Chapter 155: Hello There (Patreon)

Chapter Prescript:

Sorry about the delay, I've been a bit busy lately.

Enjoy the chapter!

===

Leif was about to leave his seat and return to the library, when the sands below were finally cleared of ice. Large sections of the arena were filled with muddy, blackened detritus from the earlier fight between Blades. He perched on the edge of his seat, undecided on what to do. Maybe he should check the schedule before he departed?  

The announcer's booming voice pronounced that the upcoming fights would be six versus six bouts between teams from the different islands. The announcer called for the first two teams to enter, large doors on opposite sides of the dirty, but mostly cleared sands grinding open. The closest team jogged out in a tight formation, the red bandanas around their heads clearly marking them as part of the same group. Leif didn’t recognise any of them, which wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise was that he did recognise someone from the second team. Three someones in fact. 

Sieg, Linus, Adriana and three other students from Lutum walked in single file out of their own entrance. In contrast with the bandana team, they weren’t wearing anything identifying, other than their Lutum crests, nor did they strike elaborate poses for the crowd. The protective field flickered to life around the arena, and Leif huffed in amusement at the look of disgust on Sieg’s face as the tall man with dark braided hair saw the spectacle his opponents were making out of themselves. 

The northerner was as Leif remembered him, but Linus and Adriana looked different, though he supposed that was due to the year that had gone by since he had seen them last. Adriana spun a long flute between her fingers, and Linus ran a hand through his hair, two daggers floating above each shoulder. The young man had a thin moustache on his upper lip that looked like it needed to be put out of its misery, and the young woman had easily grown over an inch in height. 

Leif’s mouth stretched into a smile behind his mask as he settled back down into his seat. Studying was important, but he couldn’t miss this.

===

The fight was short, and decidedly one sided. Despite putting up a strong front, the bandana wearing team from Braslim got run over in less than five minutes. Much like Mouric before him, Sieg displayed the might of ice magic, frosted mist rolling off his glistening axe head as the man forged blades of ice that spun towards his foes with devastating speed, and, as one of the bandana wearing students learnt when she tried to block with a shield skill, incredible power. 

Linus, with the support of Adriana’s wind magic, paired off against a spearman and lightning sword user on the right hand side of the arena. It was hard to make out, but Leif thought Adriana was creating platforms of wind for Linus to bounce around off of as the [Rogue], empowered by a skill that drastically increased his speed, took both martial classers apart with cruel efficiency. Adriana buffeted both opponents, the shrill sound of her flute blasting the sand around her away.

Unlike during the duel between Blades, Academy officials were now on the sands, blowing a whistle and gesturing with a hand to indicate whenever someone was defeated. A presence that became necessary when an unarmed [Brawler] from the Braslim team refused to surrender, even when he was pinned in place with ice and had an axe blade to his neck. 

The member of the bandana team who put up the best fight was some sort of [Mage] who conjured twin spinning arcane circles that fired a continuous stream of beams at anyone who got too close. Linus threw a dagger into the [Mage]’s shoulder from just outside his maximum range with the aid of a telekinetic shove, causing him to lose concentration, his skill working flickering out of existence as a swordswoman from the Lutum team dashed in to force his abdication from the battle.

It was a clean six-zero, and the crowd, at least those not from Braslim, made their appreciation of the skill on display known through rigorous applause and cheering. Leif clapped alongside them, then stood once the raucous died down and made his way into the inner workings of the arena. It was a maze of stone tunnels and branching passageways, a small instinct in the back of his head reminded him of his dislike of being underground, but considering who he was trying to locate it was easy enough to push aside. 

Leif didn’t know where he was going other than a vague notion of the general direction in which he should be travellin, so he asked a pair of student enchanters who seemed more interested in the light fixture they were repairing than the tournament taking place several metres above their heads. He complimented their work, and they happily pointed him towards the location of the nearest waiting room. The scion detected a collection of about twenty vitality signatures all clustered together and stepped out into a connecting corridor. 

A group of six humans huddled together near the entrance to the waiting room, all of whom were now familiar. Sieg looked up, his brow creasing into a frown as he looked at Leif’s masked appearance. Sieg’s frown turned to a scowl as he saw Leif slightly adjust his trajectory in his team's direction. 

“Can I help you?” He asked, testily. 

“Maybe.” Leif said. “But I wanted to congratulate you on the fight, impressive.”

