The next day when Aaron was awoken, he spent the morning mentally preparing himself. Knowing they would be pitted against unchained monsters, he would have to be ready to kill, without any hesitation. Having Water Bullet as an extra card in his back pocket was handy, but he knew that using magic wasn't the point. He needed to be ready to fight and defeat monsters quickly and easily or there was no point trying to be a Champion.
Sooner or later, without that ability to fight without holding back, he'd end up getting himself killed. It all began here, to level up, to get stronger, to defeat the Demons, he needed to take that first step. Just thinking about how pitiful the creature he killed yesterday was in its final moments made him sick.
He needed to be firm and decisive, not allowing his enemies to pull on his heartstrings and for theirs and his own sake, not dragging a battle out. The longer it went on and the more injured they became it felt less like a fight and more like a kid pulling wings off a butterfly. Ridding himself of sympathy was one thing, but also making sure he wasn't causing undue suffering was important too.
As the servant knocked and delivered breakfast, these thoughts swirled through his mind. The servant laid out a thick leather chest piece for him to put on over his plain workout clothes which he did without thinking. Still lost in thought he strode out the door and joined his peers
It wasn't until he found himself walking through the arena's entrance along with his classmates that he came back to himself with a start. In the centre of the coliseum, a large walled off wooden pen had been constructed. It was a hexagonal shape, with only one door and steps all the way up its circumference allowing people to walk up the top and peer over its edge.
Inside the pen it was roughly 20 metres in diameter and the walls were 12 feet high, allowing room to move yet not enough to run around for long. Outside Boriq and Hallgrim stood, along with his two Viking stooges. One held a lynx on a short leash, it sat there sullenly, not making any attempt at aggression until its eyes landed on the approaching group and began to snarl quietly.
A few of the class slowed seeing this, but James strode ahead, his eyes focused on the pen and the instructors before them. Kevin also strode forwards, bypassing James and taking Boriq aside to have a few quiet words. Clearly, although he understood the need for this form of training, he wanted to make sure every one of his students would be safe. After talking quietly for a few moments, and Boriq gesturing to a number of Healers on standby not far away, Kevin's concerns were mollified if not completely satiated.
"Alright kids!" Hallgrim roared out as the group lined up.
"Today you become adults in the eyes of Jorfrugr. I have only one thing to say. Which one of you is going first?"
James stepped forward with no hesitation. A few of the others raised their eyebrows in surprise but most expected as much. James had been doing his best to set himself up as a leader and no matter what they thought about it, if he walked the walk then they would accept it.
Hallgrim did not mock him as he had the day before. Instead, he merely handed the boy a knife and then gestured to the wooden door behind him. James strode through the doorway without a backwards glance and moved to the opposite end of the pen.
As everyone ran up the surrounding steps to see over the ledge, the Viking guard led the Lynx into the pen. Having no fear of his safety he easily held its collar and removed the chain, the Lynx's attention focused solely on the young boy before it, armed only with a sharp knife. The Viking held on for a moment, before releasing the creature and stepping back through the doorway, slamming it shut.
.......
James focused as the creature did not hesitate to lunge at him. He'd been spending more time looking up his status and practicing his abilities since yesterday. One of which was Heroic Aura. It was only level 1, but it increased all stats of himself and anyone in his party by 10% for 10 minutes. At his current level that was only a single extra point in every stat, but everything helped.
Activating it, his body gave off an almost unnoticeably faint glow as he dashed sideways out of the lynx's reach. Seeing how fast they were when moving in direct lines yesterday, James attempted to circle around and get in the beast's blind spot. Unfortunately, it did not allow this easily, turning with him before lashing out with one of its claws.
James dodged it by a hair and slashed forward with the knife, nicking the creature's arm yet not dealing any significant damage. The lynx backed of a bit and hissed at him, before suddenly dashing sideways and then pouncing from his left side, claws extended, and jaws stretched wide. Dodging would have been the safest move. Yet instead, James ran forwards and using his left elbow to keep the Lynx's most dangerous weapon, its teeth at bay, he used the hand holding the knife to drive it up several times with quick succession into the creature's belly.
While a gutsy move, the act definitely had its drawbacks. The monsters' jaws were kept from sinking into his throat, but its claws sliced into his arms and scratched against the stiff leather chest piece protecting his chest and shoulders. Still as it fell to the ground it wined in pain as blood and entrails fell onto the sand below.
-4 HP. Considering James Endurance and max HP was only 12, losing a third to deal a fatal blow was still not ideal. Blood also gushed down from the lacerations in his upper arms, and he found himself panting despite the fight lasting less than a minute.
The beast tried to force itself to continue shuffling forward but as more of its guts began to pour out onto the sands, it finally fell to the ground, eyes unseeing.
"Well done!" Hallgrim hollered out, inciting applause from the surrounding students.
"Clean up and get the next person in there!"
.......
