[X] {Morality} No, your revenge has to be through official means or it lacks true meaning to you. You need it to be known that you beat him. (Lawful)
Be the bigger person. There's nothing wrong with a jerk getting their cummupance, but holding grudges isn't really the best character trait in my opinion.
[X] {Weekend Plans} Sigubert spends his weekends studying in the library, maybe you could study with him?
Reject socialization, only study. And then I have no real opinion on the second choice, so have one I picked at random.
[X] {Weekend Plans} Frisob and Myrshai were becoming fast friends, one book smart and one street smart. They'd probably let you come with them as they spent time out in the city.
Current votes:
You're taking the lawful route and choosing to defeat the bully without ganging up on him even if he is stronger, more skilled and overall better than you are at fighting.
-I'm just phrasing it that way as while you are right that you are taking the moral high ground, this fight doesn't look possible "As things are now." The current state of affairs can change but you'll need more combat experience first.
And you've also decided to spend your weekend with a Sigubert. Fair enough. No real comment here.
I still need a third vote before I'll write. And that third vote (Or more that would happen while I'm not paying attention) might upend this vote entirely.
[X] {Morality} No, your revenge has to be through official means or it lacks true meaning to you. You need it to be known that you beat him. (Lawful)
Not really into this respectability high road stuff, but I don't disagree that it is a more interesting restriction.
[X] {Weekend Plans} Sigubert spends his weekends studying in the library, maybe you could study with him?
[X] {Weekend Plans} Frisob and Myrshai were becoming fast friends, one book smart and one street smart. They'd probably let you come with them as they spent time out in the city.
Fair enough.
But yes, that's actually the point of this first chapter. "Act 0.1: Boundaries" is an arc meant to introduce the class you'll be with for the next few arcs after this.
I don't expect them all to still be important by the endgame but your character build needs party members in the early stages.
Boundaries will likely either the first three months in-universe or until you beat Adamus. The three months coming first will mean you ran out of time at the class's first outing occured before you could settle the score.
And now I can finally stop delaying the vote count since I am now actually able to write. Chapter should be out...
Sooner or later? An hour maybe? Less?
You understood in your heart that you couldn't accept a victory that wasn't done by the rules.
Adamus was stronger than you, he was more skilled than you. He was a natural savant who took to training like the cave fish to water while you flopped around- barely able to use your spear.
And yet you were determined to defeat him properly. In an official bout, not in any late night ambush.
Because that was who you were. You did things properly and got results.
You still needed allies though. Your weaknesses stood out and you didn't know how to rectify them by yourself.
And so when the weekend came, you went to see Siguburt. The other Prodigy.
Your first guess had been right, back on your first day seeing him. He was actually half your age.
He was an eight year old child in one of the kingdom's most prestigious academies. You'd have to tread carefully around him, for multiple reasons.
You found him in the library, a stack of books to his side as he read at a desk.
As you approached, he looked up.
"Yes?"
His voice was clipped in a noble way. You had heard the Princess speak like that too. Emphasis was put on the last letter to make it end in a sharp sound. Hers was much more subtle than Sigubert's though. It was the last letter of the last word in a sentence.
"I just wanted to know… if there was any way you knew of to help me learn faster?" You spoke, unsure of yourself.
The boy looked down at his book. It was some sort of old history book. Likely written at least fifty years ago.
"I don't really care." He admitted "We may be classmates but you should care more about your own learning. Not go begging tips from those younger than you."
"Please." You spoke firmly "You're one of the best in our class. I want to know-"
You do so, putting each back in the places he'd got them from.
They were all history books. Books about rebellions long past, books about talks that ended rebellions, books about productivity. There was a book detailing the growth of crops in one specific region before, during and after a revolt. There were books about the toll that rebellions take on the kingdom.
There were also books from the surface that humanity controlled. Books about wars, something unknown in the kingdom below. Wars over treasure, over pride and over faith.
"Why were you reading about all of this?"
"It interests me." Was his only reply.
Eventually he led you out of the library and to an empty training hall.
"Stay here while I get some things." He told you before leaving.
You sat there for what must have been ten minutes or so before he returned with a long bag and an adult. That was one of the nurses from the medical center right?
Walking over to you, he dropped the bag, opened it, and pulled out a pair of staves.
"We'll use these. You'll be on the defensive. Block my strikes and don't let me snap your stave."
You understood quickly. These staves were the same length as your spears.
