It was a giant, sludge-like painted mud, white and thick as if solid marble melted into liquid. It stirred with a sense of weight, churning at every point, and as the Mana Link connected to Quill's Core, the heavy feeling wrapped him as if he was pulling boulders with nothing but strings on his fingers.
Quill then pressed his hand against the wall of sludge, feeling the solid crack on the other side, a result of the Fire Wisps explosion. He then poured a small portion of his mana, and in an instant, the sludge stirred like rocks flowing before the cracks filled shut. It was healing itself with nothing but mana.
“You still have a trick up your sleeve?” Elarah called over the air. “I almost mistook you for a cheap mage, seeing your performance in the courtyard earlier.”
“Cut me some slack.” Quill could only grin as sweat dripped down his face, pushing past the Mana Fatigue bearing down on him. The mana it took to create this abomination of a spell was no joke. “No cheap mage can create a spell in the heat of battle.”
“I didn't mistake you for a comedian.” Elarah conjured another set of Fire Wisps before sending them his way. Again, the white sludge expanded to protect its maker.
The Aspect of White had the same fundamental properties of matter. White mana existed in both solids and liquids, flowing through the body as a liquid but turning solid once introduced to the outside. Its form was only limited by the skill and creativity of the mage, and it just so happened that the White Aspect fell into the hands of a centuries-old mage.
This spell came about in the understanding of how the Marble Puppets were made. By shaping the form of White mana into statues resembling Puppets, he was able to create familiars that were able to move using Scripts. The same principle applied to the sludge before him, but instead of directing movement, this was a step higher in complexity.
It was a study on the alteration of form.
Quill dropped to the ground, his chest heaving for breaths. Even with the Bluefae Amulet and his increase in Magic Attribute, he had next to no mana left from the spell. He had to end the fight here and now.
Elarah conjured another set of Fire Wisps before sending them flying like speeding butterflies. Quill stood before working his hand, pulling a fist close to his chest as the sludge followed. It contorted and bent, twisting around him like a snake before shadows loomed and wrapped over him, creating a shield dome, protecting him from the explosions.
Quill didn't let the chance escape him. Under the blanket of smoke, he commanded the white dome around him to melt and break apart, held still in the air before creating liquid balls the size of heads, and with a crushing gesture of his hand, the balls then contorted into solid needles.
They were sharp. They were as long as swords, the foundation laid by the Marble Weapons of his Puppets. Each was a meter in length, still in the air and pointing directly at Elarah, and with a command, he sent them flying.
Elarah snapped a finger, using Quickscripts to conjure Fire Wisps around her before exploding, veering the spikes off their course. The spikes splintered mid-air from the shockwaves, melting back to liquid before pouring over the ground like mud rain. One lucky needle managed to strike her on her shoulder, but it only grazed shallow skin before it then melted to mud.
Quill was left defenseless now. Elarah knew that more than anyone. She was a mage born of talent and instinct, so she must've known this was the best time to take the fight to him. But it was all according to Quill's plan. The moment she stepped over the white mud on the ground, Quill then issued another command.
The mud immediately caught her feet, worming around her ankles before solidifying into solid rocks. The spikes were given the command to strike her down, but that was only half of the equation. Quill's goal was never to hit her, but only to spread the sludge over her immediate area, all in an attempt to trap her.
It worked like a charm.
The mud hardened around her feet. There was no way of escaping without an attempt at blowing off her own legs with her explosions. She was now a rat trapped in a cage, and Quill had taken victory in their duel.
He stepped forward inch by inch, his feet brushing through the short grass before stopping, staring down at Elarah. She only glared at him in turn, red gleaming eyes piercing through the messy hair before Quill then clicked his tongue. He wound before ramming a fist straight to her face.
Quill had already won. The match was over, and he had successfully proven himself against the golden elf. But when the dust cleared, and when he saw the moons above shining down on Elarah, a lingering distaste pooled inside his mouth.
He pulled Elarah’s hair and pushed her to the ground, kneeing her stomach before he rammed another fist straight to her face. In the flurry of blows that followed, the golden elf took all of the force, her face empty of any expression. All Quill could see was the face of the woman who burned Yereth's leg.
And with another wind of his arm, Quill finally came to his senses. Underneath him was a bruised and bodied academy mage, her eyes still burning with fire. Quill shook his head before he stood up.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
If he wanted to keep his Initiate status, then it would do him no good to kill this woman.
“Well, are you satisfied now?” Elarah spat out blood before the stones binding her legs cracked and dissipated into steam, allowing her to push off the ground to stand.
“Tell me,” Quill said. “Why didn't you report me to the City Watch? You had every chance to in the weeks following my escape.”
“I would rather kill myself than admit losing to a gray elf.”
Quill snorted before a laugh surfaced in the cold air. “So all this time, you were afraid of your family finding out about your failure? That's why you were keeping quiet? That's hilarious.”
“You wouldn't understand.” Elarah brushed over the scar on her neck. “Some things are worse than death, but don't mistake my embarrassment as one of them.”
“Is that so?”
Quill clenched his fists. He had nothing he wanted more aside from pummeling this woman to death. It was strange how he held so much hate for a single mortal.
No one grows a hatred for ants when they come to bite and steal your food. At the very worst, it was only a mild annoyance before squishing them under your boot. Ants will do what ants do best, and Elarah was only doing what her interest was telling her to do.
