Reverse Chronicles

Moments in the Academy

“Johannes invited me to join his team for the games!” Carina boasts in our breakfast table. “So, expect me to win!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Amelie shrugs off her statements. “I hear that Luke is creating the ultimate team this year.”

“I heard that, too.” Mathilde affirms. “Apparently, he invited Brianna, the second most skilled mage in the Academy, and Fuyuri, Haruka’s sister who is rumored to be as skilled as her older sister.”

“Looks like, we already have a winner,” Cecil replies as we look towards Luke’s table. He ate alone as always.

“Not yet, Alan is there to challenge him. Isn’t that right, Alan?” Roland turns to me.

“Me?”

“You’re creating a team of your own, right?” Roland asks.

“Well, no, but Vale did invite me to join his team,” I answer.

“He did?” Mathilde shockingly gasps. “Wait, you’re joking? Are you? He invited you?”

“He did. Why? Is there something wrong with it?” I ask.

“The Lharbian family hates the empire, especially the emperor and the five dragon generals. Along with that, they hate the Squires,” Roland answers.

I stay silent with Roland’s revelation. My mind is conflicted whether I should trust Vale or not, but his invitation still stands.

Could he be planning something bad? No, I can’t jump to conclusions.

After finishing breakfast, I go straight to the dojo. Thanks to Sir Galant’s training, I have reached level 8 in Sword Mastery, level 6 in Spear Mastery, level 7 in Archery Mastery, and level 8 in Puppetry, all of which maxes at level 10. I have learned all the basic skills that he wrote on the list and mastered them in an unbelievably short period of time.

As soon as I arrived, I see Haruka by the entrance talking to a girl just about her height. She has a ponytail and is a spitting image of Haruka. Could that be her sister? I pretend to not notice them and went inside the dojo. I grab a bow and simultaneously used Intense Accuracy and Take Aim to hit three moving targets that floated in an indefinite pattern.

“Bravo!” Syrena applauses as he sat in one corner of the room. “Excellent shot, but arrows mean nothing if you have magic.” She instantly casts a spell and burned the targets before freezing them and ultimately reducing them to nothingness.

Magic is powerful and might hold the key to finding a way back home. But all the spells that I know are from the basic elements. Although some spells are advanced, they really mean nothing if they are from the basic elements. Investing more time in the library and learning new spells should give me the results that I want, but our teacher in magic is really weird.

Strategy class is the same as always, dilemmas, problems, and decisions that should be made to overturn history’s verdict. Magistrate Elaine has not reprimanded me about my rude behavior after the test in Jyria. Instead, she seems bent on making me a good strategist, merciless but considers personal forces first. Although, I am able to choose the correct decisions with every trial that she gives, I reject her ideas of perpetual conflict and extreme nationalism. I believe that peace and negotiations should come first that they should only be the only strategy.

Physical Education class has recently kept giving me disappointing results. My Strength and Dexterity no longer rose, even if I have increased the intensity of my training regimen. Today, I am not pushing it too hard giving. I went outside the gym and had a little walk by the garden beside the room at the back of the school.

“Oh, it’s you!” Vale waves from a distance. He is carrying a scroll along with a staff that has a white crystal on its hilt. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m taking a break from class,” I answer. “What are you doing here?”

“Come, let me show you.” He calls my attention to a plant with a closed bud at his feet. He closes his eyes as he raises his staff. The white crystal on its hilt glowed emerald. Vale extended his other hand towards the plant and green sparkles and spheres descended from his palm. Suddenly, the bud became a full bloomed flower and the entire plant grew.

“Amazing!” I compliment him.

“I’m practicing, Nature element magic,” he answers. “This is a great place to practice with all the greenery. By the way, have you thought about my invitation to join my team?”

“I haven’t made a decision yet,” I answer.

“I hope you decide to join us!” he approaches me. “We’re actually going to the underground dungeon tonight to raise our levels.”

“Underground dungeon? The Academy has one?”

“It has,” Vale reopens the scroll to check something, only to close it again. “There is an underground dungeon for students. It helps when you are stuck in a certain level.”

“I see,” a thought appears inside my brain. “Listen, although I haven’t decided to be part of the team, can I join you tonight?”

“That would be brilliant,” he answers. “We will be waiting in the middle of the field tonight. Now, if you excuse me.” He leaves going through another exit at the far side of the garden.

We did nothing in Magic class today. Our teacher is out again. She left us with a challenge written on the long scroll that floated above her table.

            Dear students,

            I’m out again because of some vitally important matters. While I’m out learn the spells: Freeze, Growth, Lightning Strike, and Molten Earth. When I’m back, we’re going to have a tournament on who casts the most powerful of these spells.

Syrena ignores the challenge and continues reading her book. The other students, the rest of the Chosen, except Haruka, and I begin our time learning the spells. Advanced elements are a combination of two basic elements. Advanced element spells also follow this principle, such that two basic element spells when combined will result to an advanced element spell. However, the two basic element spells must belong to the same tier.

Let’s see here.

The Freeze spell is a combination of Douse and Gust. I cast Douse in one hand and Gust on the other. Combining them by clapping my two hands together ended in a small waterspout, not the Freeze spell.

What am I doing wrong?

“You have to cast both spells simultaneously,” Syrena laughs at me as I try and fail. She demonstrates by instantly freezing the shelf that she touched. In an instant, the books and the entirety of the shelf was frozen solid. Everybody gasps at what Syrena did, but they were gasps of amazement. “You combine the magic from your spells, not the spells themselves.”

“Okay,” I try casting it again, but combining magic from Douse and Gust is easier said than done. The others also had the same problem, except for Haruka who just polished her sword, devoid of the events happening around her.

The second try ended in a puddle of water being blown away by a gust of wind. The third try resulted in a shaking sphere of water. The fourth try enabled me to create my first signs of ice. Eventually, I was casting Freeze. I try freezing the tabletop. When I did it, everyone, including Luke, focused their attention on me. However, when I let go of the table, the ice retreated and instantaneously vanished. I though it was normal, but when I noticed the frozen shelf, I knew there is something I’m missing.

“Figure it out,” Syrena shoos me away when I ask her about her spell. Everyone in the library was waiting for an answer, but they were disappointed at the turn of events.

Putting Freeze aside, I practiced Growth. It was harder than Freeze, by several hundred levels. Nature magic, the power to manipulate life is on of the most difficult elements. I try several times, but there is still no changes to the plant, nor do I feel Nature magic flowing through me.

“You can’t even retain Freeze, now you’re trying Growth?” Syrena mocks me as I fail.

“I’m trying my best here,” I answer irritatedly.

“You should go with Lightning Strike and Molten Earth first, then Growth,” she abruptly leaves the library. Everyone is both glad and sad that Syrena left. However, the information that she left is enough.

Compared to Freeze, Lightning Strike is pretty easy. Creating lightning from thin air is easier than freezing something. Now that I am able to cast these two spells, I notice something different. Lightning Strike instantly takes up magic, while Freeze gradually uses it.

Our classes eventually end. Today was tiring, but I learned a lot. Syrena is nicer than I thought, I just wish she does not mock people when they’re trying. I change to one of my looser clothes after taking a hot bath. Thereafter, I went early to the cafeteria to eat dinner. Mathilde and the others were still not there, but Vale and others are present. They were all wearing battle equipment, a picture that exists in my mind as a scene from a video game. They reminded me of a fantasy anime with their clothing.