"Alright, students what will be your most difficult foe in your upcoming Guild assistance run? You get this wrong and ill make your training for today a living hell." announced Prof. Raizen.
**
Professor Raizen is a teacher at the academy, who is known for his incredibly harsh tactics and respectable aura due to the fact that he was a pretty famous Tangent Hero, a swordsmen with amazing Lightning Elemental Magic. He was fast approaching the top 5 in strength but stopped for some reason and took on an angry demeanor while picking up his new position as a teacher at the Angelos Districts C.S academy.
*****
Claude's hand shot into the air as he was more than confident in his answer, Prof. Raizen directed his attention to him giving the boy the greenlight to answer the question.
"i'm pretty sure we'll be assisting the local Skylight Guild in dealing with invasive Nightmare Beetles in the Skyhaven Redwoods."
Prof. Raizen served him a thunderous glare from beneath his thick eyebrows, ".....Your incorrect Claude...again, and you have damned your class to a lengthy session of hellish training."
Claude heard the whole classroom let out a collective sigh along with a slew of negative remarks under their breaths. They didnt seem to understand he was doing them a favor, when someone got an answer wrong in the class it made Prof. Raizen turn up the intensity in training, whether it be longer sparring sessions, more reps in weight training or even sparring with Prof. Raizen himself. It was all for their own benefit.
Claude knew the class thought of him as a dick but those extra hours of repeated movements and drills would be the deciding factor in a life or death situation. They could call him whatever they wanted if it meant everyone was better prepared. But, it was unfortunate that he found this to be the most effective way to do things.
***
Class carried on with an easily understanding haze of anger hovering over everyone like fog at the thought that when the bell rang, they'd be plunged into hellish domains. They read exerpt after exerpt in silence while the class dragged on for unbearable lengths until Prof. Raizen broke the silence.
"Alright, before class ends somebody tell me what your all actually facing." Said Prof. Raizen.
Samuel raised his hand, "Sir, we’ll be killing Plated Snakes on behalf of the Skylight Guild."
"Correct, Samuel. What are Plated Snakes, do NOT get this wrong." Prof. Raizen said, leaning in to glare at Samuel harder than before.
Samuel shrugged off the intimidation tactic, showing no chance of folding under pressure as he responded. "Plated snakes are as the name states, snakes with sleek black keratin plates on their backs that act as armor and sandpaper like bellies that they rub against you when constricting you-- wearing away your skin and causing deep painful cuts and scrapes."
Prof. Raizen exhaled and nodded along, "Well done, Samuel. Now, its time for physical training so everyone pack your bags and get to the grounds. I will not tolerate anyone being tardy."
*****
The training grounds were located on the far right of the academy on a wooden platform in the middle of a field, whats on the platform always gave Claude a jolt of excitement that caused goosebumps to ripple into existence along his arms.
The training grounds were divided into sections by category, the first being; Weights. Anything to do with lifting, whether it be your own body, barbells, or atlas stones the training grounds had it, along with calisthenics equipment like pull up bars, rings etc. If you wanted to transform your body and increase your strength, Weights was the place to be.
Next was the Combat section, placed a few hundred feet away from the Weights section. It was also the second largest. The Combat section housed sparring equipment such as extra armor, training dummies imbued with Magic and even Archery targets. But the gem of the Combat section was; The Ring. A simple circle in the center of the Combat section where classes held spectator sparring matches routinely.
Lastly is the Obstacle Course section which is self explanatory and where races are held once a week. Nothing crazy, but equally as important as the rest since being able to traverse the twisted biomes of a Tangent is paramount to a Hero's survival.
***
As Claude stepped out of the Academy with the rest of his class to head to the training grounds he noticed people where murmuring about a sparring match in the ring causing him to remember something he couldn't believe he forgot.
"Ohhhhh yea. I completely forgot that I'm sparring with Samuel today."
