EdgarFig

[ 55 ] Final Exam

Vae had explained that the Big Five academies of Lorran were Sapphire Spire, Vanguard Academy for Battlemages, Umbra Arcanium, The Veiled Eye, and Mount Aegis Citadel.

There was no easy way to pick from the big five, and any mage with half a mind would happily accept a spot from any of them.

The Sapphire Spire was a balanced academy with a strong research facility based in a crystal blue tower that climbed thirty stories into the clouds above Lorran.

Vanguard Academy for Bat...

[ 54 ] First Prize

Several minutes after the exam had finished, four government clerks appeared beside them, utilizing some kind of teleportation spell. After placing a hand on their shoulders, they were abruptly transported out of the examination area.

The entire ordeal was over in minutes, the government mages having collected all of the participants and brought them back to the street where they had taken the preliminary examinations.

Most of the participating groups were placed in a crowd before...

[ 53 ] Clone Trap

The plan worked better than Kal expected. Orbel had surprisingly good control over the wires and was easily able to help Kal direct the clone once it was out of sight.

Orbel explained that he couldn't actually see what the wires could, but he could sense their surroundings as if they were an extension of his mana core. Kal was surprised this was even possible. But like himself and his own heightened ability to sense mana—particularly demonic mana—Orbel had trained the skill.  2025-01-08 19:40:01 +0000 UTC View Post

[ 52 ] Fallen to Thievery

Three hours passed as the two allied teams made their way through the forest. 

Even though they doubted they were likely to find unfound objectives, that didn’t stop them from using those objectives to fuel the lantern. Going over the list, they continued until the stream of blue light began to trail out toward one of the objectives and started walking.

They were headed toward something called a warp turner. The name sounded a little ominous, but the objective was only wort...

[ 51 ] Airship

The shadow of the airship loomed ominously over the little leaf as Team Alpha descended upon them. Within seconds, three of their four members had abseiled down, surrounding Ellie, Arix, and the clone with their abseiling ropes still attached.

Casting a spell in his left hand, a boy with short, spiky hair swung a fist through the air at Ellie, and she reflexively raised her hands, casting Shield. Smarks of magical energy flashed, and a second later, chains wrapped around the boy.

...

[ 50 ] Showdown

Kal’s mind raced as he considered their next move. On the surface, it might have appeared bad, but they weren’t the only team with objectives, even if they had the biggest target on their back.

There was one problem. He was fairly certain the airship was faster than rowing a floating leaf, which meant their backup escape plans were out the window.

As much as Kal welcomed a challenge, taking on two top ranking teams was likely a bad idea. He was going to need to split them up.<...

[ 49 ] Holdout

The leaves bobbed in the water and swayed against the currents as they pulled up to the pebbly shore. The small island wasn’t far from the Aerie’s banks, but the deep, fast-moving river would dissuade many regardless.

There wasn’t much to the island. A dozen trees perched atop it, their thick roots interwoven into one, with a huge spruce sprouting from the mass’s center, which towered high above. The spruce had been the very reason Kal had picked this island.

“Take watch...

[ 48 ] Allies? With you?

The three noble kids had proven even more useless than Kal had originally thought. 

After Vae took chase in the hope of backing Kal up, they went on the attack against Ellie and Arix. They had actually gotten close to catching Ellie and Arix and the decoy Astral Pouch with 100 points, but a point-blank wave of the noble boy’s wand had resulted in its ice spell reflecting off Ellie’s Shield and freezing the three of them in place.

Eventually, the noble kids used basic fire...

[ 47 ] Astral Prince

Scanning his surroundings, Kal searched on, blocking out the mana of everyone nearby so that he could hone in on Caesil.

He wasn’t sure exactly how far his Void Eye could travel, but secret spell or not, being a second circle spell meant that it would have limitations, and Kal doubted its travel distance could be too great.

Not only that, but the three noble brats were rather low-level mages, and Kal doubted Caesil would leave them too far out of his sight. If he had recruited t...

[ 46 ] Revenge

Slashing at underbrush as he dashed through the forest, Kal closed in on Team Allseeing. They hadn’t been far away, but the moment he sensed the botflies on the move again, he knew they needed to strike.

“It’s nice seeing you so confident, Kal, but Caesil Galador is no ordinary mage,” Vae said as he struggled to keep up.

“I’m aware,” Kal replied.

