Ray heads off to the city for his lessons, after walking around for a bit, he arrives at the college.
As he walks in he sees Victoria walking out,
"Hey Ray! Sorry I didn't see you after class yesterday! How was your first day?"
"Eventful, I'm on the third floor now and my teacher is backing me for the Arena." Ray responds.
"The Arena?! I mean I know you are a good fighter… But going into the arena now would be quite dangerous.." Victoria mutters.
"No worries though! I'll show you the ropes! Go request for a training day from your teacher!" Victoria says, as she heads off.
"Wai- She has no patience, well it would be helpful to know how the Arena works." Ray says to himself as he heads into his class.
As he walks in he sees students studying hard, and working on the Arcane shield. As he enters he sees Geril reading at his desks.
"Hey Teach, I need a day off, a friend of mine is going to teach me how the Arena works."
"Hm? Do you actually have friends? Impressive! Who do you have to train with?" Geril Asks.
"Victoria Fireleaf." Ray responds.
"Oh a rich noble, Fair enough, today is mostly going to be a review on the Arcane shield, so you can leave." Geril gets up and begins to instruct a student.
'Fairly easy.' Ray walks out and heads towards the Arena.
The Arena is a massive coliseum, with magical crystals floating above, in the Arena, there is a high platform with 5 sections.
'This is… A lot,' Ray thinks as he sees Victoria, who has changed into a combat uniform.
"That was quick! Alright time to teach you! As you can see there are 5 sections, the first section has a radius of about 30 feet, then each section out increases the radius by 10 feet.
You start in the center section and then fight, if you manage to restrict someone for 10 seconds, you win,
if you manage to send someone out of the final section, you win, if you knock someone out you win, finally if you dispel an opposing spell 3 times in a row, you win.
Each section has unique effects, such as increased weight, mana fields, and many more." Victoria rattles on about more rules to the game.
After about 4 minutes of talking she finishes. She then says,
"Now, your first fight will probably not be until next week, but I do think you need practice, so I got a friend of mine to help, he is quite experienced!"
A slightly tall man walks out, in a golden combat uniform, "Ms. Fireleaf, are you sure it is ok to fight against a… Commoner?" He asks with slight disdain.
'Hm, he made punching him easy.'
"Oh trust me, he is better than you expect!" Victoria yells out as she gets in the stands.
Ray and the man get into the center circle.
"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Lyox Prideflare, a loyal sub family of the great Fireleaf family." Lyox says with an extremely smug tone.
"So… You're their bitch?"
Lyox huffs in anger, as he throws his palm out and says,
"Burning Chain!"
A large chain shoots towards Ray, beginning to encircle him.
[Accelerated Scheming Activated!]
'Struck a nerve I guess.. Rapid Step!'
Ray dodges out of the way, and charges at Lyox, spins quickly and kicks him in the chest.
"Weighted Impact!"
As Ray kicks lyox's chest, he amplifies the weight knocking the wind out of lyox, and sending him 23 feet back.
"Ugh…" Lyox groans, and coughs as he struggles to get up.
Ray dashes over and punts Lyox, sending him into the next layer, and when Lyox enters the next layer, he attempts to use magic but begins to cough violently.
'Is this what they mean by mana fields? Why is he coughing so much?'
Ray dashes over, and without using mana, slams Lyox's head into the ground, knocking him out, and breaking his nose.
Healers walk over and help Lyox, as Victoria walks up.
"That was… Brutal. But you won! So good job!" Victoria Smiles.
*****
They go off, and go get dinner together, as they are eating, Ray asks.
"So, do you fight in the Arena often?"
"Yeah! Have since middle school! I think I am pretty good at it!" She smiles in pride.
"Oh? Then why didn't you beat the wolf?" Ray asks with a smirk.
"Hey! That's not fair! I was out of mana and stranded, not everyone fights with their fists!" She pouts.
"Yeah, but you should at least know how to, what are you going to do if you are stranded again?"
"Probably wait for another homeless wanderer." She laughs, "But what you said makes sense.. At some point you should teach me, we have very few martial artists here."
"I noticed, I saw a fight in the school, and they just threw spells around wildly. I mean, I don't doubt that these spells can easily win a fight, but no one seems to know how to handle close quarters combat." Ray sighs.
They finish eating, as they are walking out, Victoria asks, "Oh by the way! I was wondering, where have you been staying?"
"On a cliff." Ray responds as he heads off.
'He is so… Strange…' Victoria thinks to herself as she walks home.
*****
As Ray walks to his cliff, he sees a large stone building, and a smaller building next to it.
'Jeez! They did this in one day?!'
Ray straightens himself out to look more regal as he walks up.
"Lord Kaine! You have returned!" Modri shouts. Modri looks exhausted as he runs up,
"Yes, lower your voice young one. I can see you all have been busy, I must say, it is impressive what you have accomplished in a single day." Ray responds.
"Y-yeah, you saved us, so we worked extremely hard!" Modri says, smiling widely.
"You have all done well. Where are your parents?" Ray asks.
"Dad is in our house resting, and mom just got back with her hunt."
"Good, You all rest well, I have a vitally important task for your family tomorrow." Ray says as he heads into his large stone house.
There are three floors, as well as a basement. Each floor has around 4 rooms. Ray's bedroom being at the top, with the balcony overlooking the edge of the cliff, and the vast forest below.
'Is this what being a king feels like…?'