You squared off, the nurse standing to the side to heal you if you got too badly hurt.
This time you managed to knock away his staff. It felt more like luck than actual practice though.
Instead of berating you this time though, Sigubert nodded.
"Not great, but you managed that much. Your reflexes are more suited for dodging so I do have something for you. It won't work against those with longer weapons though. Or those who are able to flash step."
He taught you evasion tactics. If you were going to be attacked, you could simply stay away. As long as you were able to avoid running into a dead end or a position you couldn't escape from, you could always wait until they were ready to attack and then dodge away.
It did forfeit your own opportunity to attack though. It was a purely defensive technique that wouldn't earn you a victory.
So instead, he started drilling you on not getting your weapon broken.
He wasn't as skilled at that trick as Adamus was though. He left openings when he targeted your staff.
When all was said and done though, two of the staves had been broken.
The nurse tended to your wounds as Sigubert considered the problem.
When she left though, he was blunt.
"I'm sorry to say, but you're awful at spearplay."
"I realise that." You admitted.
He shook his head "No, I mean really bad. Why did you even sign up to be a Terra Knight when you're that bad?"
"It isn't all weaponry." You remarked, a little bit of anger filling your voice "I like how unique powers can be used to heal, mend and make things beautiful. I want to be able to do that while earning myself knighthood."
Sigubert sighed.
"Then you'll need to train. Train hard. Learn spearplay. Or martial arts. Or the crossbow for all I care. A weapon that you're allowed to use in official bouts that you're actually good with."
He sighed, letting the emotions out of his voice too.
This eight year old had berated you for your lack of skill. You kind of felt that more than his beatings from earlier.
He turned away from you.
"I don't care anymore." His voice was empty. "Let me just get back to my books."
He left, leaving you alone in the training room.
The rest of the weekend passed uneventfully but you felt that you'd learned something from your spar. You could take the training from there.
You'd need to ask for help from others too. More sparring, more chances to practice spearmanship. Well, staffmanship technically as you'd be sparring without your spear at the start.
Your personal spear was feeling better now but it still wasn't finished. You'd have to leave it in you for at least the start of the week. That meant missing combat classes in the first few days.
Who would you ask to help with your sparring?
[ ] Dio, your friend from home.
[ ] Helen, your noble friend.
[ ] Princess Mariannerie, well… if she doesn't like schooling, maybe she'd like out of class training?
[ ] Endymad, he was meant to be another one of the most skilled fighters of the class. How would you convince him to help though?
[ ] Frisob, he doesn't get good marks but he could help spar?
[ ] Myrshai, he gets great marks… in knowledge based lessons. He's not the best at practicals.
[ ] Seoihilda, she's shockingly good with her spear. She's not a savant, just someone with talent.
[ ] Tuilendra, you don't really know much about her. Her uniform wasn't ripped so you couldn't actually define anything about her by description alone. Maybe you could get to know her through a spar.
The abrasive eight year old Sigubert.
…Well, he did point out your flaws at least. Kalina is actually really bad with the spear. Low strength and weaponry isn't one of her favoured skills.
He's really just annoyed at how bad you are. You'd probably be able to make friends with him when you've figured out which side of your spear you need to hit people with. And he's 8 and a noble of course. It would be shocking if he wasn't a bit of a pompous jerk like that.
You earned experience from the training though. About 10% of the amount you need to level up.
*sigh*
Well… Your training is likely going to take a while. Long enough to get to grips with all of your classmates hopefully.
Man, we really are bad at this aren't we? At this point, even having Hado No. 1 would be a huge bonus. Of course, that's still a ways off so we'll need to work hard in the mean time. I don't really have an opinion on who we train with, so I'll vote for these:
[X] Dio, your friend from home.
[X] Princess Mariannerie, well… if she doesn't like schooling, maybe she'd like out of class training?
[X] Helen, your noble friend.
Once lessons were over on monday, you found Princess Mariannerie and asked her for help.
You explained the training you'd done with Sigubert to her and when you were done, she nodded.
"I don't mind helping you out." She agreed, "but I've got a better idea for how you could be trained."
Confused, you went to the training room with the bag of staves. When the princess got there though, she didn't reach for one.
"Here's what we'll be doing." She noted before clapping her hands and summoning her spear.
Her gaian spear wasn't like most others you saw. Most spears, including yours, were mostly wood and packed earth with a sharp stone point at the end. Hers though was more regal.
