Lord Tharn Zon

Chapter 5 – Practical Test - part 1

Tharn held Istar’s left hand and accompanied her, even with her trembling legs, making her trip at every step she took, and he spoke in a low voice, “Breath, we got this. You attempted to betray me, but I will still teach you a thing or two .”

They stopped in the middle of the room, with all eyes upon them.

The Teacher took a few steps back and gathered Magic in both hands.

Tharn frowned when the System Sword warned him, “Master, he is dual casting to increase the power of his Spell. I detect the beginning of a Summoning Spell for one Old Elemental.”

He made a slight smile and whispered, “Istar, he is going to summon an Old Elemental. Depending on his type, prepare an attack Spell to kill it. I will go first and prepare him for your final blow. Let’s show that stupid Teacher of yours.”

To the surprise of the students, the Teacher pointed both hands to the space in front of him, and on the ground, a Magical Summoning Circle appeared. From it rose one Fire Old Elemental, a being made of living fire that looked Humanoid, but was three meters tall.

While the students were surprised by seeing their Teacher summoning such a powerful Elemental to a mere test, and Istar was muffling a scream with both hands covering her mouth, Tharn was looking at the translucent screen in front of his eyes that was showing the Attributes.

[Fire Old Elemental]

[Magic – 100]

[Health – 100]

[Stamina – 100]

Without hesitating, he shot one Frost Rune to the floor in front of the Old Elemental, followed by an Ice Spike Spell, straight at his body.

The system Sword alerted him when the Old Elemental took one step forward to get to Tharn, activating the Rune. “You now have 80 Magic to use, and the Old Elemental took 25 damage from the Ice Spike and 50 damage from the Frost Rune. He is preparing a Magical Attack.”

When the Old Elemental threw a Fire Ball to Tharn, he avoided it by rolling out of the way and approaching Istar in the process.

He spoke to her in a low voice, without averting his gaze from his enemy. “Your turn. Hit him with a Freezing Familiar, and he will vanish. Focus on what you want to make, and send your Familiar against him while I take care of the distraction.”

“I… I… I don’t know if I am capable…”

Tharn glanced at her with a frown. “I know you can do this, Istar! Calm down and concentrate! And be quick, because I don’t want him to turn you into ashes in the next couple of seconds!”

He ran to the right side of the room, making the Old Elemental turn to him while gathering Magic for another Fire Ball.

Before he had time to shoot, Istar shouted, “Summon… Summon Freezing Familiar!”

A short, icy being with a round body and two short legs appeared in front of Istar, ran straight at the Old Elemental, and exploded on contact, catching him by surprise. As he was disappearing, his Magic went to Istar, and she trembled from the increase in her Level. She opened and closed her hands, which were still full of Magic.

Tharn went to her while whispering, “System Sword, what is her Level now?”

“Analysing... Please standby… Istar, Cathra Race, Class Mage Summoner, Apprentice Rank, Level 19. Available Spells from Novice Rank are as follows.”

[Summon Familiar: Summon a Familiar to fight at your side. A Familiar is a weak magical companion and not very smart. It can have the form of an Elemental or an animal.]

[Summon Fire Elemental: Summon a Fire Elemental for 60 minutes with Magic – 50, Health – 50, Stamina – 50]

[Summon Flaming Familiar: Summon a Flaming Familiar which explodes when it comes in contact with a target, giving 25 damage.]

[Summon Ice Elemental: Summon an Ice Elemental for 60 minutes with Magic – 50, Health – 50, Stamina – 50]

[Summon Freezing Familiar: Summon a Freezing Familiar which explodes when it comes in contact with a target, giving 25 frost damage.]

“Available Spells from Apprentice Rank are as follows.”

[Summon Sword: Create a magical sword for 120 minutes. You can create two bound swords by double-casting (one sword for each hand).]

[Summon Battleaxe: Create a magical battleaxe for 120 minutes. You can create two bound swords by double-casting (one sword for each hand).]

[Summon Bow: Create a magical bow for 120 minutes. You will receive an infinite number of arrows for the duration of this spell.]

Tharn stopped in front of the still surprised girl, and he spoke in a low voice. “Congratulations. You are now an Apprentice with Level 19. A few more Levels and you will be an Adept, but you should get used to your new Rank, before going after the next one.”

“I… I am an Apprentice… for real? Just… Just like that?”

“Well, you were a Novice, and that Old Elemental gives a bunch of Levels if you have that Rank. If you fight another Old Elemental, you will get fewer Levels now.”

Tharn then turned around and looked at the dumbfounded Teacher. He didn’t notice until that moment, but all the students were speechless.

He made a slight grin and said, “Do you want to try again, Teacher? My Master could use a few more Levels to get to the next Rank. She is now an Apprentice, but if you summon another Old Elemental, she will easily reach the next Rank.”

The students whispered again, and the Teacher gulped.

He clapped his hands, asking for silence, and he then said, “I will check her Level and Rank after the test. Istar, step aside and let another student take your place.”

Tharn slightly tilted his head a bit and asked, “Are you going to Summon more Old Elementals to test the other students? Because they are not ready for such a Magical Being, and you for sure don’t have enough Magic for all that!”

