If Lucas was tasked to do the impossible, he would make sure to check every possibility before trying. If his calculations showed no chance of victory, he would run away or escape with all his might. Some would look down on him for running away, but he merely saw those people as moronic hypocrites. If they were to be put in the same setting, they would run as well.
What Elam asked of him was to compete against all the best students from the entire country of Frigus. While it wasn't that large if you looked at a map, there were tons of school joining the competition.
If he had to win, he would need to beat every student out there, and nothing showed Lucas that he had even a sliver of hope to win. There were simply too many variables and possibilities. He would need multiple trump cards in order to beat every student mage out there.
"There's a chance I'll have to fight against students who have reached Rank 2, you know? There's no way for me to win against them."
Lucas wasn't just talking out of his ass, fighting against someone above your rank is plain suicide. He was capable of killing a Rank 1 when he was Rank 0, but the gap between ranks only grew exponentially once you reached the higher ranks. Meaning that as a Rank 1 he would have a lot more trouble killing a Rank 2. Lucas was an ingenious schemer, but didn't have a single plan to kill a Rank 2.
Elam opened his eyes slowly, revealing the dark red pupils combined with a black iris. Lucas always thought he looked evil every time he saw them, although it was only the second time. Elam's eyes pierced through Lucas, every secret he had was seen through in mere seconds.
"I can help you achieve something special, making you stand out among the other students, even if they were a Rank 2. I can see that you've consumed a Rank 1 core to progress through your current Rank, which is a well known method of improving your power quickly in a quantitative and qualitative way. You right now are stronger than any beginner Rank 1, but I can give you something that would make you capable of defeating the strongest Rank 1. Depending on how you do, you might even hold off a Rank 2."
The last part of what Elam said was mumbled in a way to make it seem like he was talking to himself. Not that it changed the content of what he just said. Lucas was stumped for a moment, such a thing shouldn't exist. Through schemes and concrete plans, you could hold off a Rank 2 or even hurt them, but that required tons of planning and work. Yet, now Elam is suggesting something even more.
"Even if I could hold off a Rank 2, there's no way to defeat them in the end."
Elam nodded, "That's true, but the competition isn't strictly strength related. You'll have your opportunity to shine, so don't worry about that. As long as you can escape a Rank 2, you have a chance to win."
"When and how would I gain this power you speak off, and most importantly, what would I lose? A free meal is just poison, so tell me, what do I need to give up?", Lucas was thinking along the lines of losing his humanity to gain strength. He had heard about the monster that ravaged the slums quite some time ago and knew that it all started from a normal person. If he were to gain superhuman strength at the cost of his intelligence, he would rather not have it at all.
"You'll lose a lot of time, about two months, but the moment you're done you would be capable of entering the school's internal competition. Besides that, I want the reward you'll get when you win the international competition."
'So he wants to not only gain the recognition of winning, but also the adjacent rewards?'
'Elam doesn't care about fame, he's a lazy bastard most of the time. He's only interested in the reward, but we don't even know what it is in the first place.'
'Giving a future reward for present growth, or hedging our bets on doing it ourselves?'
'What do you mean, hedging our bets? There's no way for us to win if we don't grow any stronger. Even with our daily training, we're barely making any progress in our circles! This is the best way to grow more powerful, and you know it.'
Lucas had a few questions and there were plenty of uncertainties, but if he didn't fulfill Elam's request, he would lose everything he had built up. Running away was an option that nested itself into Lucas' mind, but knowing how powerful Elam was, there was a very small chance of him escaping.
"Then I don't mind doing it, but I want to add a few conditions."
Elam sharply focused his eyes once more before closing them again. "What do you want?"
"My other teacher Gilbert is in some trouble with the church, I want you to make sure he won't lose his position and can teach once more when I'm done. Besides that, I want you to go and buy me a weapon that fits me with this.", taking out the crystal he had just won from a bet with Eleven.
'What are you doing? You're already giving away my hard-earned money??'
'Our money, you mean? We don't know enough about how weapons work and their usefulness. We can fight with a sword, but that's about it. At this point it doesn't matter what he buys since a single crystal isn't worth that much. But with this our promise to the blacksmith will be fulfilled.'