Quill was no different from her in that regard. He had acted out of anger and frustration rather than cold logic, something that was rather strange for him. It wasn't smart to beat up a noble, but the fire in his heart begged to differ. It was as if this new body had a stake in his mind, and that in and of itself was intriguing and scary at the same time.
“I accept my defeat.” Elarah coughed through the bruises over her chest before she… bowed? “I would’ve never thought of someone like you besting me in combat, but I’ve already lost twice.”
“Spare me a favor from your family and we'll call it even,” Quill said before finding the irony in his words. Even now, he was thinking of ways to gain something out of this. “All of this over a street fight. Why were you there in the first place?”
Before Elarah could respond, a voice shot out in the distance. Under the shadows of the night, it was hard to make out the person, but the lights from the lampposts shed light on a curly-haired man. It was Gerald.
“What is all this?” Gerald stopped, his eyes confused on whether to focus on the bruises on Elarah’s face, on Quill's eyes, or on the crunch of white mud underneath his feet.
“I told you to mind your own business.” Elarah clicked her tongue, and when Gerald tried to offer his shoulder, Elarah only whipped away his hand. “I was settling a score with him.”
“Yeah, I can obviously see that,” Gerald said before turning to Quill, his face still ridden with confusion.
“Don't look at me,” Quill said, waving him off. “She was the one who came up to me and asked for a duel. I have my pride as a mage.”
Gerald sighed before he then forced Elarah over his shoulder, not taking the comments she had with her. With a nod, he then excused themselves before they started back through the night, fading to the distance, leaving Quill alone again under the cover of the darkness.
Quill sighed before a shiver swept by him. The night had already grown old, and the chirping of crickets didn't make for good company. With hands wrapping around his figure, he made his way back to the dormitory.
Quill entered the building before climbing the stairs to his room, and with a , he managed to get himself inside with tired steps. To his surprise, Rognor and Narrah were gone by the time he arrived, giving him the comfort of his room all to himself. Quill's energy had long vanished from the day, and the silence was a familiar comfort to his aching bones.
He passed over the barrel of beer before making his way to the table at the end of the room, guided only by the moonlight from the windowsill. He pulled a chair below the desk and poured mana into his Register.
: Liquid Stone I
Allows the user the ability to create and manipulate the form and function of an immaterial mire made of White mana.
Liquid Stone Material, Liquid Stone Sense, Marble Brain (extension)
Quill had named the spell as appropriately as he could. Liquid Stone was still incomplete, owing to the fact that he had created it in just seconds in the heat of battle. As it was now, it drained too much of his mana, and it was very slow to cast. He needed to learn Quickscripts and configure and optimize the base Scripts before anything else.
If Quill had to humor himself, this day had given his magic arsenal a much-needed improvement. Along with the fact that he’d created another Complex Spell, he’d also modified White Ball to allow him to create as many conjurations as his mana allowed. Of course, this came at the cost that each succeeding creation had to eat exponentially more mana, but it was still worth noting.
: Black Application I [locked], Black Reversal I [locked], White Ball I, White Sphere I, White Application I, White Reversal I, Mana Light I (new)
Marble Puppets I, Liquid Stone I (new)
: Register, Holder, Meldhide Cloak (new), Bluefae Amulet (new)
Quill’s magic was growing at a steady pace. At the rate he was going, he wouldn't be surprised if he got back to Emerald tier by the end of the decade. Add to that the quality of resources and facilities that were going to come with the academy, it would only speed up the process.
He rubbed his eyes as it trailed over the locked Black Aspect spells. He was always reminded of his past when he saw it in his Register. It would bode well for him to find a way to make use of it, eventually unlocking the ability to allow him to use his past knowledge in necromancy.
Maybe someone in the academy could help him, but for now, he closed the Register with a swipe of his hand before he headed off to bed. When he dropped to the sheets, a lingering smell of faint vomit stirred in his nose, but he was too tired to care.
The core cast of characters has finally been introduced, and I really enjoyed taking my time fleshing them out! The academy examination chapters were specifically written with the introduction of new faces in mind, and I made sure to wrap them all up in a neat little package of magic-slinging action and visceral fist-fights (Elarah can tell you all about it once her face heals up).
And with that, we've finally reached the end of the first major arc!
If you're enjoying the story so far, consider leaving a follow, favorite, or a review, as that would really help the story grow and reach a wider audience. If you're down to discuss plot threads and fan theories, don't be shy and come talk with me on my ! I'd love to hear how the world holds up on the page compared to what's in my head.
As always, thank you for reading!
Edric Veyra's new reality. He only wants to survive, but trouble knocks like it's DoorDash. He soon realizes he is the fallen heir of House Veyra—once the pillars of the nation, now nothing more than a story.
System. Before he can mourn his luck, he is bombarded by cryptic memories and a weapon magically appears from thin air: a flintlock gun engraved with runes that shoots magic bullets.
"Why did House Veyra fall?"
WHAT TO EXPECT:
- ?? Weak to Strong:
- ?? 'Lite' LitRPG System w/ Minimal Stats
- ?? Emphasis on Party Dynamics (No Harem)
- ?? 1500+ words/chapter & Smooth pacing