“I’m being quite serious. There’s a reason they call themselves Team Allseeing. It’s that Void Eye. It float...

[ 45 ] Recovery

Kal ran back and forth, racing through the maze as fast as he could. He had grown frustrated with the maze but still held off from using his core stats. Skidding to the end of a corridor, he wiped sweat from his brow and panted. Come on, you got this. The exit can’t be too much further away.

Shooting off again, he sprinted down the corridor to another fork. It was slower but more efficient to sacrifice a little mana for a stamina boost than powering his core stats, so that wa...

[ 44 ] The Prize

His fingers hovering an inch from the lockbox, Kal dispelled one of the clones. The moment he took hold of it, he dove forward, leaping across the podium and clinging to the back side of the pyramid—effectively hiding himself from where the teams would exit the corridors and enter the main chamber.

Kal's suspicion was confirmed when he wasn’t teleported away, and the two other teams rushed into the chamber. This place was designed to pit the losing teams against the winners.

A...

[ 43 ] Puzzle

Just as Kal was about to cast Swift Step to slow his fall into the pyramid, he felt reality warp around him. Colors blurred, shapes distorted, and sounds muted. Confused, he blinked several times before his lagging brain caught up and realized he wasn’t in the chamber he had jumped down to.

He was sitting in a small room of huge, yellow bricks stained by dirt. At its far end, there was an open doorway, and blue, spectral lights flickered on either side of it.

The ordeal would ha...

[ 42 ] Lockbox

The towering volcano was mostly covered by vegetation, which would have hidden it from view if not for it being a huge freaking volcano in an otherwise flat landscape.

The volcano continued to grow as they neared it, and soon Kal detected mana.

Turning to the rest of Team Ebenshire, Kal spotted Vae’s alerted expression. 

“Be on your guards,” Kal said, mainly to Arix and Ellie. “I sense mana ahead, and it feels like more than one team.”

“So, someone has...

[ 41 ] Top Five

“Ah, guys,” Arix said, casting the holographic leaderboard before his eyes. “We’re top five now.”

“We’re ranked fifth?” Ellie’s eyes brightened as soothing azure light radiated from her hands. The pain from Kal’s injuries had already subsided thanks to her magic, and while Sooth wasn’t a true healing spell, it would greatly speed up his recovery.

“No. Fourth.”

“Why didn’t you just say that?” Ellie huffed.

“Now, that’s a big deal,” ...

[ 40 ] Albinoid

She was fast. Faster than Kal had expected. But her speed was the least of his problems. 

Thanks to his mana sense, he knew the direction she was coming from, but it was vague. All he had was a sense of speed of the descending blur enclosing on him. 

Perhaps if he were blind and forced to constantly rely on this skill, he could overcome his disadvantage. But he wasn’t. He used mana sense to detect his surroundings, not pinpointing an enemy’s attack vector.

The ...

[ 39 ] From Beneath

The bubbling water reached a crescendo as if the river itself was boiling, and Kal felt himself lift into the air. He didn’t know what it was beneath him and didn’t want to find out. Taking hold of the leaf’s edges, he cast Swift Step and sent himself and the leaf gliding away.

Unfortunately, in desperation, he had sent himself flying back toward the grimcaps.

Not good. Really not freaking good at all!

Water sprayed across Kal’s back, reminding him of his un...

[ 38 ] Mushrooms

The forest thinned as it gradually gave way to a clearing. At the heart of the clearing was a giant redwood surrounded by downed and rotting trees. Whoever had downed the trees hadn’t just down so to clear the land but had been dragging trunks from elsewhere into it.

The reason became evident as they stepped closer. Hundreds of mushrooms took root, climbing from the rotting trunks. The mushrooms' flesh was transparent, with a dim, ethereal blue glow emanating from their center. On clo...

[ 37 ] Thieves

Arix aimed his bow at the big guy with an arrow nocked. Vae had shot forward before the speedy, cloaked figure could get back to her feet and now stood with his boot pressed against the would-be thief's cloak, pinning her to the ground. 

Ellie was still sitting with the shimmering blue shield hovering above her, and Kal glared across as another member of the attacking team stepped out from the trees. He couldn’t see their face, thanks to a thick scarf wrapped around their neck an...

[ 36 ] Night watch

After waiting a short moment to confirm they were alone, Team Ebenshire walked along the shoreline, following it for the rest of the day as they searched for a starfish.