A light-coloured wood's roots twisted down a glass-like shaft. At the end of the shaft where the point of the spear should be there was a sphere of some kind of green gemstone.
The princess' innate abilities had been awake since before she started at the Academy of course. You saw it while she was sparring against other nobles in classes.
She smiled and pointed it at you.
"My spear has the ability to heal instead of harm with its strikes. That means I can go all out against you for as long as I want without you suffering at all."
Was she mad? But if it actually worked then it would be great training…
You nodded, accepting the rules as she presented them and drawing your own staff.
"Oof." Mariannerie held up a hand quickly, "That was fast."
If it had been a match to first blood, you would have just taken it by pure luck.
Having innate power wasn't something that made you more skilled, it just gave you more options in combat. You understood that easily enough. Mariannerie's power lets her heal instead of hurt and create "walls" that would either hurt or heal whoever passed through them. You'd seen the wall trick in some of the spars.
Now Mariannerie looked pleased.
"See, you could hit me."
You shrugged "That one was pure luck. You weren't ready for it."
"Maybe?" Mariannerie was still smiling "How about this then? I won't attack you but I will do my best to stop you from landing a second hit. How about you show me what you could really- Do!"
As she said that last word she created a wall. Her walls at their maximum extension were forty feet long, ten feet high and five feet thick.
Putting it between you and her made it awkward to run around. If you were to try and run around, she could just create another wall to block you off.
So instead you had another idea. You ran to the side just enough to get a line of sight to her again and tried out a trick that was still fairly new to you.
You flash stepped thirty feet, your feet skidding on the ground just in front of Mariannerie. She actually jumped in alarm, having not expected you to make a dash like that.
The ability to move faster than the eye can naturally track was something amazing. You weren't an expert though, you weren't very fond of the classes that taught it.
You had left yourself open though. Mariannerie, true to her word, didn't attack your massive opening and instead ran back, putting another wall up between the two of you.
Another dash to the side and flash step was the easy answer.
You caught up to her again and she fled again. This time though, this time you knew what you were aiming for. You'd chased her in a very specific way. You only needed her to put up one more wall in the right place.
Mariannerie put her hands together and congratulated you. Her spear vanished, as did the walls she'd created.
You felt like you'd become a little better but it was still fairly minor. You'd need a proper fight to get any better in truth.
You thanked Mariannerie and spent a little more time with her. She also told you that she would be hosting a small tea party on Friday after classes. All the girls would be there and it would give you a chance to get to know them (Though not a chance to practise. The princess didn't want any fighting at the party).
What you needed to improve was A fair fight, one that wasn't over in a single strike. Practising real combat in other words.
The good news was that on Wednesday, your spear would almost certainly be healed at its current rate. You could then join in combat classes again.
You wanted to win. You wanted a fight that you might actually be able to win. Something to give you a chance to see what victory was like in those cases.
You weren't a blood knight. You didn't want to fight because it was fun or anything like that. You wanted to fight because it was how you could prove to yourself that you were improving.
Who would you fight against? It needs to be someone without any awakened innate powers.
[ ] Frisob (Not the best fighter but you're fairly sure he doesn't try very hard in lessons)
[ ] Myrshai (He does try hard in classes but you think he might not be very good at spearplay either.)
[ ] Seoihilda (This would be a true test of your abilities, even without innate abilities she's actually quite skilled.)
[ ] Tuilendra (A mixed bag. She doesn't seem very strong or skilled but there's something about how she fights…)
[ ] Hesiodio (Dio… practising against him might help but he seemed stronger than you were… who were you kidding, he was fairly average. The entire class minus one or too people were better than you were)
[ ] Adamus (You could jump right to this fight. You didn't think you were ready yet and he might break your spear again though. It was an option though.)
[ ] Don't challenge anyone, just have normal lessons (Much slower practice but you won't draw attention to yourself)
Why Not?
[X] Seoihilda (This would be a true test of your abilities, even without innate abilities she's actually quite skilled.)
And for good measure:
[X] Myrshai (He does try hard in classes but you think he might not be very good at spearplay either.)
Because it helps both of us to improve, and I'm pretty sure that neither side having a huge advantage is good for mutual growth. Yes, I am aware that this is Bleach where constantly fighting someone stronger than you is a good way to improve, provided you don't get crushed, but this way works as well.
When you returned to combat classes it caused a slight stir in the class. You joined the lesson, your spear now once again in hand.
You followed the kata the teacher showed you, even if it didn't feel even slightly natural. It was something you'd need to understand eventually after all.