Adriana sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, Linus copying her a moment later, though neither of them were facing the other. “Another one? How have three of these guys found us already? We only just won our first match.” She grumbled.

“We’re not interested in your offer. I’m not interested in your offer.” Sieg said, crossing his arms defensively. 

Leif came to a stop. They didn’t recognise him, and that was fine. But who did they think he actually was? One of the outsiders scouting talent for the factions in the capital? It seemed like the most reasonable guess. He briefly considered leaning into their assumptions and having a little fun at their expense, but he wasn’t in the Academy to make a scene. Instead he raised a hand.

“There’s a misunderstanding. I’m not recruiting you or anything like that. I am genuinely just congratulating you on the win. I see you broke through the level fifty bottleneck Sieg? When last we met you hadn’t made that leap.”

The man blinked in surprise, his scowl returning to its previous frown. 

‘And you two.” Leif continued, gesturing at Linus and Adriana. “I remember you two getting in each other's way constantly when you fought. Glad to see things have improved.” He glanced at the other three. They hadn’t been on the expedition. “I don’t know your names, sorry about that. Nice fight though.”

“Do… Do we know you?” Linus asked.

“You do, though I’d prefer a more private location before we catch up. Oh, Sieg, how’s Marcus? I don’t see him around.”

The northerner squinted at him. “How do you… who-” 

Leif stepped aside to let an excited trio of second years from Dimid dash past him into the waiting room. One of them was holding an armful of spears, and tripped over their own feet, the weapons tumbling out of their grasp. The scion reached out with a conjured arm of amber, catching three of the weapons and levitating the fourth with [Wood Manipulation]. The student, a thin man with faintly green hair thanked him, taking the spears back before running to catch up to his team. 

Sieg choked, then laughed, striding forward. “No way.” He said, shaking his head in disbelief. “Are you insane? What are you doing here? Scratch that, how are you even here?”

Leif clasped the tall man's forearm, matching Sieg’s grip strength with little difficulty. “I came via boat. I can’t exactly swim.”

Sieg slapped him on the shoulder, then snorted as he felt the ‘armour’ Leif was wearing underneath his clothing. “We thought you were dead for sure when you teleported back onto the bluff. Marcus, he’s fine by the way, just busy with other matters. He had been keeping tabs on you with a scrying skill he got, but it stopped working on you suddenly and then he lost his connection to you. Bloody hells, it’s good to see you, Leif.”

“Likewise, it’s been quite a year on my end, how have you been?”

“Great! Well, good. It’s been difficult actually, but things are finally looking up.” He turned, grinning at a stunned looking Adriana and a gawking Linus. He waved at the other three members of his team. “We’re done for the day. Go and rest, or watch the fights. You all did fantastically, thank you.”

With that Sieg led Leif, Adriana and Linus down a corridor and into a massive unlit room, its arched ceiling held up by a dozen stone pillars barely visible from the light filtering in through the door. He pressed a hand to a small rune inscribed panel to the side of the entrance, causing lights to flicker to life around the room’s perimeter. The easily fifty metre long and twice that in length chamber was absent of all furniture, though rough scrape marks on the stone indicated it had once been used for something. 

“An old training room, we think. From before the founding of the Academy” Sieg explained, conjuring a glowing shard of ice and looking around for a way to turn more lights on. “There are several of them below the arena, some far bigger than this one.”

“I’m surprised something this large is unused.” Leif stated, his boots disturbing a thin layer of dust that clung to the carved stone floor.

Sieg shrugged. “A lot of places on the archipelago are unexplored, let alone in use. There’s an entire temple complex on Dimid they’re currently excavating.” 

Linus and Adriana scampered after them into the massive room, firing off a series of rushed questions. Leif stepped down into the slightly depreciated centre of the chamber, tilting his head slightly in their direction. 

“I still can’t believe how badly the expedition ended.” Adriana said, waving her hand to block the doorway with a shimmering barrier of wind, the distant sound of voices and footsteps being cut off due to her skill. “I didn’t think anyone not already on a skimmer was going to survive. And that included Blade Hera and commander Kaan. What happened?”

“I had a skill I had never used.” Leif said, being vague due to their pseudo private surroundings. He trusted the sound blocking barrier she had made, but not that their echoing voices wouldn’t leak out of the chamber through another exit. “It barely let me cling onto life after I killed the undead enslaver. It took months to recover though.” 

