Teras: the deadly game of cards

Adventurers' exam (Part 2)

The sound of birds woke up the resident of both dorms, Teras had woken up before everyone, the reason was to take care of Cromi, he fed her and helped her sleep, he was in serious need of sleep, he tried to wake himself with an apple, it is said that an apple helps you wake up, he had gathered the apple from a tree near the dorms, slowly the guys approached Teras

"You look horrible, did you not get any sleep tonight?"

Har asked

"Do I look that horrible? yeah, you guessed it, I didn't really sleep because I had to take care of my bunny"

"You have a bunny? you never told us"

Ronie commented

"I forgot, it's not really important anyway, I will try to keep her in check so she doesn't annoy anyone in the dorm, I'm not trying to get in trouble"

Teras responded

"Your bunny was so quiet we didn't even notice that you carried one, so I don't think it will cause any problems"

Har said

"Guys sorry to interrupt your moment but we have to get going, I don't want to be late to our first lesson"

Ronie told to the boys agreed and quickly got ready, the boys went outside and could hear the obnoxious screams of Recka

"I guess that's the place where we will gather"

Teras told to them, it was a big open field surrounded by trees and mountains, some people had already gathered, all of them seemed half-asleep, it was completely reasonable, the sun haven't even gotten up, the boys spotted the girls, the group then reunited

"How was your sleep guys? we didn't close an eye, the bed was rock-hard so we had trouble getting comfortable"

said Cara, she wasn't lying, you could tell because she had dark circles under her eyes

"We slept like animals but we still didn't get good sleep"

Ronie replied, Teras was confused,because he thought that the bed wasn't even that bad 

"There you are kid"

said Recka, she was walking in the group's direction

"Oh that's right Mrs.Recka was searching for you"

Lia told Teras

'Me? why does she need me anyway?'

he wondered

"If I remember correctly you could use mana right?"

Recka said

"You are correct"

"Perfect, now follow me"

she said, Teras didn't have an option, he simply followed she went in the middle of the arena and started the lesson

"YA HEAR ME, KIDS? I WILL NOW SHOW YOU HOW A FIGHT BETWEEN PEOPLE THAT POSSESS MANA GOES, MAKE SURE YOU DON'T MISS IT!!!"

'Oh shit!'

Recka then rushed at Teras, he went into a defensive position, Recka kicked but Teras blocked it with his mana enforced hands, Recka didn't stop, she kept on attacking him and Teras kept on dodging, Recka then left a huge opening

'This must be a bait, she isn't that stupid to let her guard open, I will bite the bait and counter-attack'

so that's what he did, he tried to strike her with his fist, she didn't block, she tanked it and proceeded to unleash a powerful punch at Teras, they both launched each other away from them

'Shit! I'm getting dizzy, I guess I didn't have to think that deep into it'

Teras thought as he regretted his decision but for some reason he was smiling, Recka noticed that Teras was shocked from the attack, before she could end the fight Teras ran to her side jumped and kicked her in her ribs with mana enhancement, he ended up breaking her ribs

'Just like Tokkou, do it effortlessly'

the only person that he knew could fight was Tokkou so he tried to fight like Tokkou

"What are you doing kid raise your guard!"

he ignored her, and kept on standing on a single spot, he waited for her to make the first move, Recka was annoyed so she took the first step, Teras then ducked as low as he could and threw a low kick, Recka jumped to dodge it, Teras then launched himself in the air with his hand and rotated, with the momentum of his rotation he stroke Recka with his mana enhanced elbow, Recka followed with a punch at his stomach, they both hit the ground, Recka was the first to get up, she wasn't that damaged compared to Teras, he was on the losing side, he could barely stand, Recka then concluded the fight, she didn't want to hurt Teras more than he already was

"Do you want to fight like that too?"

she asked the students, the students screamed in excitement

"What are you doing? the match ain't over"

Teras said as he was coughing blood

"You are in no condition to fight, let's stop for now, we can fight another day"

Teras wasn't satisfied, but he backed down, he didn't have so much energy to fight again plus he was injured and a rematch later seemed like a good idea to him

"Gather around, all of you, I will show you how to use your mana"

Recka told to the students

"You kid! head to your dorm and rest there, you can skip this class since you already know how to use mana, make sure you don't miss lunch though"

Teras thanked Recka and slowly walked to the dorms

"Are you alright? do you want any help getting to your dorm?"