After Claude remembered his match he looked around the field littered with people and equipment until he noticed Samuel spearheading the line of students walking to the the training grounds. Samuel was walking with his usual heir of confidence that caused Claude to clench his fists in anger until his knuckles were white as snow. Every fight they had, Samuel won, Claude knew his weaknesses and tendencies but the damn gear and strength difference was always the final decider. Prof. Raizen thought training in your armor helped you get comfortable in it. He also thought that everyone should use their individual armor to their advantage in every way, the only problem was poor, common class students didnt have an advantage to utilize. Luckily, Claude had his speed but others
The finality in Prof. Raizen's words functioned like a bolt of lightning smashing into the earth and startling them both into offensive action. They descended on eachother with the focus of two wolves on the hunt. Claude went in fast, but slow enough that Samuel gave a downward chop with his brand new shining broadsword, he changed direction when he was in close enough proximity with Samuel and barely missed the Noble's blade as he felt the wind on his back with a satisfying "WHOOSHH!" Now facing Samuel's side while the boy was open to any and all attacks, Claude swung his blade cutting the part of Samuel's arm that wasn't covered in high end armor causing Samuel to let out a loud exclamation of pain. While doing so, Samuel swung his blade to the side wildly in an attempt to remove the offensiv
"HE'S BEEN REBORN??!" "What Class do you think he's awakened? I've never seen an Aura that color..." "Reborn at fifteen?? He really is the son of Marshall Leon." The onlooking students were positively stunned, they all stared at Samuel as if he were a god. The deep purple Aura seemed to radiate from him like a dark flame, making him look as omnipotent as the students thought he was. Samuel wasn't exactly aware of what happened, all he knew was that he got an immense boost of power and sent Caude flying out of the ring, "An easy win as always...." The thought filtered into his mind, leaving him with a smug grin in response to his ego being fed. After that thought, he heard a sound that seemed to come from the depths of his own mind. DING! &nbs
Claude kept his eyes closed and listened to the light fizzing sound in front of him. After a while he could smell a serene and calming smokey smell, almost like sage...someone was using Healing Magic. He opened his eyes and saw a middle aged Hispanic woman with elegant yet mature features and soft hazel eyes. The calming features of the woman were one's he grew to assign with Prof. Callista. The Academies Healer. A job he assumed she was in the act of performing due to the smell of the room and the fact that he only recently got obliterated in the midst of his opponents physical Rebirth. The memory brought his blood to a furious boil. ".....That bastard! Right when I was about to win he cheats...and then he's REBORN! The fuck are those odds!?" As he thought of the absurdity of it all he couldn't help but clench his jaw and ball his fist in anger. This seemed to grab Prof. C
Claude entered the academy and was greeted by numerous pairs of eyes, all the students that were present at yesterday's sparring match must've still been thinking about what a spectacle the match truly was. Their gazes only reminded Claude that he got absolutely decimated a day ago, and that very fact filled him with a fresh dosage of red hot rage. He went through his classes with increasing anticipation, he wanted to see Samuel, he wanted to see if the Rebirth changed him....even if it's only been a day. As he continued to go through the classes they shared together he would only see Tai who seemed to be enjoying having him and Samuel's usual group of likeminded supporters all to himself. *** Claude silently endured all of his classes until he found himself in his last class of the day, with Prof. Raizen. It was a nice class
A couple days passed by in a flash and it was time for Prof. Raizen's class to assist the SkyLight Guild in the removal of invasive Plated Snakes in the Redwoods. Claude and the rest of his class headed out to the front of the academy and waited to head to the Redwoods. "Alright everyone check your weapons and armor and get ready to move out." Prof. Raizen announced in his casually stormy tone. He took a look at his class noticing a good portion of students looked shaken...nervous— as they should on their first Guild assistance mission, while others looked excited like Veronica. Only two students here looked completely focused, like they wanted to get the job done as well as possible. "Excuse me everyone is there a Ursula Legrand here? There's been a message left for her..." a short and dainty lady with light brown hair asked from the ba
