[Name: Unknown]
[Race: Demon]
[Species: Enmite]
[Rank: Lesser Demon (Evolvable)]
[Class: Demon Stalker]
[Level: Journeyman]
[Patrons: God of Demons; the Chaos that Never Sleeps]
[Attributes - Unknown]
[Skills: ???]
[Danger Level: Dangerous]
It wasn't much of an exaggeration to say that Amari pretty much knew nothing about this opponent of his. Aside from the fact that he was a Journeyman and that his patron was the Chaos that Never Sleeps?
The third year that was matched against him was a slim figure with little to no observable muscle but anyone looking at him could tell there was a slight spring to his step. He had long black hair that obscured the rest of his facial features and a small dark mask that stopped just below his nose covered his mouth..
Coupled with the light leather armour he wore, Amari was aware that he was in to face a tricky opponent.
"Hello, my name is Raion'shalang-" he started, only to be rudely cut off by the vicious aura emanating from the opponent.
"I do not need your name," the third year said in a tone a little higher than a whisper.
Amari slightly groaned at this but placed his sword ready in front of him.
"In that case, neither do I. Just come at me already, you off-brand assassin!"
Then, in the next second, his vision went black… but that didn't mean he was out of the running just yet.
He jumped back, slashing his sword at the black strands threatening to permanently blind him. His opponent had not moved a single step, though.
Amari's first thought was to go back charging in with his sword, but shook his head a second after. That would be a tragic mistake.
'I'm not some sort of sword genius, much like that dude said. Right now, the only thing I can do is throw hands, so that's what I'll do.'
With that thought in mind, he returned the sword to his spatial bracelet and took up something resembling the only fighting stance that he knew. The well-known boxing stance.
But his opponent still showed no sign of moving.
Holding back his slight anger at the disdain, Amari activated Force Fist with a single thought from his mind, causing his body to erupt into sparks of red and black lightning. Next, he activated Rush and, with that, finally charged forward.
BOOM!
His fist collided with the barrier of hair but after that…
The fight was over as soon as it started.
Amari grimaced from the floor as he saw his opponent shake his head.
"I expected more from the person who beat the Death Battle Exams. So either the puppets malfunctioned, giving you an easy win, or I'm just that much stronger than you. Honestly, I'm inclined to believe both."
'Ugh, what an insufferable guy.'
He got up from his feet, looking between SilverOak and his snickering, insufferable classmates.
"What are you bastards laughing at!?" He couldn't help but yell, but that only seemed to gladden them even further, to his dismay.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
A series of successive claps quickly shot everyone up, and SilverOak smirked with vague satisfaction.
"Hmm, I want to say I'm disappointed in your performance, but honestly, I'm not that surprised by the result at all," the professor said as he looked at Amari from up to down.
"Why?" Amari asked, a little gloomier than he wanted to be seen.
SilverOak smirked a little, then pointed at his opponent.
"See, no normal person here would have been able to dodge Rajan's initial hair strikes. So one point is awarded to you for that. Then your next move was to do away with the sword. You did this knowing that your sword skills were too bad for you to be battling recklessly with it, which is another point for you still. However…"
He retracted his finger from Rajan, pointing it at Amari this time.
"All those points are retracted because of two things. The first is your subsequent stupidity. You are at the Apprentice level. He is at the Journeyman level. Why would you charge in so recklessly despite knowing that the skill difference between your two selves was so huge? You'd probably be dead in a real battle by now."
The boy in question merely grunted. SilverOak was right. It wasn't hard to see, but that didn't mean he was conceding just yet.
"What's the second thing?" he asked, hoping to catch the man off guard.
This time SilverOak looked towards everybody, sighing gravely.
"Mana control. I never thought I'd see such poor control of mana in my life. Were you raised by beasts? It's so strange to see!"
. . . .
*A short while later*
The class ended shorter than everyone had expected, with the majority of his classmates lasting far less than a second against the other third years. This made him laugh, of course. It was what they deserved after mocking him.
But Amari was beyond pissed. What did effective mana control even mean?
Their next class was next Flintday, which Amari figured was the equivalent of Fridays on Earth. They had to have completed their assignment by that time or they would lose one of the three points needed to pass the class.
'Ughh, what a pain.'
However, that was still almost two weeks from now. He had enough time to figure everything out. Right now, he had much more pressing research to concern himself with, so he head to the library as soon as he finished.
Much like libraries on Earth, there were not a lot of people in this library. Most people probably checked the books or scrolls out to read in their rooms. Amari didn't mind doing that, but his roommates were absolute…
"Ugh, whatever," he muttered and went straight to the catalogue.
It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for, and very soon he had a stack of books just piled up in front of him, waiting to be read.
"History of Our World, Heavomar."
"Continents and Kingdoms."
"Demon Haven: Kingdom of Demons, Faust."
"A Compendium of Shadow Skills for Demons."
"Mana, Magic and Elements."
"A Comprehensive Guide of the Dream Element!"
"On the Night Element."
"Rulers of the World: About the Gods."
"Mysterious Entities."
"The Ones without Divinity."
It was for sure going to be a hefty read, but Amari could work with it. And with a frantic look of excitement, he dove into the books, unaware of the massive changes to come next.