As Shimon finished his story he began to weep uncontrollably, all those painful memories were just too much for him to bear.
Arnik sat opposite him stunned, everything made sense now. This was why his father had spent so many years slaving away at the Frost mansion, this was how he had gotten the Soulrune and most shocking of all he was a halfling. His thoughts were all muddled up and he began to feel dizzy.
He quickly shook this feeling away and stood up, he moved to where his father was still seated on the bed and embraced the older man. His father still weeping began apologizing,
"I'm sorry kiddo, I'm sorry for being a failure of a father" he cried.
Arnik simply looked at his father and cleaned the tears that were on his face,
" You're not a failure," he said smiling, "You're the best dad there is".
His father stared at him at a loss for words and then simply hugged him. As soon as his face was out of his father's view however his expression changed.
" In this world, only the strong are acknowledged, it's the universal rule," he thought to himself.
"If so, there's only one logical thing for me to do then, GET STRONGER!!!".
He spent some more time with his dad telling him about how the school had been so far. He conveniently skipped the fighting part but told him about his progress. Shimon was amazed but more importantly, he was proud of his son's achievements, after a short while Arnik left for school.
********************
Immediately Arnik got to school, he went straight to his hostel. He was thinking of how to maximize the Soulrune he had within him to its full potential and ultimately get much stronger, he did this for a while before deciding to go see Olea the next day, she had always helped him in the past so why not now, after this, he drifted to sleep.
He woke up bright and early the next day and got ready to go see Olea. Like the students, the teachers also stayed in the school so he was sure she would be around. He quickly left for her office but wasn't surprised to find it locked, he decided to wait for her to arrive
Olea arrived a few minutes later and was surprised to see Arnik waiting in front of her office, she had last seen him in the infirmary while he was unconscious. Without a word she opened the door and entered her office with Arnik in tow. She sat down at her desk and told Arnik to sit opposite her. She observed the boy for a while, something about his demeanor had changed, he wasn't smiling like he usually did and there was pure determination oozing from him, there was just a touch of desperation as well.
"How can I help you today Arnik?" she asked staring directly at him,
" Olea, I need to get stronger, fast and I don't know what to do " he answered leaning forward till he was just a few inches from her face, she smiled at him and he realized how close they were, he quickly recoiled in embarrassment.
She sighed and began typing something on her computer, she then pointed to the giant screen behind Arnik who followed her gesture and turned to face the screen as well. The screen flickered a bit before coming to life, images from the fight between Gerdi and Rowan leading to Arnik's intervention and eventual fight with Gerdi played on the screen.
Once the video was finished Olea who was now sitting at her table next to Arnik spoke,
" Now after watching this fight, what are your observations "
Arnik thought for a while, replaying the images of the fight in his head, he then looked at Olea and began speaking,
" Gerdi is adept at hand-to-hand combat, not only that he's also very good at using his elemental affinity well in close combat fights".
Olea nodded in acceptance before speaking,
" If it came down to raw destructive power, you would overpower him, even if he didn't know that at first, he eventually understood that.
He was able to quickly process that information while the fight was going on and created a counter for it. "
She reminded the video of when Arnik had shot some fireballs at Gerdi and began playing the video again while still speaking,
" Watch how he's able to defend against ranged attacks and quickly counter-attack"
She then sped up the video to where they were fighting with fists,
" See how he's able to switch comfortably from ranged to close combat, he's taking information as it comes, quickly processing it, and then reacting with a counter ".
Arnik was watching in earnest, everything Olea said was right, during the fight while he was simply fighting and doing whatever came to him naturally, Gerdi had been fighting with calculated movements.
Olea was speaking again,
" Your greatest weakness in a fight right now is your lack of combat experience. Asides from that, you lack the appropriate gear as well as resources to aid you properly in a fight. Also, this is probably a hunch, but I'm assuming that you have no training in any fighting style whatsoever ", she let out a sigh before continuing,
"Listen, you have potential Arnik, as a mage you are one of the fastest I've ever met and after reviewing that fight, I can tell that you can also be a good fighter as well, but nobody in this world survives on potential alone, you need resources and to get those you need money, lots and lots of it. It'll be hard but I think I know a way, it should help you with learning how to fight as well as making some money on the side.
Considering you're still in school and have to study and cultivate your mana as well, it'll be hard and you'll have to make some sacrifices but trust me it'll be worth it".
She turned her head to look him directly in the face, " What do you say, are you up for it?" she asked.
