That day at school went by in moments, they called us to the lobby to inform us about the optional Hunt Weeks we could go on for materials every quarter. I opted out of them because I was more interested in making things so I could just buy the materials from those who went on Hunt Weeks. With my access to materials secure, the only thing dragging me down was Spirit telling me to apologize to Small-Horns.
"Small-Horns, what type of Eneru do you use," I asked with an obvious mocking
"Wouldn't you like to know Top-Heavy?" He clearly disdained what I said about his horns.
The voice permeated the school building "Ingen of Gond and Devin of Reike please report to the gymnasium."
We both turned towards the gym and had the same thought 'We're done for.'
When we arrived at the gym, Teacher and another Professor were waiting for us.
"I thought you wanted to be an engineer Ingen, not a savage" Teacher scolded
'Agreed' Spirit was clearly not happy with my attitude.
"Alright kids, my name is Professor Unda and since we aren't naive enough to think you two won't just fight it out where we can't see you, we've organized an official duel between you." She sounded annoyed.
The gymnasium was prepared for us, it had gained a field, uneven terrain, and many trees to make the room resemble a forest. I saw Small-Horns grin.
'He's going to eat that smile when I show him how well my attribute works in an Eneru-rich environment like this one.' I cracked a grin, which only made Small-Horns smile wider.
"Go to opposite sides of the room." Teacher sighed, handing us both two rings. "These rings are protection charms, you will not be injured until both run out. The match will be over and you will be considered the loser if your first charm runs out."
"There are three rules, no sharp weapons, no beasts, and if you attempt to strike your opponent after their first charm runs out, you will be disqualified." Unda took a breath, confirmed we were in position and shouted "START!"
Small-Horns pulled some wheels out of his pockets and threw them, in an instant he drew a rune in the air and a board of wood was materialized, taking from the nearby trees, the board merged with the wheels and made a strange contraption that he could stand on. Small-Horns put down the board and frantically started to draw runes, forcing the grass nearby to weave into a flat, hard surface he could easily ride on.
I wasn't sitting on my hands either and I quickly made a quarterstaff out of a low-hanging branch and braced for a charge.
As he approached, Small-Horns created a club out of wood and swung it at me. The club was really easy to block, too easy. The board came from below and hit me in the stomach, reducing my first charm to half capacity. I swung my staff in retaliation, Small-Horns didn't expect the little staff to have so much power, in fact the staff had thrice the density of a normal one, his charm was brought down to a third.
When I tried to recover from the swing, I found that I couldn't move. I was held in place by vines, grass, wood, and every other type of plant in the forest. I could manipulate them somewhat but they had some innate resistance to my Eneru. One swift club strike was all it would take to end the duel, but when Small-Horns tried to hit me, he only found a rock-hard piece of wooden armor that began severing his plants from me.
"A valiant effort, but you still lose." he said, assured of his victory
These words signaled the beginning of a long sequence of runes, conjuring a set of fists made of vegetation. I looked for another solution before I was taken down and found that the air contained a trace amount of Eneru so I used that to bolster my defenses, but the many blows were too much and eventually my armor came apart and I lost.
'I told you so.' if he had a face, Spirit would most definitely be smug.
'How did I lose, I'm better than him' I was heavily in denial
'You aren't, you didn't even use an eighth of your Eneru capacity'
'See! I have so much more Eneru, I should have won!'
'No, Ingen, think for once in your life. You could have been at least eight times more effective, and you haven't put an ounce of effort into learning the whole time you've been here. Imagine the power you could have if you had an A- in runic language.'
Like waking up from a bad dream I realized what I'd done, I had gone and become a bully, calling Devin "Small-Horns", challenging him to a sparring match for no real reason, I was being arrogant with a power I hadn't even earned. I swallowed my pride and did what had to be done.
"I thoroughly apologize for my behavior, and I thank you for showing me how wrong I was." I bowed at Devin as I changed his profile in my glasses.
"Did Teacher tell you to say that?" Devin retorted
"I was going to, but it seems he beat me to the punch." Teacher walked through the forest.
Devin's expression softened "If that's the way it is, then apology accepted, now take back your comment on my horns."
"Consider it taken back."
Devin put out his hand and I shook it.
'Something tells me he's important.'