"Huep," Nichole jumped backwards narrowly avoiding the sharp claws from the reptilian creature. She takes a step forward and swings but the reptilian beast slides back.
"Why does it look so weird?" Nichole pulled out a black wand, the sword on her right hand lighting ablaze.
"Canine Sword: The Exiled," she rushed forward and swung at the brown skinned lizard, but it slithers off once more, the blade barely grazing it.
She took a step back and took a closer look at the creature, a large brown scaled lizard with two front legs, but the back was that of a fish, two fins extending outwards.
Liztrix, the fish lizard, its agility is far from the reason as to why it's categorised as F- Rank, Nichole observed as sparks of charge surrounded its scales, it's because of its electric abilities.
A small spark charged around it. The charge focuses on its beak before discharging a beam of current at her.
"Canine Flame: The Exiled," a small flaming canine figure erupts from her wand and collides with the charge beam, a small gust of smoke erupting at the point of contact.
...
"Switching between the sword and magic, even mixing the two aspects, you've taught her well," Rurin watched the battle with an amused look.
"Of course," Shia scoffed at him, "she's Jack's student, she's going to be just as amazing as him."
"Jack?" Rurin looked at her in confusion.
"That's me," Jack smiles, "but she was pretty talented."
"It's not just talent, talent requires guidance, and I believe you're doing it well," Rurin said.
...
"She's using the wand you gave her," a voice whispered into Daniela's ears.
"Good, is there a problem?" she muttered back to it.
"Not necessarily, but the wand has a specific habit, and that girl already had a screw loose."
"Screw loose?"
"You don't notice it, yet?" the voice whispered in surprise.
Her tone shifted to a more serious one, "What do you mean?"
"When you gave her the elixir, she had a unique reaction, right? Well that was a manifestation of her inner thoughts and that wasn't pretty, was it?"
"Split personality?"
"She knows, she doesn't lose consciousness, but rather she's both."
"And the wand?"
"The wand has a nasty side-effect, it draws out the users weakness."
"In her case, it's that?"
"Yes."
...
Nichole gets closer to it and slashes but the Liztrix brings up its claws, blocking the sword. She retracts her sword for another swing but the Liztrix moves forward first, disrupting her movement.
A small spark of electricity charged around it as it readied itself to strike Nichole.
At this distance! Nichole took a step back in panic, but she held her ground and held her wand forward, "Canine Flame: The Exiled," a larger flame canine forms.
The Liztrix releases a volt of electricity, but the larger flame spell breaks through and lands its fangs on the Liztrix burning its neck where it bit.
The creature lets out a pained growl as it tries to pull back, but she rushes forward and lands a downward slash on its neck, finishing the creature.
"Whew, I guess that's about it," she puts the wand away, sheathing her sword and walks off.
The entirety of the ground went silent for a moment before cheers erupted. Nichole looked at them not knowing why the students were cheering.
After a moment, the instructor announced, "Nichole, seven points."
Wait, seven? she turned towards the instructor, "Why is it seven?"
"You want more?" he raised an eyebrow.
"No, wasn't it six?"
"That's for monsters below G-Rank, since this was an F- Rank, it means seven, and good job."
"Oh, thanks," she walks out, slightly looking up at the balcony and meeting her Professor's eyes.
"Guess you got more than you wanted," Finn was waiting for her, "that was amazing."
"What? I only took it down," she replied, confused.
"You idiot, you took it down in very few moves, normally first years can't even do that," Donatello put his hands over her shoulder, "why didn't you fight me like that?"
"I'm sure I couldn't do that back then," Nichole looked at Donatello.
"Whatever," he takes his hands off her, "anyways, let's wait for our turn, but I'm sure I won't be able to face a Liztrix," Donatello teases.
Sigh, Nichole moved to the side as she wiped the sweat off her brows.
...
"Hey, it's Finn's turn," Nichole looked at Finn who was already prepared as he took out a rifle. The entire weapon was brown from the wooden finish, with a long muzzle extending forward.
I bought that thing on credit, Nichole cried internally, it looked irresistibly beautiful and I thought I might get it for him but damn... Nichole thought back in the moment.
...
"A pistol for Finn Zen Tenebrion," Nichole called out standing in front of a forge, peeping into the open door.
"Come in, the order's ready," a voice came from inside.
"Alright," Nichole walks in and is marveled at the various weapons inside. A particularly long brown rifle grabbed her attention, "Dear sir, how much for that?"
"Hundred ryū," a tall burly man came out, his figure matching the deep voice she had heard earlier, his skin tanned from working near a forge. He had a sharp moustache along with a beard making him look fierce.
"Oh, can I take that?" Nichole politely requested.
"Sure," the man pulled out a stool and got up on it, bringing the rifle down, "but girl, this is a show piece, it doesn't work."
"Huh?" she looked at the burly man in disappointment, "what's with that Mister?"
"Sorry, but I do have a similar one," he puts back the earlier one and goes back inside.
After a few moments he comes back out with a similar rifle, but the touches of the deep black had left another impression on her.
"I'll take it," Nichole instantly blurted out without a second thought.
"Alright, it's a thousand ryū."
"Thousand..." her voice dropped, her expression dead, "I'm sure I didn't hear that wrong, but I don't want to do that thing where I say a thousand and again jump up saying a thousand."