'Who cares about that annoying dude? A promise is meant to be broken, only useful in deceiving others, so why bother keeping it. He probably already forgot about us as well!'
The bickering continued for a while before Elam nodded lightly, dispelling any remaining doubts.
"Gilbert's in trouble?", for once, Elam seemed to care about something else than his blanket. "Yes, he has been targeted for conspiring with the Demonic Cult. They visited him once but didn't have concrete evidence."
"That skinny bastard, truly oblivious when it comes to socializing.", the remark felt a bit off-topic, but Lucas didn't want to interfere.
"I can't just tell the priests that he's innocent, they would even start doubting and investigating me."
At that moment, something inside Lucas' mind was churning. Ideas and plots were being created left and right, only for them to disappear immediately after. Removing the uncertain plans, fabricating possibilities, dispelling doubt, his mind was racing. He was born with a gift of creating the most absurd schemes, but he couldn't complain since they worked. Though, it did come with the benefit of never being capable of trusting someone else.
After what felt like scrapping dozens of feasible ideas, he found something that could draw away the attention of Gilbert. It would put him at risk of exposing himself, but that was a matter of time anyway.
"Give me another day and I'll make sure that Gilbert's position is stable."
Elam smirked before getting back in the couch.
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A school is a place of learning, a place where one goes to grow professionally and personally. It's purpose it to educate and form the next generations. As such, every parent wants their offspring to enter these institutes. If it could ensure their future, they would fork over as much as needed. This made it easy for the schools to collect enough funds to fuel their research projects. The research gives result to new and more powerful spells and tools, which makes the school more popular and attracts more students, and thus funds. A nice circular loop with few negatives, one of which is packed classrooms.
"Can't they make our seats a little bigger? I can barely fit my legs under here.", one of the boys in the classroom said. "What did you expect, this is Teacher's Vires classroom, everyone wants to be here. They need to have small seats to make sure everyone has a place to sit."
"I see, but that doesn't make sense since there are still some guys over there that are standing around. By the way, when will he arrive?"
"How am I supposed to know, plus, did you have a look at who's standing there?"
At the side of the classroom was a group of students that were chairless due to the room almost overflowing amount of attendants. One of them was an above average-looking girl, Rita. She was somewhat popular, but not enough for people to make room for her. Vires' lessons were more important than getting her affection.
Rita herself wasn't annoyed or irritated that people were making rumors about her, for she was the happiest of all the students in the room. Not long ago, she received a letter personally delivered by teacher Vires.
'He said it was for someone else, but it was signed in his name. Hihihi, he must be embarrassed to say it aloud.'
Her heart was fluttering since she received his letter. Her cheeks were rosy, while her heart always pumped a little faster when she saw him. 'To think he's interested in me, and not the bitchy popular girls. I'm better than them, and they don't even know it.'
She had a big smile on her face, her emotions taking full control. Vires was an extremely handsome and charismatic person, the boys were striving to become like him while the girls were fighting for his attention. And out off all the possible choices, Vires wanted Rita. It filled her with a strange kind of confidence.
After the school closed, Rita was still wandering around the schoolgrounds. 'He said we should meet up around here somewhere, or is it over there?'
The sun had already gone down, making place for a cool night. The dark night didn't scare Rita away, it made her even more comfterable since it felt very romantic. The school had their own streetlights made from magic, the power source was nowhere to be found, but most students never thought about such things.
She arrived at a bench that overlooked the nearby forest, there was nobody around, but the bench felt inviting. Sitting down on the bench she found it to be warmed up. 'This must be it! Now I just need to wait for him to come.'
She looked around a bunch before giving up on the search and inspecting the scene of the forest. The air was cold without the warmth of the sun's rays. Breathing out she could see her own breath. It wasn't winter yet, but the cold of the mountain periodeically brought it's coldness with the wind.
From the sides of her field of vision she could see two hands slowly cover her eyes. The hands felt warm and cofmterable. 'Even in this cold, his warmth can't be stopped.'
She was waiting for him to ask who she thought the mystery man was, but that happy ending never came. What followed was a horrid scream that woke half the forest up.
The following day all what was left was a dried up corpse stripped of its clothing and a single letter.