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An Otherworldly Scholar - 254
🕑 Added 2025-09-05 21:29:55 +0000 UTC“You owe her money!” Fenwick shouted as they ran away from the dropouts.
Dolores croaked in Yvain’s hands, but it was almost impossible to determine a frog’s intent from her croaking alone.
“You are playing with me!” Yvain shouted back at Fenwick.
The Osgirians weren’t known for their humor, and since Yvain had grown up among them, neither nature nor nurture had made him a jokester. In fact, even by Osgirian standards, Yvain’s sense of humor was rather dry.
Fenwick sighed. “She’s called Dolores, the Greedy Lord of the Pond! What do you think?!”
For a spirit animal to be called Lord of anything, she had to be something special.
Dolores looked over her shoulder, waiting for an answer.
Yvain wasn’t in a position to disrespect a powerful spirit animal, even if it was a joke.
“I think… I’m grateful for your help, Dolores, and I will pay accordingly.”
The frog gave the boy a satisfied look before focusing back on the path ahead.
Yvain ignored why a frog needed money and didn’t ask.
“She likes your family, you know? You greedy bastards,” Fenwick jokingly said.
Yvain didn’t know how to answer.
They ran away from the dropouts for fifteen minutes before stopping. Either they were too shocked to chase, or they were outright scared of Dolores because nobody followed them. Fenwick’s whistle pierced the air, and a moment later, a similar one answered. They walked in the direction of the sound to find three cadets from the Basilisk and Gaiarok squads. They joined the group and resumed the trip towards Station One.
Yvain’s badge read 5719, but his completion order was 5197.
The other cadets didn’t speak to Yvain, and Yvain didn’t speak to them.
The group chased down a smaller dropout squad, but the dropouts were faster and disappeared into a crevice. Hours later, Fenwick slowed the pace, entering stealth mode as the sun came down. They walked until it was too dark to see, and even then, they continued for a few minutes following Fenwick and a girl from the Gaiarok squad who could see in the darkness. When it was impossible to continue without tripping over roots and crushing dry twigs, Fenwick gave the signal to stop. The group found a rock formation that covered two sides and decided it was a great place to camp. They didn’t start a fire, not to attract dropouts or monsters. Despite the silent treatment among the members of the group, it wasn’t all that bad. The rations were meant to be eaten uncooked, and the summer night was warm enough to just need a bedroll.
Night wasn’t long, though. An hour before dawn, a boy from the Basilisk squad who was on guard duty awakened the group. People were nearby. They remained still. The boy from the Basilisk squad, who was a Druid, summoned his [Spirit Animal], a small mouse made of white mana. The mouse peered over the boulder. Yvain didn’t dare to peek out.
“They aren’t cadets. Not dropouts either. They are wearing… robes?” the boy whispered with his eyes closed.
“Librarian robes?”
“I can’t tell. My spirit animal doesn’t see color.”
They had to bring their heads closer to hear him clearly.
“Instructors? Are they looking for us?” Fenwick asked.
The boy shook his head.
“They are just walking. Fast. They don’t seem to be looking for anything.”
The cadets remained still for half an hour until the first sunlight illuminated the morning clouds. They could no longer delay their departure, so they broke camp and marched. They found no traces of the night people, which Yvain thought was for the better.
*
“Your speech impediment is really cute.”
A guy from the Gaiarok squad was hitting on Aeliana. She was dumbfounded. The Karids of the Deep Desert weren’t famed for their poetry—after all, a closed mouth kept out the sand—yet Aeliana still thought they flirted with way more skill than that silly Ebrosian.
“I don’t have speech impediment,” Aeliana said in her thick Karid accent.
“It’s charming, really.”
Aeliana thought about kicking the guy down the hill, but the jagged stones at the bottom discouraged her from doing so. If they had been walking on a dune, she would have done it without thinking twice. Aeliana sighed. Most Ebrosians were as pale as a frog’s belly, so she could understand why her bronze skin caught their attention.
Aeliana had interrogated Yvain about all the things she didn’t understand about Ebros—one of them was their beauty standards. In return, she couldn’t help but spread a bit of misinformation about Karids. That's what she was like. If Yvain believed that Karids ate a special kind of sand, that was on him.
“Our squads are getting along well, right? Do you think we can train together someday? I can teach you some moves.”