Cara said, the whole group seemed worried about Teras health

"You don't have to worry I know how to use healing magic, so I will heal quickly"

Teras responded

"Don't push yourself like that Teras, you are just going to get hurt more and more"

Har told him

"I told you, don't worry about me, I will be fine"

he told them as he was leaving, he then reached the dorms

'I'm quite lucky aren't I? I got to skip a whole class and I can now sleep peacefully without having to hear all those people snoring'

Teras thought as he was laying on his bed, he slowly fell asleep

"Why are you still here? didn't I tell you? you need to hurry, he is coming"

the shadowy figure told him, he was dreaming again, a similar dream to the one he had in Tokkou's mansion, the difference was that there were 2 figures a tall one and the original, the original figure was pointing at the tall figure

"You can't be..."

Teras said to the tall figure, before he could finish his sentence he woke up, he was sweating

'It was the same guy that followed me inside the forest, the tall man is coming? no, it can't be, it's just a dream, a weird one at that'

he tried to convince himself that the dream was nothing but he couldn't drive away from the feeling of fear he felt, the dream seemed too real, he quickly got up and looked outside the window, it was noon the mana training was almost over so he got ready and exited the dorms, he went to the field to find the others, a lot of people were meditating, they all were training their mana flow, before he could approach them Recka stopped him

"Don't get any closer you will disrupt them and if you do that I will beat you up, they spent so much time just so they can summon their mana"

'Was it that hard for me?'

he wondered

"Don't worry I just came to ask you something, have you ever seen any tall figure around here?"

"I don't recall seeing anyone really tall, except your friend, he is very tall for a kid your age"

Teras didn't get the information he wanted but he assumed she hasn't seen it

"It's weird I could easily maintain my mana flow, why can't the others?"

he asked

"Well people's ability to learn how to control mana differs from person to person, you must be a talented mana user, I mean you already showed it in our fight, you were moving like a madman I haven't seen someone moving like this since I was young"

"Thank you for your compliment, I wanted to ask you another question, do you use the power of cards?"

"Obviously, I mainly use the 8th(earth) , but I also know how to use the 2nd(strength) one"  

"I can't wait to learn how to use the cards too"

Teras said in excitement

"You will have to wait for that, but it depends on your classmates, if they can learn how to use mana quickly then I will call your teacher"

Recka said

"Wait, you can't teach us how to use cards?"

Teras wondered

"I can't, you have to be strong enough and you must have a great understanding of how cards work so you can teach it to others, you can't just learn it, people also need to form a contract with god so they can use the power of cards"

"I still can't understand how you can't teach it but I will accept your excuse"

"Look you need to learn it from a higher up, you can't just teach it, also I will need more people than to manage almost 40 people"

'That makes more sense'

he thought in his head, the students continued to meditate, Teras was amazed by the color they all emitted, it started with a mix of many colors and in the end the colors merged into a bright white color, some minutes passed and Recka yelled

"ALL OF YOU STOP THAT'S ENOUGH FOR TODAY, EVERYBODY GATHER AT THE LUNCH AREA THE FOOD IS READY!!!"

everyone stopped, they were exhausted, they maintained their mana flow for about 2 hours, Teras was still wondering, why could he use mana very easily while they were sweating to maintain their mana flow for some hours, the group then gathered

"Man it was so tiring, it's also our first day here, couldn't it have been easier?"

Ronie whined, everyone agreed with him

"You got out of this hell easily Teras but tomorrow you can't escape it"

Lia told him jokingly, then they walked together to the lunch area, they had boiled potatoes for dinner

"Finally some quality food, I couldn't wait to eat some freshly made potatoes"

said Cara

"You sure love your potatoes don't you Cara?"

Teras said

"It's not my fault I grew up in a village, the common thing to eat was potatoes, so I fell in love with them"

Cara replied with embarrassment

"Teras can I ask you a question? how did you learn how to use mana? I mean is not that easy to find someone that can teach it to you for free"

Lia asked

"Well a friend of mine had one of his maids teach me how to control my mana, although she didn't help me so much, she still provided me with the basics and a basic theory of how mana functions"

Teras replied

"Whoa, your friend must be very rich, to own a maid is one thing, but to own multiple and also know how to use mana is a rare sight"

Ronie replied as he ate his potatoes

"Well he did own an arena and a mansion so I think he must be pretty rich"

everyone was really shocked

"Do you mind telling us your friend's name, I'm really curious to know who is he"

Har asked

"His name is Tokkou he told me he is the grand jack or something..."

