Today, I have Basic Knowledge and Control of Skills as classes. On my way, I bump into Pepper in the hallway, and we start discussing our weekend. She practiced a lot of alchemy and made herself a multitude of potions, some specifically for combat. She spends most of her time in the alchemy workshop in the Control of Skills pavilion, slowly increasing in level. I told her that I went to sign up for the mercenaries' association. I also ask her if she wants the plants that I harvested to make potions. She says yes, and I return to my room to give them to her. Later, we head to class, and I learn more about the kingdom. For example, the capital is called Astar, located south of Steelwall at the mouth of the Vitae River.
In the Control class, I practice my new skills. Robust Bark increases my defense. However, my skin is rougher to the touch. Dramodo Scales cover my body, increasing my defense, and giving me the appearance of a humanoid lizard. As for Shadow Sneak, the skill allows me to move like a black cloud, up to five meters. I become almost invisible in the dark and physically intangible. It's going to be quite useful as a skill.
The day quickly ends, and the next day begins. In the Monstrology class, Ruphius presents us with some monsters and explains that the monster rank is divided into three categories: domesticated monsters, which are non-dangerous monsters that help us in our daily lives; family monsters, which are either summoned or tamed; and finally, wild monsters are graded in rank. They are divided like ours, that is: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, and up to SSS. Some can be friendly, and others not, some smarter than us, and others dumber than a rock.
In short, Ruphius tells us that monsters are like us, diverse, unique, and structured depending on their species.
The Basic Combat class has just begun. The teacher is already putting our names in a pot for duels. She explains that today we will be doing duels and that skills will be legal. To protect ourselves, we will wear a small armor that will protect us from damage, but will still make us feel the pain. Same principle as before, the loser is the one who can no longer fight. But she adds that today's winners will have a reward. I have no idea what it will be, but it might be something good!
Tamaële picks the names. I'm up against Niko, who has a profession as a Shaman. Pepper's opponent is Filou Mascovitz, the shy Astrologer. It should be a more equal fight than last time, I think. The duels pass by slowly, some lasting only a few minutes and others lasting about twenty.
Nicole wins his fight today, apparently having contracted a monster as a pet. It's an Appartiel, a kind of infernal lion with scales that usually lives near volcanoes. It's easily recognizable by its fiery mane and breath of fire. It's a D-ranked creature if I remember correctly. So equivalent to a level 21-30 mercenary. Against this monster, his opponent had no chance…
My fight is as follows, so I reload my musket in advance. Niko and I head out to the field, I keep my distance like last time, and Tamaële gives the starting signal. Niko conjures brambles from the beginning to protect himself. He must have noticed that if he stays in the open, the match will end quickly. I don't want to use all my skills and end the match now, as it might attract too much attention. So, I'll only use my musket and psionic attack. I wait to see if the brambles will disappear or not, but they seem to want to stay, so I decide to test their defense. I shoot, and Niko blocks with them. The bramble ball creates a hole in his defense. By the time I reload for a second shot, they close the hole I created.
The duel is going to be a bit more challenging than expected. Meanwhile, I see Niko muttering something, and my sixth sense tells me to jump to the side, which I do without thinking. The place where I was standing is pierced by brambles that come out of the ground. I take advantage of the moment while he's focused on his offense to launch a psionic attack, which stuns him for a few moments. I aim and shoot, hitting him right in the head.
"Victory for Heolstor," announces Tamaële. I return to the spectator section and continue to watch the fights. Pepper's turn arrives. She joins the arena, and Filou does the same. He has a book whose cover page represents a star, and Pepper has a scepter that supports a vial filled with liquid at its top. Tamaële gives the starting signal, and Pepper drinks a potion. Her body is covered with a translucent green membrane, while Filou begins to mutter an incantation. Small stars start appearing above him. Pepper takes advantage of this to drink two more potions, which add a blue aura to her ankles and a red one to her hands. Filou finishes activating his skill at the same time, and the stars above him form what seems to be an archer. The starry man calmly takes an arrow from the sky and adds it to his bow. He aims at Pepper and releases his bowstring. The arrow flies like a shooting star towards Pepper, who dodges extremely quickly, leaving only a blue and green glow on her previous location. The cosmic archer continues to shoot starry arrows, but Pepper dodges them all. Meanwhile, Filou starts a new incantation, and new stars appear in the sky. Seeing this, Pepper takes a small vial out of her pocket and throws it on the ground. Thick smoke emanates from it and spreads.
Shortly after, the entire arena is filled with smoke and we wait for Tamaële to announce that Pepper is the winner. I'm not sure what happened, but clearly Pepper has improved since her last fight!
Amusing myself, I try to figure out what her potions have given her. My theory is that the two potions she drank strengthened her speed and strength. The vial of smoke was perhaps a cloud of poison. She just had to drink the antidote and voila! Satisfied with my theories, the end of the fights arrives quite quickly and the professor asks the winners to join her. I wonder what she's going to give us. She congratulates us and hands each of us a small box containing two lower-quality vitality potions. She tells us that they might help us when we undertake missions or explore dungeons. Everyone thanks her and leaves.
I return to the dormitory with Pepper and we chat about everything and nothing, and she explains to me that she's making a lot of progress in alchemy. One of the master alchemists even offered to mentor her, which fills her with joy! Happy for her, I congratulate her and we arrive at our rooms!