Aeliana sighed. She would’ve preferred to travel along with Leonie or Kili, or anyone from the Cabbage squad.
“Rest is as important as training. Don’t overdo yourself,” Aeliana replied.
“So… do you want to rest together or something?”
“Did you grow up among celibate monks?”
The guy gave her a confused look.
To survive the Deep Desert, one had to be clever. Aeliana liked clever people, like Leonie and Instructor Clarke. Even Fenwick’s genius peeked through his jokes. Sometimes.
Aeliana was thinking about giving her travel companion some flirting tips when the environmental mana quivered. Someone was casting a powerful spell nearby. Instinctively, she crouched and looked around, but that pesky greenery blocked the line of sight wherever she looked.
“East!”
Aeliana turned around. She had no detection skills, but Karids had an innate sense for mana. Maybe it was due to the Sand Eaters, Djinns, and other invisible desert creatures. Aeliana focused, and the world lost its color. The environmental mana was rich and thick but soft at the same time, as expected from a forest area so close to the Farlands. It made it hard to detect what was beyond the line of sight.
The earth trembled, and a mana spike appeared in Aeliana’s perception. A bright, warm, and confident mana signature. It was impossible to describe it with words, more akin to smell than sight, but she could recognize that mana signature everywhere. It had a unique texture that set it apart from the rest.
“Leonie!”
“Leonie?”
“A friend from Cabbage squad,” Aeliana explained as thunder crackled in the distance.
“Should we help?” the guy from the Gaiarok squad asked. “They are not really far.”
Aeliana dismissed him with a movement of her hand, just like she had seen Instructor Clarke doing from time to time.
“If it’s Leonie, she will be okay. She won’t need our help. Let’s focus on task. Deliver the second totem before noon. Our schedule is tight.”
Despite the guy’s nonexistent flirting skills, he was one of the ‘fast’ cadets. They needed to get to Station Five early to meet two cadets from the Basilisk Squad who would be waiting for them.
“Leonie… she sounds strong. Does she have a boyfriend?”
Aeliana raised an eyebrow.
This dude can’t be for real.
*
Leonie wasn’t going to admit it to anyone, but she almost got killed in the first hour of the selection exam. She had raised her arm to move a hanging vine aside when some madman tried to plant an arrow in her ribcage. The arrow had pricked her skin near her heart. The reinforced shirt had turned the arrow’s power into blunt force. As a result, she had a bruise the size of a fist under her armpit.
The worst part was that, for an instant, Leonie froze. It took her a moment to gather enough common sense to dive behind a tree. Her heart beat faster than she ever remembered, and she had been enduring Instructor Clarke’s so-called ‘cardio’ for half a year now. A single sentence rattled in her mind. I almost died.
Leonie stood still for an hour, waiting for the archer to check on her. But the archer never appeared. Leonie crawled on the muddy ground until she gathered enough courage to stand. She found herself alone in the forest. Whoever had shot her seemingly decided to chase another victim.
Although Leonie was the daughter of an Imperial Knight and a Fae queen, she had no problems dragging herself through the mud if that meant surviving. What troubled her the most was the arrow itself. It was aimed to kill.
Was Lord Astur trying to start a war?
Imperial Knight Gerar Almedia wasn’t going to besiege Cadria in response to Leonie’s death, but the Nychtys Queen might. Fae were temperamental and capricious creatures, many of them driven more by emotion than reason. And Leonie would feel guilty, even in the afterlife, if her death caused a war.
Leonie reached Station One on the first day of the exam. She kept her [Enhanced Vision] activated the whole time, regardless of the change in color of her eyes. Thanks to the skill, she found dropouts before they could find her. Like a good citizen, she used [Stormlash] and [Lighting Glaive] to chase them away from the path. Those behind her could use a path without ambushes.
The bruise on her side made it harder to aim her [Stormlash]. During one skirmish, she accidentally cut the hair of a female dropout very, very close to her scalp. The dropouts fled before she could apologize.
At Station One, Leonie met Ilya and gave her a brief report of what she saw on the way there. The information was a few hours old, but it was the best they had. Ilya didn’t have much useful information for Leonie. As she was one of the most outstanding cadets, she was the tip of the spear.
Leonie didn’t tell Ilya about the arrow.