The objective list hinted that the Rainbow Starfish could be found on the banks of the Aeries, where islands dotted the lands. It sounded like it should be easy. The only part of the Aeries that contained islands within the examination zone was where they were—but an entire day of searching had failed to provide resul...

[ 35 ] Stubborn Mule

A large, jagged rock rose from the little island as if it were its horn, and standing atop it was the bandana-wearing teen, pointing at the leaf floating toward their little river sanctuary.

“Oi hands up,” Alron shouted, shadowed by an outstretched leafy branch that crept over the thin, pebbly beach that they approached. “State your purpose!”

“We’ve come to trade,” Kal shouted back, hands raised. “We heard you’re the one with the Siren Carapace.”

“You m...

[ 34 ] The Island

“Come on, stop being a thickheaded brute. Just give us the carapace, and we’ll help you get off this island,” Michel demanded, slapping his palm.

“No way,” a rough-looking, short-haired boy about seventeen shot back. He wore the magical cloak on his back like a cape, leather knee-high boots, and a bandana, making him look more like a pirate than a mage. “We’re the ones that scored this objective. Like the thorny backside of a demon, we’re just giving it away.”

�...

[ 33 ] Carapace

Perched from atop a towering redwood, four teens eyed an island at the center of a particularly wide section of the Aeries.

“Do you think it's clear, Michel?”

“Not sure,” said the short-haired boy, who must have been about fifteen or sixteen. Peering through a narrow part in the tree’s foliage from their vantage point, he turned to the rest of his team. “I can’t see anyone, at least.”

The tiny, pebbly island they watched had already seen two teams clash. The ...

[ 32 ] Demonic Botflies

Kal was right. Once they were near the area labeled Redwood Grove, he could feel the demonic mana in the air.

It was much weaker than what he felt from Bougie and Wort, but the presence was the same.

It was also undeniable that the distinction between mortals and magical creatures was more than just how they awoke their cores. The botflies were mere insectoids described as giant flies about the size of mice, and as impressive as that was, they still sounded like insects. 

Royal Road release

Reborn with a Demonic Core was released the other day on Royal Road!

[ 31 ] Let the Hunt Begin

Starting location: 142. North Eastern Morington along the left bank of the Aeries.

“This appears to be our starting spot,” Vae said, lowering to one knee to ruffle the grass where the mana mark was placed. “Not a terrible spot.”

“Except there’s the freaking Aeries between us and the examination area,” Ellie exclaimed, pointing out the fast-moving river that separated them from the forested area that contained almost the entity of ...

[ 30 ] Magic Hunt

As the sun set, the government mages gathered the young participants back to where they had the preliminary exam. 

The little, divided arenas had been removed and replaced with a podium where the mage clerks stood.

“With no further delays, let us announce the rules for the Magic Hunt. As you should all know by now, directly attacking or harming your fellow mage hopefuls is strictly prohibited,” said a mustached clerk.

“Each team will be provided with a list of ite...

[ 29 ] Preliminary Exams 2

Entering the test arena, a teen boy and girl who looked a couple of years older than Kal took their positions in front of the examiner.

Even though it didn’t matter in the end, it still irritated Kal that nobody said anything about participants being allowed to take the exam together. He doubted he would have done it anyway since it had been good for Arix’s development, but knowing it was an option might have relieved a little stress.

Standing several feet apart, the boy raise...

[ 28 ] Preliminary Exam

Wow, that guy’s huge.

Kal looked across the crowd at a giant of a man. He stood at least a foot or so taller than those around him, with solid, squarish features and a body of hard muscle.

Wait, he’s not a man at all. Kal’s eyes widened in realization. He wasn’t looking at a man. He was looking at an ogre. Long, scruffy hair ran down his head, the bridge of his nose was wide, and his head, in general, was just big. Bigger than he had ever seen on a human....

[ 27 ] Leaving Ebenshire

The academy exams took place across Lyssia in cities and large towns.

Morington was the closest city to Ebenshire, about an hour away by wagon, and was the trio's designated examination location. 

Morington was located between Ebenshire and Lorran and was a major logistics hub.

Magical examiners visited all the Kingdom's cities, and many hopefuls from nearby towns and villages would be traveling to Morington to participate.

Since examinations were only completed o...