Arnik clenched his fist remembering everything that his father had told him as well as his earlier resolve to become stronger, he said " Yes I am, when do we start?".
Olea nodded, satisfied with his response
" I need to speak to a friend first, meet me during lunch tomorrow ".
Arnik nodded and rose to leave the office quietly, he was ready.
He left the staff building with plans to study a bit before going to the infirmary to see Rowan and then spend the rest of the day training. Just as he was approaching the library, he saw Vaella pyro, surrounded by a group of girls, "Her posse" he thought to himself. They consisted of girls from the other classes below the elite class and they were all first years.
Arnik had just passed them when he heard an authoritative feminine voice from behind him,
"Hey you", he stopped and turned to see Vaella right in front of him. Even though they were in the same class, he had never spoken to Vaella, if anything he had avoided her because of her temper, not like she would have anything to say to him anyway.
" What do you want?" Arnik asked, he was in a generally bad mood and couldn't care enough to spend time talking to her.
" Quite rude of you " Vaella responded," Anyways I watched your fight a few days back and I must say, I am impressed".
"And?" Arnik responded,he was rapidly getting irritated and Vaella high strung attitude wasn't helping.
"And I want you to come work for the Pyro family, as you know we have a very good relationship with the Frost family and we ca-"
" No, " Arnik said bluntly and turned to leave.
Vaella was livid, " Who do you think you're talking to, you piece of shit" the surrounding environment suddenly became very hot, flames began surrounding her and eventually grew, manifesting the shape of a bright red Phoenix behind her. The girls in the posse hurriedly scurried away afraid of getting burnt
" There's that temper, " Arnik thought to himself, the old him would never even have dreamed of talking to Vaella like this and yet he didn't even care right now.
Vaella was stronger than him and both knew it, the logical thing to do would be to back down but Arnik refused," No more running away he told himself "
With this resolve set in stone within him, he turned to face Vaella and let his flames also come to life, the blue flames quickly grew manifesting the shape of the Blue Basan.
The two stood facing each other for a few moments, the shockwave of both flames hitting each other violently, students began to gather to find out what was going on.
Vaella was shocked, what a show of power, plus no one had ever faced her like this Her shock eventually turned into acknowledgment and she calmed her flames to further aggravate the situation, Arnik did the same.
Vaella began to speak again but Arnik simply raised a hand " I'm not interested, leave me alone" he said as he turned and continued walking to the library.
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The day after his confrontation with Vaella, Arnik resumed school as usual. He was known to be a usually quiet person in class but the coldness emanating from him was a new feeling. Even Vilma who usually sat with him noticed it and decided to keep her distance.
Classes went on as usual and soon it was time for lunch break. He waited silently in his seat as everyone began leaving the class, Vilma noticed this and hesitated a little before approaching him, when she got to his seat she began speaking to him,
"Hi Arnik, I was -uhm wondering if you'd like to join me for lunch?" she stuttered,
Arnik looked at her, the usual bright blue eyes she had gotten used to seeing were gone and what remained were deep blue dead eyes,
"No thank you" he replied flatly.
" Oh, ok then " Vilma silently before she began walking away. Arnik had been this way since the fight, could it have been due to Rowan's injuries? she couldn't be sure but she genuinely cared for his well-being.
When she got to the door, she stopped to look back at him, he was still seated with his hand under his chin, "Please be okay" she muttered before leaving.
Immediately Arnik was left alone in the class, he closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. He was aware that he was being cold to everyone, but at the time it seemed like the most reasonable thing to do."What's the use of having friends if you can't even protect them" he muttered to himself.
He looked at his Atephra and quietly tapped on it and the familiar blue window that contained his stats popped up,
[NAME]
ARNIK RAGNIEL
[LEVEL]
PRIMARY MAGE
[ELEMENTAL AFFINITY]
FIRE{FLAMES OF BASAN}- Lvl 8
LIGHTNING-Lvl 2
[MAGIC GEAR]
RAGNIEL SOULRUNE- Lvl 2
His Fire affinity had risen considerably but his lighting affinity hadn't developed as fast. This was because he predominantly trained with his Fire affinity while he was in school.
He could only absorb mana to boost his Lightning affinity occasionally when he was alone to avoid raising suspicions from others.
"This isn't enough, I need to get my Lightning affinity to at least level 5" he muttered to himself. Also, he needed to get money in other to purchase magi-cores which he could use to upgrade his Soulrune.
He quickly remembered that he had an appointment with Olea and rushed to meet her in her office.