“Don’t be afraid of harming them. Dropouts were also given an expensive potion. As long as you don’t kill them, they have their own get out of jail free card,” Ilya said, nonchalantly.
Leonie had heard Instructor Clarke say that before. Portal travelers had the strangest phrases. She thought about the arrow and her potion. Was it enough to fix a pierced heart?
“Robert didn’t want to tell you lot this, but I will. You should surrender. This exam is stupid and dangerous, and you don’t need to become an Imperial Knight to do whatever you want to do,” Ilya said.
Leonie shifted uncomfortably. Being alive was great, but continuing the line of the Almedia Imperial Knights required being an Imperial Knight. It was explicitly stated in the name.
“I won’t give up.”
“Alright.”
Leonie rested at Station One until she met with the cadets from Basilisk and Gaiarok she was supposed to guide to Station Two—a Knight and a Defender. She felt better having company. Moreso from two powerful Classes.
On the first day, they started traveling to Station Two and gathered three dropout badges. Night caught them in the forest, but they had expected it. There was only so much they could travel in a single day.
On the second day, they gathered two more dropout badges and arrived at Station Two, where Zaon was waiting for them. Leonie reported her findings but stuttered a lot, which left a bitter taste in her mouth. Zaon was out of the range of whatever communication skill the seniors were using, so he couldn’t give information about the status of other Stations.
Leonie’s party had separated there, but she was okay with it. She relished the moment at Station Two. It was hard to talk to Zaon because he was always surrounded by a crowd. Even if it was for just a moment, she had him for herself. Station Two was on the edge of the map Astur had given them, so the cadets who passed through quickly departed.
Zaon was second place in the Secret Rank of Most Handsome Cadets and Instructors of the Imperial Academy and Library. By principle, Leonie rejected the idea of such a ranking existing, but she couldn’t deny the effort the shady figures behind the rankings put into it. Of course, she told herself to pay no attention to such nonsense. She only voted once in an attempt to defend Zaon’s honor from the scathing remarks of hardcore Astur fans.
Girls said that instructors had a hidden buff, as all of them were already accomplished high-level Imperial Knights. But that didn’t prevent Instructor Clarke from sitting in the lower-middle part of the list. Leonie truly believed he deserved at least the middle of the pack. Her feelings had nothing to do with the reinforced shirt saving her. Instructor Clarke was pretty much average. Solid average, even. Leonie thought that his position in the ranking was the work of Astur’s fans trying to sabotage him.
The most unbelievable part of the whole ordeal was that in its thirty years of existence, the list hadn’t been discovered by the male cadets and instructors. Many of the female Imperial Knights currently working at the Academy might have voted during their cadet days. The rank was probably one of the best-kept secrets on the continent.
Leonie chatted with Zaon. What she liked the most was the fact that Zaon gave her all his attention. It made her feel noticed, like there wasn’t anyone else in the world other than the two of them.
Of course, Leonie knew Zaon was gentle with everyone, but that didn’t prevent her from savoring the moment.
“I should be going,” she said.
“Yes. If you already used your potion, you can get a refill,” Zaon replied, pointing at a potions crate by the supplies.
Leonie wondered if the mud on her clothes was the telltale of her misfortunes.
“T-thanks. I still have mine. B-but please take these, I won’t know what to do with them,” she said, handing him the dropout badges.
Zaon gave her a shiny smile, and a weight fell off Leonie’s heart.
“The exam area is a little safer for the others now, well done.”
Leonie departed before she could do something reckless. As soon as she left the Fortifier’s barrier, her mindset changed back into exam mode. Unlike the other girls, she could turn off Zaon’s influence. Besides, the bruise on the side of her chest was dark purple, and the pain she felt when she touched it was enough to make her wince. It was a fresh enough reminder to stay sharp.
Leonie walked through the forest, hugging a stony cliff, and for the first hour, she didn’t bump into anyone. The Knight from the Basilisk squad might have driven away any dropouts in the surroundings. An hour later, the cliff came to an end. Straight ahead and a bit to the north was Station Seven. To the south-east was Station Six. Leonie continued in a straight line, checking her map for landmarks.
After a while, the silence made her uncomfortable.