This could well be the next step in your development. Training in the proper environment, taking it seriously because you now had a goal in mind.
Your spear spun with the rest of them and you glanced towards Adamus. He was paying attention to you too, a mean-spirited grin on his face.
He probably still wanted you to bow to him in some way. To accept his authority over you.
There was a possibility of him pushing that point and asking for another duel if you refused. Not yet though, he was holding off for now.
Now though, the lesson entered its second phase. Sparring matches between students.
You walked over to Seoihilda and hopefully made your opinion known.
"I would like to battle you. I want to see exactly how strong I am in comparison to you."
Seoihilda hesitated for a moment.
"Are you sure, I've had a lot more practice than you and I go to the duelling club?"
There was a duelling club? Well that was something to ask about later. Before that though-
You nodded "I need to understand properly. This won't be to first blood. I want to fight to a knockout."
Gasps came from everyone who was listening in. You ignored them and looked at her.
"If I hadn't been disarmed, I could have won the fight from last week. I want to prove it.
The teacher got involved and Seoihilda agreed to the fight.
The teacher directed you both to one of the larger circles and began listing the rules.
"This will be a knockout match so we'll have a nurse on standby." Indeed, as he spoke, one of the medics from the nurse's office was sent for and arrived while he continued.
"You'll be fighting in a 15 meter radius circle. Setting a foot outside the circle is a loss. If either of your spears break, that is a loss. If either of you pass out, that is a loss. I'm not doing a ten count for you ladies. If you go down, you're down. End of story."
You were students after all. He wanted the match over once one of you gave in. He didn't want you hurt more than necessary.
"And one more thing, either of you may forfeit at any time."
A strike landed against you heavily and you reflected on the fact that you could be doing this better. You let your reiatsu flow out, empowering your defences without draining your stamina any further before striking again.
Luckily you were barely able to see the attack coming. But now you are out. You only had a fraction of a fraction of chance of victory. You'd have to bet it all here.
As you attacked, you were devastated when you saw your foe move like you. Off course she knew the trick with flash stepping too.
Your vision went fuzzy and you collapsed to the ground.
The nurse rushed over to help you and your wounds closed as you slumped into unconsciousness.
You hadn't managed to do it. You hadn't managed to prove yourself.
Again! Again! You had failed twice now.
When you awoke, you were lying on one of the benches at the side of the room.
As she finished another fight, Seoihilda came over to speak with you. As she did, you asked her about that club she had mentioned.
"The duelling club? We meet on the weekends. It's basically just more fights like this. There are higher year students there too. I don't think losing to them would give you much more training than here though."
In a loss, you could only learn from your own weakness. In victory you could learn from your opponents strengths.
But while they didn't overlap in time, if you could only go to one thing this weekend, it would be:
The tea party will only happen once in the near future, while the duelling club meets regularly. Also, it's sad to be a person who neglects social interaction to gain strength.
The tea party will only happen once in the near future, while the duelling club meets regularly. Also, it's sad to be a person who neglects social interaction to gain strength.
A princess, not The princess. She's quite far down the line of succession.
Her role at court is closer to "Very important noble" than "Close royal family."
Edit: When the kingdom has had the same king since it's founding over 1000 years ago, the line of succession is really really long even for the king's children.
A princess, not The princess. She's quite far down the line of succession.
Her role at court is closer to "Very important noble" than "Close royal family."
Edit: When the kingdom has had the same king since it's founding over 1000 years ago, the line of succession is really really long even for the king's children.
The rest of the week passed normally. You studied in class and asked the occasional question.
On Friday morning though, there was a history class you hadn't been expecting.
Well, it wasn't called "History" but it was what was taught. The class was actually called "Tales of Heraldry."
It was basically just stories about the nobility and Terra Knights. During previous weeks it had gone over the different groups of Terra knights but you hadn't understood much of it. The teacher said they'd go into more detail later in the year though so you didn't mind.
Today he was talking about the history of the royal family and how they had come about.
"In what is now called the first year of the Gaian calendar, our people were divided. We lived in small pockets around the world. We were independent from each other and that cause much infighting with those that should have been our allies."
He gestured to one of the symbols drawn on the black board, an ancient family crest.
"In our year 1942, that war grew to a great conflagration. Nowhere was safe for the citizenry anymore. The great clan of Franermania saw it for the problem it was and in our year 2145 they formed a pact with the Nihozhon clan and they used their combined strength to put an end to the war. They decided that our people need central leadership and the patriarch of Franermania and the matriarch of Nihozhon had an heir together that would be raised into our current high king."