“You look so different wearing those clothes. Like, you look totally normal, apart from the mask.” Linus said. “I seriously couldn’t tell. Did you- uh, do something- um, about that? Your appearance, I mean?” 

The scion nodded. “I figured it out, partially. Still a ways to go before-”

The wind barrier popped, a presence suddenly appearing as if out of nowhere.

“Hmmm.” Came a hum of intrigue from the doorway as a shadow loomed within it, casting the threshold into shadow. “Running away after the fight are we? Didn’t feel like hanging around for your poor little mentor, Sieg?”

The four of them turned to see a hulking, familiar figure of towering muscle duck through the entrance to the training room. The eighth Blade. Mouric Voknar. 

“Hello there, who is this?” the massive man said, looking down at Leif, the scion belatedly wishing he had made his body a little bit taller. “I don’t believe I recognise you. Though I suppose that’s the purpose of the mask. You’re not one of those capital rats are you? If you are…” He trailed off. 

Leif’s mind froze, but his body reacted smoothly as he dipped his head in a respectful motion. 

“Oh, Mentor… I did not expect to see you here.” Sieg said, stepping forward, his hands open.

“Am I not allowed to give feedback and encouragement to my favourite student?” The large man said, standing to his full height. He smiled down at Linus and Adriana, both of them giving the other a nervous glance. “Why so tense? I am far from the least approachable of the Blades. If you got ambushed in a dark corner by Crest you may have to worry, but not me. Hmmm, is the stranger the cause I wonder?” 

“No, sir. This… This is an old friend from an expedition we took part in last year.” Sieg said. 

“An old friend?” Mouric asked, taking a slow step forward that seemed to cover half the distance between him and Leif. 

“Hello sir.” Leif said, bowing again, mentally adjusting his mask so it wouldn’t fall from his face by accident. It wouldn’t do that, but he made sure anyway. “I am Leif Vin. Sieg was correct, we met during the Pherin expedition.”

“The one that ended in disaster? Wasn’t Hera in charge of that one, or am I remembering wrong?”

“She was, yes. I am currently staying within her residence. I am an associate of the Academy.” Leif said, conjuring his token and looking up at Mouric as the man loomed above him. 

“I see. I see.” Mouric said, rubbing his beard thoughtfully. “Hera never mentioned she had a friend who was so…” A firm analysis swept over Leif, brushing his aura aside like a glacier carving a path down from the mountains in which it was born. “Strong.” 

The scion’s mind raced. He hadn’t sensed Mouric with his aura until the man had entered the room, and he was fairly certain that wasn’t due to Adriana’s now dissipated wind barrier. Now that the man stood before him his immense strength pressed down on him like a physical weight. What had Mouric seen? What information had the system given him? Out of reflex, Leif triggered his own analysis skill, somewhat surprised when the man didn’t even try to block it.

Combat experience: Greater!

Age: Older!

“Who are you, really?” The Blade asked, his tone more curious than hostile. “And why are you wearing that mask? Isn’t it a little… I don’t know, rude?”

Saying that he was trying to hide his identity wasn’t really a good excuse since he had already told the man his name. Fortunately there were a wide variety of other reasons he could be hiding his appearance. From needing partial anonymity for certain skills to function, to having suffered a grievous wound that he hadn’t been able to heal. The story he had decided to go with when pressed had been Lars’ suggestion, the guild enforcer having helped him workshop it during one of their training sessions. 

“Aura training.” Leif replied calmly. “I am trying to align my identity with my aura, and not my physical appearance.” 

Mouric raised an eyebrow. “An interesting technique. Not a fan of it myself, but interesting nonetheless. Say, we’re in an arena of sorts, you’re quite strong, how do you feel about having some… exercise?”

Linus choked, Adriana slapping him on the back. Sieg spoke up. “Mentor, are you sure?”

The eighth Blade grinned. “What? Can’t I have a little fun with a friend of my protégé?” 

“I watched your fight with the seventh Balde.” Leif said carefully. “I already know I’m not your match.” 

“True.” Mouric said without a hint of modesty. “But I find myself intrigued nonetheless. How about I make it worth your time? You last five minutes against me, while I’m holding back to not damage the chamber we're in, and I’ll owe you a favour.”

“And if I lose?” 

The large man rolled his shoulders, his grin widening. “Oh, nothing much. I just want to borrow your mask.”