The Murklin System: Rise of the Dark Hero

Chapter 12

“Knight, Dragoon, Archer and Aria need magic spells to injure an immortal.” Day showed him the gun they were using. “Every click on this button triggers the magic circle. One magic circle for injuring a murklin, another one for injuring a caelum, and the others for cerise and mauve.”

“That sounds complicated,” said Finn. “What if the enemy is already in front of you, and yet you clicked the wrong button? You’ll get k-lled even before you click.”

Day chuckled. “That’s why we’re training, Finn. We’re training how to shoot faster, and how to click the button faster.” Finn nodded and let her continue. “The swords, on the other hand, are different. Instead of buttons, you cast the spell on the spot.”

Handing a pair of training swords, Day unsheathed it. She raised her index and middle finger, and before placing it in the middle of the sword. While mumbling under her breath, she started to move her fingers towards the tip of the sword, and it started to produce a white light.

When she was done, she showed Finn the glowing sword. “I just chanted the spell to injure a murklin. White light is for murklins, black for caelum, green for cerise, and orange for mauve.” She chanted another spell and slid her finger on the sword again until it glowed black.

“That’s so cool,” Finn mumbled unconsciously.

“Right?” Day beamed. “That’s why it’s important to learn and memorize all the chants and spells there are. It’s useful in every position. If you know all the spells, you’ll be untouchable.”

Finn couldn’t help smiling while looking at her. She looked so proud. “Is that why you chose Aria?”

That question erased the smile on Day’s face. “Well, I didn’t really choose Aria. It’s just that… this is the only thing I’m good at, memorizing. You can say that I just didn’t have a choice.”

Seeing her sad and lonely expression, Finn knew that he had to change the topic. “Anyway, what about the archer? I can’t wait to know how they fight!”

Day smiled widely again. “Archers use bow and arrow. Just like Dragoons, their arrows have magic circles. They could just change them on the spot without clicking any buttons.”

“Then, they just have to get the arrow and draw the bow faster to injure an immortal, right?” Day nodded. “I think I understand it clearly now. Thank you so much for teaching me.”

“No problem. If you have any more questions, you can always ask me,” she beamed. “Oh, right. What are you going to pick? Have you decided yet?”

Finn shook his head. “I think I’ll try everything first, then I’ll decide later. They’re all interesting, and I want to do them all, but I know that it’s not possible.”

“You still have time. This is just your first day, you know. It also took me a while to choose my position.”

As they went back to training, Finn observed the others this time. The man and woman with Day this morning were good with swords, but they were pretty good with other weapons as well. The other woman was exceptional in archery, while the other man was also good with swords. 

On the other hand, the rude man who called him lame a while ago was pretty good with guns, no matter how much Finn hated to admit it. Day was indeed an Aria, and she was the only one who memorized almost all the passages there were in the grimoire.

Finn wondered what he would focus on. He was interested in using a sword at first, but after trying the other weapons, he wasn’t so sure anymore. He didn’t know what he was good at either, but he wasn’t that bad in any of them as well.

When he asked Day about it, the woman answered him vaguely, saying that it was up to him. He was the one who would focus on it anyway, not her. And she didn’t know what Finn liked to use more.

In the end, he couldn’t decide anything. Lunch time came, and they all went to the dining hall to eat. Everyone was moving and helping, like they were already used to everything here, and they all had their own chores. 

But not Finn. He just stood there, gaping. He didn’t know what to do, but he didn’t want to sit yet while everyone was busy fixing their lunch. And as his last resort, he ambled near Day and asked what he could help with.

“Just place these plates on the table, then. Let us do the rest. I’ll give you your chores later after training.”

Finn nodded shyly before handing the plates. He placed them on the table and made sure it was enough for everyone. Once he was done, he just stood there and watched.

When they were all settled, they started eating. 

Day said, “After lunch, we just have a few minutes to take a break, then we’ll proceed to the forest for the duel.”

Finn almost choked. “Duel? Like, we’re going to fight each other?” Day nodded. “I will, too?”

“I’m not really sure yet. Since there are seven of us here now, it’ll be an odd number. I don’t know what’s going to happen. But before you came here, we always had duels in the forest. We get to choose our opponent, or if we don’t want to, Ronim assigns us one.”

“I wonder what’ll happen, then.” They continued eating while talking while the others had their own conversations. Ronim was the only quiet one.

“Don’t worry. It’s not like a duel to the dea.th. We just have to test ourselves whether we learned something or not. Once your opponent accepts defeat, you win. Or if one of you crosses the circle, they’re out.”

“Does it have a time limit? I mean, we can’t fight forever, right?”

“Right. Each fight has an hour limit. If no one surrenders or no one crosses the circle, it’ll be a draw. But that also equates to a punishment.”

“You mentioned a punishment before, too. What kind of punishment is that, actually?”

“It’s been a while since someone got one, you know. But the last time it did happen—” Day pointed to the woman. “ —Rina was punished, and she had to fill two tanks in a day. One for her, and one for her opponent, Kiel.” She pointed to the other man, one of the hunters who greeted Finn this morning.

“That’s harsh.” Finn couldn’t imagine how that tiny woman managed to do the punishment. “But why only her?”

“Because she crossed the circle on purpose. She didn’t even try to fight Kiel.”

“Eh? Why?”

Day giggled just by thinking of the reason. “Because she lost a bet.”

Finn blinked several times. “Huh?”

“In one of their missions, Rina bet that she’ll catch the cri.minal assigned to the two of them. If not, she’ll lose on purpose in the duel the next day. And Kiel needs to do the same if she manages to catch him alone. But you know what happens next. Kiel captured the crimi.nal.”

Finn shook his head. He didn’t know why Rina would bet something like that. Was she a maso.chist? Did she enjoy hurting and giving herself a hard time? Because Finn wouldn’t do that. He would not risk having to fill a tank twice just for the sake of a bet.