"You didn't think a gun would cost only a hundred ryū, did you?" the man asked skeptically.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't," she looked down at the floor lifelessly.
"Fine, take this, but you'll have to pay me back," he passed it onto her along with a big box which he had softly placed on the floor, "the ammo."
"How can I pay that back?" her voice still droopy, "that was the first time I've seen a large amount of money."
"I have an idea," the man suggested.
"What is it?"
"I need you to come here every thursday, friday and saturday, we can work out something."
"Huh?" she looked up at the man, "but sir, I'm young."
"But I thought kids at the academy worked part-time, if you could help me with the forge during those days for a year I'll consider it as payment for the rifle."
"Oh, you were talking about work," her expression relaxed.
"What else did you think I was talking about?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, seal the deal or whatever I accept."
...
"He better cherish it, I'm working hard for that."
A similar black cage came up. The cage seals bolted open as a white tiger stepped out slowly, its pale fur visible from within the dark cage.
"Let's finish this fast, shall we?" Finn pointed the rifle at the monster.
The tiger rushed forward noticing the boy in front of it was holding a weapon. Once he was deemed threatening, the tiger rushed forward to sink its teeth into its prey.
However Finn stood still, his breath steady as he took aim, During the last selection event I couldn't use my pistol because it was damaged, but this rifle Nichole got me is way better.
He slightly pulled back the safety, as he pointed the rifle—
BAAM
The tiger's corpse fell to the floor lifeless as blood trickled down from a single hole at the center of its cranium.
"That wasn't fair for the Leokun," Aileen looked at the beast in pity.
...
"I didn't think students still picked rifles," Rurin looked down in wonder, "what a clean shot."
"He's Victor's student," Selena added.
Jack slightly twitched at the name. The name brought back multiple unpleasant memories, none worth a single moment of thought.
Shia notices him tension up at the name, and decides to cheer up her colleague. "Hey, you two, we're going for dinner later, if you're not busy, want to join?"
Selena raised her hand, "Oh, Miss we couldn't dare to intru—"
Rurin cuts her off, "of, course, I think it's a good chance to get to know the new professor a bit more."
...
"Guns aren't fair, they should be taken out," Donatello said out loud after Finn took out the Leokun with relative ease.
"Too bad, I guess I'm just way better than you," Finn grinned as he put away his rifle.
"So what's round three?" Nichole asked.
Finn replied since he was familiar with the rules, "It's a mission, you get to pick the difficulty and the points are assigned based on performance."
"What if there are too many kids with the same point?"
"The academy has a well refined system, if there are too many victors, a duel or some kind of event will be held."
"Got any plans for the evening?"
"I have work to do."
"Work?"
"I work part-time."
"Really?"
"I need some... money," Nichole replied in a coarse tone.
"All right, bye," Finn waved her off.
"Bye."
...
"Hit it harder," a rough voice commanded her as she swung a small hammer on a lump of orange molten metal.
"Harder than this?!" she replied, the heat making her sweat profusely.
"It's not hard enough, beat it as if you're beating something you hate, imagine," he continued, yet he did not yell.
"That's not enough motivation," Nichole continued to hammer the lump of metal, each strike flattening it.
"Alright," the man picked up the red flattened metal with a tong, dipping it into water. The metal hissed and soat as it went into the water. The metal is slowly pulled out after a moment.
"I've seen many..." the burly man paused.
Oh, is this the part where he says I'm talented, a sense of pride swelled up in her.
"But I've never seen someone so talentless."
Nichole felt the entire world crash down on her, her hammer dropping to the floor, "Wha—, ahem what do you mean, kind Mister?"
"It got beat unevenly, and look here," he pointed at the edges where there were many small fissures, "even for a beginner there are way too many."
"Hehe, sorry, I've never done any kind of physical work like this," Nichole rubbed the back of her head. "By the way, what's your name Mister?"
"Ben," he slightly mumbled before he threw the newly forged metal into a pile of scrap metal, the pile at least a feet tall.
"My name's Nichole," she replied since the two hadn't done any sort of introduction.
"Are you a mage?" he asked, slightly interested in the little girl even though his tone remained indifferent.
"Manakai," she replied.
"You're the only Manakai, well I finally get to meet Jack's student," the man let out a small chuckle.
"Jack?"
"Oh, it's your Professor's nickname, the Jack of all Trade, Jonathan Thorne."
"I didn't know he had a fancy name like that," she looked at her man who was taller than her, "pardon me, but how do you know him, sir?"
"I met him a few times back when he was a knight, your Professor has quite the set of fancy names, Crimson Twilight, Jack of all Trade, and one of his lesser known names, The Black Saint."
"Black Saint? Whoa I really do know nothing about him."
"He's not one to open up."
"The only thing I know is he's a vampire."
"Did he tell you he's a half blood?"
"No...? He's a half blood!" Nichole looked up in surprise, "So he's not just some low class vampire?"
"He's a very prominent figure in the vampire community, pretty sure everyone knows him, but enough about him."
"Ah, yes," she got down to pick up the small hammer.
"Leave it," the man turned back, "I'll teach you something else."
"Oh," Nichole picks up the hammer and places it on one of the nearby tables, "what else?"
Ben turns back with a smile, "Runes."
_________________________