After the dust settled in the arena between the students, Professor Varex talked privately with his two champions before dismissing the rest of the class.
Celia was beaming as she walked back to the trio, "That was an awesome fight Ken! We need to spar more so we can try and do better in the upcoming tournament. Professor Varex was just talking to me and told me about how there was a team aspect to part of it."
Kendell's brows furrowed, "What do you mean a team event? Isn't this just a series of duels?"
Celia grinned, "Nope! The goal of this event is to bring awareness to the Royal Rally, and as you know that has a multitude of events, not just duels. So apparently it was just decided which three events are part of the competition!"
"Interesting, do you think we could possibly find another person or two to join up with us?" Kendell asked hopefully.
Coli then hit him across the head, "Hey you dolt, I'm gonna get selected by a professor. Don't count me out just yet, and that way our trio can rise even further within the academy!"
They all laughed as they headed into their next classroom.
As they entered Professor Eldrin's classroom they noticed a strange aura emanating from all the students.
A somber attitude had fallen over the students, who minutes ago were amped up from the duels.
"Good day, students! Today we will be having your official first attempts at becoming my personal pupil! We are going to have an exam on the history of basic rituals, as well as how well you can comprehend a complex ritual with a unique language."
'So this is where the somber mood came from,' thought Kendell with some confusion, 'I wonder why this is the week that all the professors are trying to get their pupils chosen for the tournament? Isn't this too soon to know a student's potential in your class?'
After all the students got seated the exam began. The exam consisted of two parts, a normal multiple choice test on the history of the basic rituals they had been learning as well as some of the more famous rituals they had learned about such as the shadow gate and the fey wilds gate.
The next portion was simply a medium size ritual magic circle with a one-word question: 'Explain'.
As Kendell was staring at the ritual, a message flashed in front of him:
[-----------------------------------]
[ Ritual Circle Detected: Would you like to analyze? ]
[-----------------------------------]
'Woah, this is new. Usually, it just asks me if I want to place the tattoo on me and sync my body to it.'
With a quick mental yes to the system, it began slowly analyzing each line.
A few seconds later another notification appeared:
[-----------------------------------]
[ Ritual Circle: Summon the Anamorphic Fey Detected ]
[ Description: This ritual requires the use of the Fey Wilds Gate ritual alongside itself to have the desired effect. Once this happens a Fey will appear that will grant you the ability to transform into an animal of your choice for up to three hours. ]
[ Price: The price of the ritual is a childhood memory.]
[-----------------------------------]
'Oh, well that's the answer I guess. I wish I could take it but I don't want to mix both devils and fey- that feels like a recipe for disaster.'
With a sigh, Kendell began to write down the answer...
The full class time was spent on the exam and once finished students were free to go. Kendell waited for the rest of the trio to finish so they could all head to the cafeteria together.
After another twenty minutes, Celia walked out of the classroom looking rather defeated.
"Ken! You finished that so quickly, did you just give up too?"
'Shit, maybe I shouldn't have figured that question out. If even Celia is having trouble then it might have been there just to see how far we could get.' Kendell began panicking internally.
However, on the outside he appeared as cool and collected as ever, "I guessed mostly, all I knew for sure was that the spell was Fey-related."
Celia nodded in agreeance, "Yeah that is all I was able to deduce too, I just guessed a random Fey-like ability and called it. There was no way I could understand that language it was too complex!"
As they were debating, Coli walked out with a giant grin on his face- and interrupted the two's bickering, "I got it. I got it! It was a Fey language and lucky for me, I have been studying it for my club!"
Kendell's face suddenly went white, 'Shit I haven't gone to my club yet! I was supposed to go this week and kept skipping to go to the library and to upgrade my ritual mastery!'
Celia's words shook Kendell out of his stupor, "Wow Coli! I didn't know you had been going. Have you been pulling late nights practicing with them?"
He beamed at the praise, "I sure have, and I have decided that I am going to be a Fey Summoner as I choose my path. They are the coolest! I got to even learn a minor Fey ritual through a contract with a Fey in the club. It doesn't have much combat application, but it is awesome! I will show you next fight," He winked and began to walk towards the cafeteria.
"Oh yeah?" Challenged Kendell, "I can't wait to see how it works, we should try and spar in combat practice tomorrow... unless you're scared?"
Coli mirrored Kendell's grin, "You're on! Have you been working on something new too?"
"You are just going to have to see tomorrow!"
Celia groaned and rolled her eyes, "Get a room you two, hurry up, and let's get to the cafeteria, I'm starving."
While eating the trio heard from other students sitting around them that the results of the exam would be handed out in the next class, but they would know the chosen pupils early when the list in the center of the cafeteria was updated.
As they were cleaning up their plates and getting ready to leave, one of Professor Eldrin's assistants walked in and wrote something on the central column.
A group of first-year students all crowded the pillar to see who had been selected as pupils. The names under Professor Eldrin are now listed, 'Coli Henderson and Lea Broin' as the first-year entries into the tournament!
Celia cheered, "Coli you did it! That's amazing, I'm so proud of you!"
Kendell patted him on the back, "Nice job Coli! Now we are all finally a part of the tournament!"
All of their classmates around them began to congratulate Coli as well and he just stood amongst them thanking them and smiling like an idiot.
