
"Oh, me?" he pointed to himself.
"No, the guy behind you?" I rolled my eyes. Humans and stupid questions.
He looked behind him before turning back. "Ah I see what you did there." he muttered in embarrassment. "I’m Dion Williams, nice to make the acquaintance of the infamous unruly prince."
"Tch, don’t call me that!" I hissed. These damn extras, who gave them the right to call me names?
"You have one minute remaining!" Instructor Black’s yell echoed in the chamber.
Deciding not to risk my points, I hurried myself out of the weapons vault, with Dion following right behind me.
When I got out, most of the students had already gotten out, and the rest that were still inside were also hurting outside.
In the end, no one got their points deducted.
***
If I thought the weapons vault was massive before, then the combat hall was it’s father, grandfather even.
The combat hall was a wide spread flat ground with seemingly nothing in sight but it’s walls. It was on the ground floor, and it took around the same as the diameter of the dome itself, and the ceiling was at least fifteen meters high.
"Everyone, welcome to the combat class..." Instructor Black paused. "...or should I say, welcome to hell!" His lips curled up in a sinister smile that sent chills down the spine of the students, I included.
The instructor then clapped his hands in a weird sequence, before a massive platform came out of the ground, taking at least half the space of the entire combat hall.
"Today’s combat class, is going to be a one vs one match." he announced.
_What really?!
_At least this won’t be as boring as the history class earlier.
_Now this is what I’m talking about.
The class erupted in excitement, with some even bragging on how they’ll defeat their opponents. I wasn’t glad though, because I knew what would follow.
In the novel, Damon got paired with Alistair and got his ass handed to him. And let’s just say, I wasn’t overly fond of such a fate.
Now you could see why i wasn’t quite as delighted as the rest of my classmates. I just had to hope that due to the butterfly effects, I wouldn’t be paired with him this time around.
But would it even happen now? I think not.
"There are only three rules." instructor Black raised his hand. "One, as long as you do not kill your opponent, everything else is allowed, and you can win by any means necessary, so feel free to quench your innate sadism." he grinned.
Hearing that, the entire class burst into the murmurs of the students. Some in fear, and some in excitement. Those who were afraid were the ones on the weaker side, and the excited, were those whose inner cruelty instructor Black had appealed to.
"Two, the match lasts until one of you is knocked out, or until one of you surrenders. In that case I would immediately stop the match. You can raise one hand and say ’I surrender’."
"Three, if you feel your opponent is too strong, you can surrender after the first five seconds of the match." the instructor said, causing a lot of youths to have a sigh of relief, but instructor Black soon shattered their dreams.
"Of course your opponent is absolutely free to stop you from surrendering." His grin widened. Some students’ expression fell, while some grinned further in excitement.
The instructor’s words weren’t coded. Everyone understood what they meant. As long as your opponent can stop you from surrendering, then you were done for.
The moustached man was truly a sadist. I wonder how he even became a fan favourite.
A paper box appeared in the instructor’s hands. "When I call you, you come and pick a lot. Better hope your luck stat’s good, because I’ll be hoping for the reverse."
He then started calling from rank 1 which was the highest rank in the class, to rank 112. Surprisingly, I was still at the lower end of the class in terms of rank. Only five students were below me.
"Now, those who got the number one, honourably make your way to the platform."
At his words everyone began looking around for the two unlucky enough to go first.
In the end, two extras made their way to the stage, one holding a sword, and the other, a dagger.
The moment they stepped up the stage, a translucent barrier appeared encasing the platform.
"BEGIN!!" The instructor thundered. With that both students rushed at each other, weapons clashing in a pathetic excuse of skills. What was I expecting?, they were unnamed extras.
Their skills were sub par at best, and they were most likely commoners. Both were in the same rank as I was, Eta-.
My attention soon strayed away. The number I had gotten was number five, which meant I would be sparring against someone who picked out the same number.
’I hope it’s not Rose though.’ I thought. The reason? Rose would be more than happy to not let me surrender.
******
Here’s today’s Chapter. Thanks for the support everyone.