Which would be Mariannerie's father then.
"The kingdom expanded to cover the entirety of our underground lands over the next five hundred years. Since the high king was both the most powerful and most well liked of the various Gaian clan lords that still remained, he was able to gather much support as he established our great empire. He modelled our government off what humans were doing on the surface at around this time but with the necessary changes made for our people."
And so a broken land became a complete kingdom. Or empire. Either word was accepted.
The lesson ended soon after that. The teacher didn't go into the concept of succession but because you wanted to know more about Mariannerie, you'd studied it in your own time.
The high king had a lot of children. Even considering the fact that he only had one or two every hundred years, the kingdom had existed for a long time now.
He had about twenty one direct children of which Mariannerie is the most recent. Why was she and her brother so far down the line of succession then (165th and 164th respectively)
Well, the king's first children had children of their own. And so did his next set, and the first set had their own children too. Etc.
The person in 163rd place was Mariannerie's great nephew. Who was older than her by a few years from what you'd heard.
This wouldn't be even the slightest bit interesting if not for the fact that you were going to Mariannerie's tea party after lessons.
Was a tea party really the right word for it when the invitation you had received yesterday said to expect to stay until almost midnight?
At first you were worried about what to wear to the tea party, would your uniform be fine? The uniforms the Academy gave you were based on Terra Knight dress uniforms, the kind of things that knights wore to formal events. That could work…
But then Mariannerie had made it easier. Apparently she'd gone to the trouble of getting all of her non-noble classmate's measurements from the office, given them to a professional tailor and asked her to make party dresses fit for lower nobility.
As you held up the dress in your hands, you started to wonder if all noble ladies were as nice as the princess and Helenria. The dress was made of silk fibres, likely harvested from the giant cave spiders that were farmed in the east of the kingdom. They were strong and would resist damage.
Your uniform was made of the same thing but it was a mass produced piece, not a dress for lower nobility.
There was even a carriage to come pick you all up. The nobles took their own of course but all of the commoners who were coming rode together.
The party wasn't at the main palace of course, apparently Mariannerie only went there on special occasions. They were going to a manor house that was basically Mariannerie's "Main home" as it were.
You stepped out onto the pathway just inside the gates. It was a short walk to the front door that allowed you to look at the nature around you as all of you walked down the path.
Golden grass stuck up in massive fields to each side. To your left you could see a collection of trees of many different colours. Blue, red and even green trees. The latter weren't the type that were said to be found on the surface. The truck was a nice soft green while the leaves were like emeralds.
To your right you could see a flower garden. Lovely plants that you couldn't even begin to recognise decorated the earth over there.
Heading inside, a butler directed you to the room the tea party would be happening in.
It was a ballroom. Sure, Mariannerie had claimed it was only a "small ballroom" but a ballroom was a ballroom. It was almost as big as the Academy's main assembly hall.
To the side of the room, two massive crystalline doors stood open allowing you all to see the flower patches in much greater detail.
Inside and outside were arranged a number of tables, most already with some kind of food or drink arranged on them.
Something that should be noted here: Gaian's do not need to eat or drink. Some poorer families would only have a meal every few years as a special treat.
It was a luxury, not a necessity.
Tuilendra's eyes lit up at the sight but you were looking around at the other guests. It wasn't just the other noble ladies of your class. There had to be over a hundred people here. Other noblewomen the princess invited.
You were a bit lost in all of this noise but as you turned around you saw that most of your class had already scattered and began dissolving into the crowd.
You should probably look for something or someone specific.
[ ] Try to find princess Mariannerie (She might be busy)
[ ] Try to find Helenria (She should be somewhere around here?)
[ ] Seoihilda wasn't the most enthused about coming here but she still did, maybe you could find her?
[ ] Tuilendra looked really excited about all of this, maybe you could find her and ask her why.
[ ] Kryako is already out of sight completely, where had she gone?
[ ] Examine the flower garden (Is there someone there already?)
[ ] Try some of the food (And talk to some of the nobles you don't know)
And we're at the party. There will be a few things happening here and depending on what you do, you could earn a little bit of EXP at the end. That's not too required though. Most of this is about building connections. Also: Lore about the nobility. I added that because of the bit of information I gave out about what the princess's position was (Very high nobility instead of strictly being part of the close royal family)