"Ok Warren, since we're running the back-point formation you stay behind us and just shoot at the face of the snakes, me and Ursula will deliver killing blows as frontliners." Claude said to Warren while the team prepared to head into the forest. Since the time of their walk Ursula seemed to cool off and now looked excited and determined, something he didn't expect to see on the face of someone preparing to kill monstrous snakes. As the team entered the forest Claude could almost physically feel the change in atmosphere, this wasn't how a forest was supposed to be. He noticed he couldn't hear the usual chatter of birds in the distance that's a norm in most forests, and he couldn't see any squirrels or other small rodents scurrying about, the whole area felt how it does in a forest when a large predator is nearby. Absolute silence. "Is this the affect an invasive species can have on an ecosystem?" He thought in awe at the ee
Ursula helped Warren up off the dirty forest floor and the pair made their way to the visibly shaken Claude with the urgency they sensed in the boys frozen frame. During Claudes fear induced paralysis, the snake fully emerged from the cave and began to slither towards him like a worm straight out of hell, tearing up the grass and anything else that went under its rough heavily muscled underbelly. Despite seeing this he felt like he couldn't will himself to move. His legs felt like they didn't even belong to him. "Am I going to die on my first real mission? Am I that weak?" Was all he could think as time seemed to slow and everything seemed to go silent, like the mother snake was death itself and Claude was waiting to be inevitbly consumed by it. "CLAUDE!!?? I KNOW WE HAD A BAD START BUT WE CAN STILL CATCH UP....YOU CAN STILL PROVE YOUR NOT WEAK!" &nbs
The beast spoke in between earthquake inducing growls. It's voice wasn't right either, it was speaking correct but hearing human language come from the vocal chords of a monster was absolutely horrifying. Claude didn't know who the giant monster could be talking to so he decided to stay quiet. Even if he wanted to talk, he'd have to wait for his spine to stop tingling first. The beast took another eerily silent step towards him— causing his body to betray him further as he began to try harder to curl into himself and away from the beast. "Hrmmmm...WHY DIDN'T YOU DINE ON YOUR KILL?....grrrrRRR!" The beast yelled at him in a questioning manner. He thought the question over before answering, trying to be careful in what he said. "I'm not an animal-- not a wild one at least....it felt...erhm...wrong. Taboo."
DING! [Additional Quest Complete! You have reminded the wolves of your position in the pack!] The wolves immediately moved out of Claude's way in a rush with their tails between their legs. "...About damn time." He thought while dragging the buck through the damp forest grass towards the injured wolf, feeling the light burn in his quads from the weight of the deceased animal. He sat down next to the wolf, as he got closer he could hear how hard the wolf was panting. The sight caused him to reflect on the situation as a whole. "These are the effects of not having someone to lead? They would've let him die due to their starvation.....they were almost mindless..." Now that he was close enough to see how hurt the wolf was he realized it wouldn't be able to get food itself, he reached for his tooth dagger at his waist and clutched nothing but
[New Quest!: Feed your injured pack-mate.] Claude looked at the injured wolf behind the other five and saw that it had a rather serious puncture wound on its side. "Feed the injured? What's that going to do for his wound?!" He yelled at the sky angrily with nowhere else to aim his anger and confusion. He made his way to the buck anyway. With a sense of urgency, he grabbed it by its one remaining antlers and tried to drag it to the injured wolf..but the other wolves wouldn't move. DING [Additional Quest: Remind the wolves of your position in the pack.] Claude looked at the five wolves in front of him that blocked his way to the injured wolf. One wolf in particular seemed to be spearheading this operation, despite their unnaturally similar features— even for animals, this wolf had a difference about it. All the wolves looked hungry..starve