After a couple hours, mostly spent cleaning out the pen after each use and healing the many injuries that occured, most of the class had had their turn. Jarred had actually done really well without needing his fire magic. Using his Fear skill, he managed to cause the creature to panic enough that it barely attacked him, allowing him to slay it with ease.
Now that it was Aaron's turn, he stepped into the pen and assumed the position on the opposite side to the door. The large Viking led his monster in before letting it loose and closing the door firmly. Sitting up above and watching people take their turns, he had noticed that the Lynx creatures always began one of two ways. Either charging in and lunging at students or slowly circling them before lashing out unexpectedly.
This one appeared to be going for the latter, circling around to his left side. With Sense Hostility, Aaron could see its dark malice, a shadow that looked like a flame, burning high one moment and dying down the next. At its next surge the beast leapt forward abruptly, claws extended.
Aaron dodged easily, its Hostility giving away its intention. Realization crept over his features as he suddenly understood, with enough practice he would be able to see his opponents plan to attack before it happened. This might only work well with beasts and monsters that didn't have the mental capacity to plan or strategize, yet it would still be incredibly helpful.
Taking the time to practice, he allowed the lynx to keep attacking without responding back, dodging at the last moment whenever its Hostility revealed its intention to strike. A couple of his peers above started asking why he didn't do anything or why he was playing with it. Hallgrim and Boriq were silent, they could see the boy was predicting and moving before the creature could attack, although they assumed this was him watching its muscle movement and not through the use of a skill.
Eventually the monster began to tire and since Aaron was also getting worn out, he took a deep breath as he decided to finish it. The next pounce he selected Swordsman as his class and stepped forwards in a diagonal direction, out of the line of fire from its claws, while driving the knife into its neck. As he drew back the knife blood gushed out onto the sand and the creature fell to the ground.
Level Up. The words floated before Aaron's eyes, but he decided to make room for the others before exploring his status and glanced up at Hallgrim.
"Impressive" Was all the praise he got before the large Viking man simply bellowed "Next!"
.......
"That was awesome" Jarred said in a surprised tone as Aaron joined him at the top of the wooden pen. Aaron was only the third so far to get through without a scratch. With Jarred and Scylla being the other two. Scylla had clearly been practicing her magic and right out of the gate impaled her monster with a thick spike of rock that struck from beneath the sand. The longest part of her duel was breaking the rock up and clearing it from the pen.
"Thanks, you did great too. Was that your Fear skill?"
"Yeah, used up all my mana in the 10 seconds or so I used it for though. How did you dodge everything?"
"I don't know if I mentioned it, but I have this Sense Hostility skill. It's passive but seems to work whenever someone or something wants to hurt or attack me. Every time the Lynx was going to lunge, I saw this shadow flare up and I knew when to move" Aaron explained, still shocked it had gone so well.
"Ok that sounds sick. Also did you level up as well?"
"Yeah, I was just going to check now"
Aaron pulled up his status page and saw he had a whopping 10 status points to assign.
"How many stat points did you get when you levelled up?" Aaron asked faintly.
"10, although I don't know what everyone else got" Jarred replied offhandly.
"I spread them out a bit with 4 in intelligence, 4 Endurance and 2 Dex. What are you going to do?"
"Not sure, I'll take a look. We should be levelling up quickly as it's easier at lower levels so spreading them out fairly shouldn't be too bad"
Aaron took a close look before spreading his points out in an arrangement he was happy with. In most RPG's he preferred playing a Jack of all trades character and it usually worked best for him.
His final stats were.
Name: Aaron
Title- None
Class: Swordsman
Level: 2
Experience: 0/20 to level up.
HP: 28/28
MP: 8/8
Strength: 13
Dexterity: 12
Endurance: 14
Intelligence: 16
Wisdom: 8
Perception: 10
Passive Skills:
???,
Language Comprehension- Level 10 (Inherited)
Sense Hostility- Level 2
Resistances Unlocked
Lynx: 2%, Clawing: 0.1%
Active Skills:
Inspect- Level 3
Meditation- Level 2
Magic:
Water Magic- Level 2
Spells:
Water Bullet- Level 2
Surprisingly Sense Hostility had levelled up while he was battling the creature but in the moment he hadn't noticed. The pair continued chatting for a while as the last of their fellow classmates finished up. Although most of them were scratched or slashed here and there, this time everyone managed to kill their monster. Aaron was unsure if that was because of their hard work or because they had succumbed to an even stronger monster. Peer pressure.
"Well done!" Hallgrim barked once everyone was complete and had been healed.
"You will receive one week of leeway, studying under Lord Boriq" The tone of respect surprised everyone as Hallgrim often came across as a man who had little respect for anyone. Perhaps it was just that few men met the criteria to earn it.
"After that, you will be taken on daily exercises to hunt monsters in the forests nearby. You will carry your own food and supplies, your own gear and your own trophies back from each hunt. I will expect 5 trophies from each of you, daily!"
A look of shock and horror crossed several faces, while Jarred and Aaron grinned at each other.
James also wasn't shocked or horrified, as an icy calm stole over his features…