Dropouts could see the paths cadets would take to travel from station to station on their maps. Landmarks like the cliff left little room for detours, and Stations were natural magnets for cadets. She expected to find more resistance, considering that she found three dropouts during the first day and two earlier that day. Even in those moments where she thought she was alone, she could see distant parties with her [Enhanced Vision], and even hear combats and skirmishes.
Now, the forest seemed empty.
Suddenly, the hair on Leonie’s nape stood on its ends. A strange sensation got hold of her body. She could only describe it as a sixth sense—or seventh sense if she counted mana sense. It was how the fae experienced fear.
Leonie trusted her fae blood and used [Stormveil]. She was engulfed in a ball of magical wind, just as invisible frozen mana strands tried to curl around her neck. With a swift movement, she pushed mana into [Stormlash] and released a whip of crackling thunder that destroyed the vegetation around her.
A boy dressed in a cadet uniform stood on the edge of the artificial clearing.
“What do you think you are doing?” Leonie shouted, but had to dive to the side as an icicle flew in her direction. She used [Lighting Glaive] with her offhand but stopped mid-channeling. Her opponent wasn’t a dropout.
He was the Ice Mage she had fought during the maze exam.
The icicles drew a huge circle in the air and returned to her, but this time, she was ready and destroyed them mid-air with a single movement of her thunder whip.
Leonie examined the ice shards as they fell to the ground. Controlling projectile spells after launch was tricky. In most cases, only small adjustments in the trajectory were possible. Making an icicle go into a full circle was almost unheard of. Not from a cadet, at least.
“Hey! We are on the same team!” Leonie shouted.
The cadet gave her a mocking grin.
“I know, but Lord Astur doesn’t like cabbage.”
Astur’s Golden Dragon squad was the cream of the crop of the Academy. One couldn’t get in there with status alone. Political power meant nothing in the face of boundless talent.
Leonie turned around to flee. There was a chance she would win, but she had no time to spare. As one of the strongest in the Cabbage-Basilisk-Gaiarok alliance, her route was slightly unoptimized to help others. Leonie ran towards the trees but stopped short. Before her, a web of icy threads blocked the path. The trees froze where the threads touched them.
Leonie channeled her mana into the whip in her hand, but before she could strike, another cadet appeared behind the trees. Then another. She turned to the south, and then to the north, but she was surrounded by Astur’s cadets. Even if she struck down the icy threads, she would just open the path for a new opponent.
The Ice Mage smirked.
“Why?” Leonie asked.
“The exam is just too easy.”
Leonie sighed. Three versus one wasn’t fair.
Offense, Defense, Movement, Detection, Illusion, Crowd Control, and Support. It was hard to find a skill so versatile to check all the boxes, but Leonie had the next best thing. Her hair fluttered as mana surged through her body. She activated her Fae Curse, and silver and turquoise mana surged through her body.
For the first time in years, she used [Fae Stars].
The sky darkened until it became a deep purple color. The atmosphere became heavy, and the sounds of the forest became dull and distant. Even gravity seemed to increase, not enough to pin someone in place, but enough to make them want to lie down. Then, from the ground emerged thousands of tiny golden stars whose mere presence made the Golden Dragon’s cadets lower their weapons.
A drop of sweat rolled down Leonie’s face as she fought to maintain the skill.
The cadets were hypnotized by the scene.
The tiny stars shot like needles, piercing the padded jackets like it was nothing. The stars attacked hands, arms, legs, and shoulders, cutting flesh and muscle, and disrupting the mana of the cadets. The illusion broke. Leonie avoided their vital spots. Deep inside, she knew she could’ve killed them.
The sky returned to its usual light blue color, and the icy threads shattered in a cascade of tiny ice specks. The cadets fell to the ground, growling in pain, although not a single drop of blood flowed from their wounds.
Ignoring the pain, the cadets reached for their potions.
Leonie seized the moment and ran; however, the hair on her nape stood on its ends yet again. The fears of the Fae weren’t as different as those of humans. The unknown made them equally uneasy, and her ‘seventh’ sense told her there was a monster behind her.
Comments
Ben Bass
TYFTC! I do hope Leonine is able to make it out, that power is almost broken. I wonder if they keep on tailing her she ends them, or does more damage. Very interesting how Astur is targeting Rob's students.
Rod
Astur needs the shotgun treatment pronto