The Teacher frowned and said, “I have plenty of Magic to Summon Elementals to test my students, but thank you for your concern.”

Tharn answered as he was following Istar to the back wall, “Meaning that you only summoned that Old Elemental to get rid of me and my Master. I wonder if the School regulations allow a Teacher to try to kill one of his students…”

“I had everything under control! If Istar were in danger, I would make my Old Elemental disappear.”

“Sure you would… Keep saying that. Maybe it will come true. But we both know that is a lie...”

The Teacher didn’t say anything else, because he was already gathering his Magic to Summon another Elemental. One by one, the students were defeated or the Teacher would disperse his Elemental as it was about to be killed, as if he wanted to prevent another student from levelling up. Every time he did that, Tharn would frown a little, because that confirmed his suspicions. Istar levelled up because the Teacher didn’t believe his Old Elemental would not win. And that opened doors to a lot of questions.

When it was time for the Cathra girl with white hair, Tharn whispered to his sword when he saw the Teacher smiling, “Check her Class and Level. I want to confirm something.”

“Analysing... Please standby… Girl, Cathra Race, Class Mage Summoner, Adept Rank, Level 35. Available Spells are as follows.”

[Summon Familiar Shadow: Summon a strong Familiar to fight at your side for 60 minutes. It can have the form of an Elemental or an animal.]

[Summon Frost Elemental: Summon a Frost Elemental with Magic – 100, Health – 100, Stamina – 100 for 60 minutes.]

[Banish Old Elemental: Banishes weaker Old Elemental to the Oblivion. This spell works on Elemental and Old Elemental of level 15 or lower. If the Old Elemental you’re trying to banish is stronger than that, the creature will be stunned.]

Tharn noticed she had a strange animal with her. It looked like a bear, but smaller and with a grey colour.

The moment the Teacher summoned an Elemental, she ordered that weird animal to attack, and he ran straight at his target without her bothering to protect him from the Elemental attacks. The strange animal survived until it tackled the Elemental, and they both rolled on the floor.

While they were fighting on the ground, the girl Summoned a bow and shot arrow after arrow without even minding that she was hitting her Familiar, who disappeared after being hit a second time. She continued to shoot arrows at the Elemental, who was trying to get up, and he vanished as well.

His Magic went to her, and the System sword warned Tharn. “She is now an Adept Rank of Level 37, Master.”

While the Teacher was congratulating her and the other students were clapping, Tharn asked, “Is that what you teach your students? That a Familiar is dispensable? What about the contract you mentioned, about a Familiar that is supposed to protect his Master while being taken care of?”

“You know nothing about the Magical bond that unites a Familiar to his Mage! A Familiar is nothing but a tool!”

Tharn made a slight smile and answered, “I have no idea how you became a Teacher with such a lack of knowledge. I don’t care anyway, because I am not here to enlighten you. But you should read a bit about Magic and Magical bonds. You could learn a thing or two. Are we done here? Because we need to go to the Library.”

The Teacher looked at the students, confirming if there was someone that didn’t fight, and he then nodded, while disguising his annoyance. “Yes, the test finished. Istar, come with me to my office. Alone! I need to check your Rank and your Level.”

The nervous girl took one step forward, and Tharn held her arm while addressing the Teacher. “She won’t do that. She won’t be with just you in a room unless there are more witnesses. You can’t be trusted.”

“I am a Teacher in this School, and you are a mere Familiar! She will do as I say!”

“No, she will not. You will certainly kill her with no witnesses nearby to hide the fact that you tried to kill her when you summoned that Old Elemental. Or do you think I didn’t notice that you only summoned weak Elementals to fight against the other students? The only way that you will make her go with you is if you kill me, and we both know that you don’t have enough Magic to do that, and judging by the lack of experience of these students, even if they attacked me at the same time, I would still win, and they would all die. Are you sure you want to challenge me? Like, really, really sure?”

The Teacher jolted because suddenly he noticed Tharn had his sword in one hand, while his other hand was glowing with Magic. A Familiar was not supposed to be able to use Magic, but there he was, ready to fight with a sword and Magic like he did against his Old Elemental.

Istar squeezed his arm and whispered, “What… what are you saying? He is my Teacher… He won’t kill me…”

“Do you want to bet your life? Because you told me you wanted to make your parents proud. They won’t be very proud when someone tells them tomorrow that you died today from a weird Magical accident. I told you I wasn’t going to help you after the fight, but I can’t stand still and let that suspicious man kill you to cover up his mistake. He wasn’t counting that you would gain so many Levels, or didn’t you notice that he only let your bully kill an Elemental? All the other students didn’t gain Levels, because the moment he saw his Elemental was going to be killed, he made him disappear. Is there another way out of this room? Because I don’t think he will let us exit through the door behind him without a fight.”

“There is… another door on our left. It leads to a classroom. From there, we can go to another room to reach the Library… or my room. It would be safer in my room…”

Tharn escorted the scared girl while walking backwards and never averting his gaze from the Teacher and the students.

When Istar opened the door, they were indeed inside a classroom, judging by the several tables and chairs.