Running....jumping...ducking under low hanging branches. Claude and the wolves had been in pursuit of the giant buck for miles, with him somehow keeping up. His lungs felt infinite, with every inhale of fresh Forest night air it filled him entirely, energizing his muscles and mind to continue giving chase. The buck had begun to slow down after a few miles and the wolves were now nipping at its heels. The buck let out a loud snort and spun around after one of the wolves got a good bite on its hind leg, all the wolves dodged the swing of the bucks great antlers but Claude was caught by surprise and got hit. FUUGH! He was sent skidding and rolling through the rough grassy forest floor. ".....I'm really getting tired of horned animals." He thought to himself as he rolled over onto his hands and knees to cough up blood. While he was coughing he noticed something odd about his ha
A star filled night sky was all Claude could see from his unnaturally comfortable spot on the grass, he was laying in the middle of nowhere, "where am I?" He asked himself. Where he laid, the grass was cold and stiff-- like nature itself was urging him to get, to witness his eviroment. He did. Upon rising from the stiff blades of grass, he realized he was at the entrance of a forest, a vast and beautiful forest. Tall and healthy looking oak trees with spindly, tendril like branches—much like the ones at the cabin, and many different kinds of plant life crowded the forest floor while lightning bugs began to glow across the entrance and inside the forest sporadically. He got up to his feet and was immediately puzzled by his appearance for a number of reasons. "Where the hell are my clothes?? He wondered while he looked down at himself and only saw a loincloth. After looking around the grass near where he lay for
The forest retained its unearthly silence, the only thing that occasionally broke it was the giant mother snake, it's predatory ambience hung on the air with an almost overwhelming intensity.... Claude couldn't feel any of his injuries— which he knew were serious, all he could feel was the weakness of his knees and his trembling hands. He knew his adrenaline was the only reason he was still standing so he decided he'd buy Ursula as much time as possible right now...while he still could. WOOSH! The snake watched Claude speedily jump to the side to try and attack its exposed side but it immediately lunged at him headfirst. He was barely fast enough to dodge the wild attack, but he did, he took the opportunity to lunge back in and cut the snake. SCHLICK! The cut barely did anything but further agitate th
Ursula helped Warren up off the dirty forest floor and the pair made their way to the visibly shaken Claude with the urgency they sensed in the boys frozen frame. During Claudes fear induced paralysis, the snake fully emerged from the cave and began to slither towards him like a worm straight out of hell, tearing up the grass and anything else that went under its rough heavily muscled underbelly. Despite seeing this he felt like he couldn't will himself to move. His legs felt like they didn't even belong to him. "Am I going to die on my first real mission? Am I that weak?" Was all he could think as time seemed to slow and everything seemed to go silent, like the mother snake was death itself and Claude was waiting to be inevitbly consumed by it. "CLAUDE!!?? I KNOW WE HAD A BAD START BUT WE CAN STILL CATCH UP....YOU CAN STILL PROVE YOUR NOT WEAK!" &nbs
"Ok Warren, since we're running the back-point formation you stay behind us and just shoot at the face of the snakes, me and Ursula will deliver killing blows as frontliners." Claude said to Warren while the team prepared to head into the forest. Since the time of their walk Ursula seemed to cool off and now looked excited and determined, something he didn't expect to see on the face of someone preparing to kill monstrous snakes. As the team entered the forest Claude could almost physically feel the change in atmosphere, this wasn't how a forest was supposed to be. He noticed he couldn't hear the usual chatter of birds in the distance that's a norm in most forests, and he couldn't see any squirrels or other small rodents scurrying about, the whole area felt how it does in a forest when a large predator is nearby. Absolute silence. "Is this the affect an invasive species can have on an ecosystem?" He thought in awe at the ee
A couple days passed by in a flash and it was time for Prof. Raizen's class to assist the SkyLight Guild in the removal of invasive Plated Snakes in the Redwoods. Claude and the rest of his class headed out to the front of the academy and waited to head to the Redwoods. "Alright everyone check your weapons and armor and get ready to move out." Prof. Raizen announced in his casually stormy tone. He took a look at his class noticing a good portion of students looked shaken...nervous— as they should on their first Guild assistance mission, while others looked excited like Veronica. Only two students here looked completely focused, like they wanted to get the job done as well as possible. "Excuse me everyone is there a Ursula Legrand here? There's been a message left for her..." a short and dainty lady with light brown hair asked from the ba