After the excitement died down, the trio went to Celia's room to celebrate their incredible week. They decided to take the night off from studying for the first time all year to just talk and play Dragon Chess before ending the day early since they had combat practice tomorrow.
Once Kendell got back to his room, he decided it was time to learn how to use his body morphing rituals.
With a mental push his system panel appeared and he looked over all the rituals he had collected so far.
[-----------------------------------]
[Jared Martel, reborn into Kendell Hecrule]
[Rituals]
[Tatiana's Energy Control : Current Mastery | 1]
[ Elemental Reading: Current Mastery | 1 ]
[ Body Enhancement Ritual, Form Demon I: Current Mastery | 2 ]
[ Body Enhancement Ritual, Form Demon 2: Current Mastery | 1 ]
[ Body Enhancement Ritual, Golden Demon's Enhancement: Current Mastery | 1 ]
[ Body Enhancement Ritual, Dragonov's Mastery: Current Mastery | 1 ]
[ Body Morphing Ritual, Skarlix's Serpent Form: Current Mastery | 1 ]
[ Body Morphing Ritual, Skarlix's Assassin Form: Current Mastery | 1 ]
[ Body Morphing Ritual, Skarlix's Sovereign Form: Current Mastery | 1 ]
[ Shadow Gate Circle: Current Mastery | 1 ]
[ Devil Contracts - Binding Summon, Azmoth: Current Mastery | 3 ]
[ Seal of the Deceiver ]
[-----------------------------------]
[Forbidden Rituals]
[Forbidden Rituals: Planar Transfer: Attempts Remaining | NULL]
[-----------------------------------]
'Hmmm I have to use one of these in combat practice tomorrow I think I should start learning the sovereign form...'
With that Kendell snuck out of his dorm and headed for the classrooms.
As he snuck through the hallways, the silence echoed around him. It seemed as if the campus was completely silent at this time of night.
Kendell tried getting into one of the freshmen classrooms in the hallway so that he could practice his form in peace. However, as he tried to do so a sharp buzzing pierced his head.
'Ugh not this again. The Vice-Headmaster must be calling me.'
After a quick walk to her office, Kendell opened the Vice-Headmasters door to see her sitting at her central desk.
She looked sharply at him with an intense gaze, "What are you up to at this time of night. I could sense that you were roaming about through that tattoo I gave you."
Kendell gave her a sheepish smile, "I was just trying to find somewhere to practice a new ritual technique I learned, so I was going to try and go into an empty classroom."
Her head tilted at this and a look of confusion crossed her face, "Why wouldn't you just try it in your room or at combat practice tomorrow?"
He began thinking of an excuse but hesitated in responding.
Her eyes instantly lit up, "What's the technique. You learned something you want to keep secret. Let me see it and I might have a solution for your training problems."
With a sigh Kendell nodded in confirmation and began drawing the ritual in the air with ritual energy. As he drew the symbol the Vice-Headmaster's eyes followed intently.
With a final swoosh, the ritual was complete and he pushed a surge of ritual energy into it. A cloak of night enveloped his body and formed into a cape on his back. It's color was deep and glistened with what looked like threads of starlight.
As he fully entered the morph his entire body dulled and looked like he was in a black and white movie. He slowly began to feel all of the writhing shadows around him and felt as if he could physically touch them.
With a small motion of his hand a thin ribbon of shadow spun up from his shadow and twirled into the shape of a star.
"How on earth did you find this ritual, is this what you learned from the second floor of the library?"
With a shy smile, Kendell simply nodded in confirmation. He was too in awe of his own abilities to form a coherent spoken response. This was the first true magic he had felt since being in this world that truly felt like his own.
He felt as if he could morph and control all the shadows around him and since he morphed his body to obtain it, this truly felt like his own power!
As the cloak swayed around his body he felt a small tug on his body and assumed this was the cost in life force to utilize this power.
"Hmm," The Vice-Headmaster just watched his ability with calculating eyes, "I never would have thought you would learn a body morphing ritual. And to use it so easily, have you been training with this since you got it? And how were you able to decipher it all on your own?"
Kendell finally snapped out of his daze, "I just tried it until I could actually feel the ritual working. I studied the ritual and was able to memorize the portion of the book that explained how to use body morphing rituals. I guess I got lucky that I cast it correctly."
"LUCKY? I'd say you're blessed and body morphing rituals should be your focus. To understand and use it to this extent this quickly it must be the perfect type of ritual for your body.
Very well, I won't ask too many questions about your abilities yet this works in my favor for the tournament- now I will grant you a small space you can practice your ability in complete isolation."
With a small gesture she motioned at the wall to her left and it opened up to a small arena like platform.
"After school hours are over, you are more than welcome to come here and practice your abilities. You are my pupil after all."
"Thank you Vice-Headmaster, I will do my best to get stronger with this ability before the tournament. This is perfect for training!"
"Haha, you are very welcome. Now I am headed home, feel free to use this place to practice just make sure to close it on the way out. To open or close this secret door, use this ritual," She handed Kendell a small paper with a diagram of a basic ritual on it, "This will both open and close the door. Now I will see you later, get to it."
"Thank you!" With a grin, Kendell excitedly entered the training space in his sovereign form.