In front of her door, he knocked and waited for a response before he quietly let himself in. Olea was seated at her desk as usual and he sat opposite her. She was typing something on her computer and didn't even spare a glance at Arnik who patiently waited till she was done.
" I spoke to my friend and we agreed, meet me at the school gate at 7 pm sharp, I'll be taking you somewhere to meet him", she said.
Arnik nodded and left the office as quietly as he had come.
********************
The day dragged on and it soon came to a close. Unlike before Arnik was the first person to leave class, he intended to check on Rowan in the infirmary and then head to the Serdana dorm to meditate till it was time to meet up with Olea.
He quickly made his way to the infirmary and was pleasantly surprised to find Rowan sitting on his bed. When he had come here the previous day, he had been informed that Rowan had gained consciousness but was resting and so decided against disturbing him.
Rowan turned to look at who had just entered and wasn't too surprised to see Arnik after all he'd been told by the nurses that his friend had visited him almost every single day while he was unconscious.
" Hey buddy," Rowan said, smiling brightly. Arnik, desperate trying to hold himself, couldn't help but smile back, " Rowan" he muttered softly.
Rowan rose to his feet and spread out his arms, Arnik walked towards him and gave him a tight squeeze, he hadn't realized how much he has missed seeing his friend in the past few days.
"Too tight, too tight, you gonna break me in half" Rowan said laughing and Arnik released his grip,
" So what did I miss," he said, sitting back on his bed, he gestured for Arnik to do the same which the latter did.
" Well for starters, this" Arnik responded holding up his right hand, almost immediately, a small blue flame appeared in his palm.
"Hoooooo!!!" Rowan exclaimed, he was wide-eyed " This, blue flame, when, how, why," he asked rapidly,
Arnik then proceeded to tell him all that had happened while he was unconscious not skipping out on anything.
" I see," Rowan said, putting a hand under his chin, he remained like that for while before, putting the hand under his chin on Arnik's shoulder, he took a deep breath and then smiled at Arnik,
" Well, thanks for teaching that jerk a lesson," he said.
Arnik laughed a little before responding,
" Don't mention it" he said. He spent an hour talking to Rowan, updating him on what had happy while he was hospitalized and finally it was time for him to go.
" The doctor says I'm healing quite fast and I should be out by the end of the week, so don't worry about me okay?", Rowan said as Arnik got up to leave, the latter nodded and smiled at his friend before quietly leaving the room.
Arnik immediately headed for his dorm and wasn't surprised to find his room empty. Asides from Rowan's absence, the two seniors Crin and Resort shared the room with him and would be in the training room at this time and so would most of the other students.
" Perfect, just what I wanted" Arnik muttered to himself, he quickly changed and sat down to meditate. This was all according to his plan, classes ended at 4'o clock after which he had spent an hour with Rowan. He was supposed to meet up with Olea but Seven which meant that he had two hours he could dedicate to meditating.
"I was just about to enter Level 3 in my Lightning affinity, two hours should be more than enough," he thought to himself as he closed his eyes and began to meditate.
****************^^
About an hour and a half later, Arnik opened his eyes. He had successfully entered level 3 Lightning affinity and was happy with his new achievement. He quickly freshened up and hurriedly left for the school gate.
He got to the gate at Seven on the dot and looked around a bit before he saw a slim yet curvy figure walking toward him. Olea had changed out of the skirt suit and lab coat she usually wore in school and was now wearing a white top with a black jet and tight black leggings with sneakers. Arnik was at a loss for words as Olea walked up to him and spoke,
"You're punctual, that's good, let's go"
They stopped a taxi which they both entered and left for their destination. While in the taxi, Arnik played with his hands anxiously, Olea was seated beside him and he could smell the scent of her floral perfume.
"Dumb Arnik, focus," he told himself as he looked outside the window, they had left the wealthy part of town and headed towards the outskirts,
"Where are we going?" he asked facing Olea
"Bizma" she answered simply, Arnik wanted to ask more but decided against it.
Bizma was notorious for being a rough part of Lirdunia city, the living conditions were terrible and a lot of poor people gathered here. It was also home to robbers, kidnappers, and anyone that participated in social vices. Arnik, even though belonging to a low-class family, had never been to this part of town having lived in the Frost mansion his whole life.
The taxi driver drove for a while until Olea told him to stop in front of an old building that Arnik guessed served as a store.
They both got down and stood in front of the building. Olea looked at him and spoke,
"This, this is where the fun begins," she said smiling at him
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