Cara choked on a potato, Ronie spat his water, and Lia gasped unbelievably loud

"YOU ARE FRIENDS WITH THE GRAND JACK? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US ANYTHING?"

Ronie screamed, his scream attracted the eyes of the other students, Teras was a lit of bit confused

"Is he that well-known?"

Teras asked

"Are you insane? of course he is! he is the grand jack, he works under the high king and queen the 2 most powerful people in the world!!!"

Teras remembered the time when he saw Tokkou practice

'he seemed powerful but I didn't believe he was this powerful'

Teras thought

"Tell us, how is he like"

"How does he practice?"

"Is he single?"

a lot of questions about Tokkou were asked but he didn't reply to any of them

"Guys relax a little, I know it must be socking learning this but I don't know everything about him, I only know that he is a good guy that helps people in need, also I don't like spreading my friend's information like it's nothing"

the group was disappointed but knew that Teras had a point, they stopped asking questions and tried to finish their food, while they were eating Recka told to all of them

"Guys after you eat go to sleep, in about 2 hours I will take you for fighting practice and after that, we will all visit the hot springs so you can wash yourselves"

everybody quickly ate so they can use the spare time to sleep, the group quickly left one after another, in the end Teras was left alone, he didn't want to sleep, he wanted to scout the area for the tall man, he searched the whole place but couldn't find any trace of him

"Hey kid what are doing here? you should go to sleep"

Recka told him

"I'm not sleepy, also I have something to do, more precisely I have to find someone"

Teras replied

"Well everyone must be asleep so it's futile to search outside"

"He is not inside trust me"

he said with confidence

"You do you"

Recka replied as she left, Teras then decided to head to the mountains, the trees in the area weren't that tall so the man would stand out, he then climbed a tall slope and sat down, he then kept an eye all around the camp, some hours passed and nothing seemed out of place

'I choose the wrong decision again didn't I?'

he asked himself, in the end he decided to get back to the camp, he was greatly disappointed, when he got back he saw that some students had already woken up, he then spotted Recka sitting on her own so he joined her

"Do you know what time is it?"

he asked her

"You are not allowed to know the time here"

she replied

"I'm guessing we are going to start soon right?"

"Yea you are correct, I will teach you the basics of sword fighting and then we will move to hand-to-hand combat and after that, we will all go to the hot springs"

"Alright, then I will go wake up my friends"

he first went to the boy's dorm and woke up Ronie and Har

"Thank you Teras, we will be on our way"

Har said while yawning, Teras then left the boys' dorm and went inside the girls' dorm, he saw multiple girls, some of them were changing at the time, some others were hardly wearing any clothes, he just stood there, it was the first time Teras appreciated a woman's body, when the girls noticed Teras standing there they immediately attacked him

"What are you doing here you pervert!!!"

a girl screamed, Teras quickly left the dorm

'why did I enter their dorms? am I stupid?'

he wondered, he hid himself somewhere near the lunch area, after some minutes Recka screamed the name of Teras

"WHERE ARE YOU, YOU LITTLE BASTARD? SHOW YOURSELF!!!"

Teras didn't want to complicate the situation so he quickly ran up Recka

"I can explain"

Teras said

"No you can't, for your punishment you will clean the dorms while we go on the hot springs"

"What!? no way, I'm telling you, I didn't want to peep on them, I just wanted to inform Cara and Lia"

Teras said

"Oh do you deny your allegations? are you trying to say the girls are lying?"

Recka replied

"Yes that's exactly what I'm saying, I'm no pervert"

Teras told her with a serious sight on his face

"Your stupid excuses will not cut it, you either tide up the rooms or you leave"

Teras realized something and laugh

"Are you insane, you are accusing me of being a pervert and now you are telling me to clean the girl's dorm? do you even realize how stupid that is?"

Teras said while laughing

"Then I thought of a better punishment, after the hot springs you are going to fight me 1-on-1, I will be able to use the power of cards, if you show me you are worthy of staying you will be forgiven, but if you lose you take your stuff and never return"

Teras thought that this punishment was a little too much but he couldn't do anything, he could just pray that he would make it, Recka then gathered everyone to the field

'I have to think of a way to beat her fast, or else I will be in a bad position, damn her! forget it I will find a way while I fight, I can't waste my last bit of training thinking'

he said as he was going to the field