Time to choose

When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was not in my room. I felt disoriented and weak. I can't remember the last time I felt so exhausted. I sat down on the little bed I was in with difficulty, and when I looked around I noticed that I was in the castle clinic.

"Darx, how do you feel?"

I heard a familiar voice and when I turned my face, I saw that it was Shalia who was sitting on the side of the bed.

"You don't know how shocked I was when they brought you here ****. You can't give me those scares. Tell me what happened?"

Shalia was wearing a white robe similar to what the castle healers wear. It's true, Shalia wanted to learn healing magic, and since what happened in the cave, she has been coming here to learn.

But why am I here? The last thing I remember is my talk with Gerald and then... When I remembered what happened next, I automatically turned to see my hands searching if there was still that dark aura around me.

"Is something wrong, Darx? Gerald brought you here saying he heard strange noises and when he came back, he saw you and two **** guards lying on the ground."

"Gerald brought me here?" I asked.

"Yes, he said that he searched the surroundings in case someone had attacked you, but he did not find anyone."

"I see... and what about the guards, are they okay?"

"They are fine! They woke up shortly after being brought here and after being treated with healing magic, they returned to their posts in perfect condition."

"I'm glad."

Shaila, with an angry expression upon hearing my words, said, "I know you're glad for them, but what about you? You didn't have any injuries, but for some reason, you didn't wake up. You don't know how worried I was. Neither Gerald nor the guards could say what happened, and with everything that occurred recently, I was worried that something terrible would have happened to you."

Shalia has red eyes as she scolds me. I feel bad for worrying her, but I don't know what happened either. Now that I realize it seems to be quite late and only Shalia and I are here. She was taking care of me all this time.

"I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention that you had to take care of me until this hour, but I already feel fine."

"Silly, I'm not upset about that." Shalia replied.

"I know, sorry."

"If you really feel bad, take me to my room since it's past midnight and the hallways of the castle scare me at this time."

"Are you afraid of ghosts?" I asked jokingly, "Who would think that of you."

Shalia hit me on the shoulder and we both laughed.

The castle corridors are indeed a bit scary at night, but we didn't even notice it on the way to Shalia's room because we were talking and joking. Besides that, it was funny to tease her a little about her fear of ghosts. When we got to the door of her room, I said goodbye to her.

"Are you not going to be afraid to go back to your room alone?" Shaila stared at me with a provocative look and asked, "You can stay in my room if you want."

I nervously replied, "O-Of course I'm not afraid... W-Well, good night."

"That's too bad. Maybe next time." Shalia smirked and went into her room.

Was Shalia teasing me because I was doing the same with her fear of ghosts moments ago?

I reacted after being immobile in front of her door for a few seconds and returned to my room. The truth is that I am not well yet, but I pretended to be so as not to worry Shalia. I'm still way too tired for some reason. I hope that after sleeping a little, it will pass since I need to be in my best condition for Kiara's test tomorrow.

As I dozed in my bed, I remembered that I didn't go with Syvis tonight. I hope she hasn't been waiting for me... too long...

The next morning I was feeling much better. I left my room in search of Ryul and we both went to the dining room to meet Shalia and Leona. Today is the last day we'll be having Kiara as our mentor. She also says she is going to give us a test to round up our week with her. While we have a light breakfast, we were of course, guessing what her test might be. Later we went to meet Kiara in the courtyard.

“Today is the last day I’ll be your mentor. But before we part ways, I would like to see how much you have grown.” Kiara announces. “So, let me explain what the test is."

As Kiara spoke, we listened attentively in anticipation.

"We will have one-on-one duels as in the beginning. You can use all of the skills you have at your disposal. I will too. Remember, I only shared with you 1 of my skills. I still have 2 others you don’t know about. Should you succeed in making a good impression, you will earn an invitation to Dark Dragons."

Until now, each mentor has focused on different aspects. Syvis taught us the basics and allowed us to experience what it is like to be an adventurer by taking us to the cave. Dante was in charge of teaching us to fight as a team against a single enemy and Kiara has emphasized how to stand up for ourselves.

The fight against her is going to be difficult because we only know one of her skills, Shadow Manipulation. Also, we know she controls the elements of light and dark, but I wonder what her other skills are.

Shalia is the first to go. When the fight begins, Kiara starts running towards her. Shaila started by summoning water balls and throwing them at Kiara. Shalia has improved a lot. The speed with which she uses the spell is a lot faster now. Kiara on her side creates a shadow shield on her left arm, which shields her from the water. By now, Kiara is close enough to get into melee with Shalia, which she does after changing her shadow shield into a shadow sword. No matter how many times I watch it, I am always impressed by how Kiara uses her Shadow Manipulation.

Shalia uses her staff to defend herself. Unlike how she did against Ryul last time, this time, she did it correctly. Unfortunately for Shalia, Kiara changes her sword again, this time into a tentacle that wraps itself around Shalia’s staff. Kiara tried to pull the staff from Shalia, but she refuses to let go. After a good shake, Kiara tossed Shalia to the ground along with her staff.

Still, on the ground, Shalia uses her [Stone Wall] spell to defend herself. We can't see what Shalia is doing behind the stone wall, but without hesitation, Kiara sends the shadowy tentacle on her left arm towards the wall, and it goes around the wall searching for Shalia. Then out of nowhere, spiny vines came out of the ground behind Kiara. The vines tried to catch Kiara, but she reacted in time, dodging most of them and only one managed to catch her on her right arm. Kiara responded by changing her tentacle shadow to a sword again, cutting the vine that held her. Given the thorns of the vine, Kiara's arm had blood on it.

It wasn't just Kiara who was surprised but everyone in general. Leona even got closer to see what was happening.

I managed to see a smile on Kiara and she said, "The fight is over. I've seen enough. It is well known that mages are at their best at long range and at their weakest in melee, especially for support mages like you. This is why most mages try to find a way to counter attempts at melee or otherwise punish those who try to **** them into melee. You defended yourself well. I'll give you the victory for that."

Shaila appears behind the wall and we approach her looking to know what she did.

"What was that?" Ryul asked.

Shalia smiled, "The way I found with the help of the castle healers in learning healing magic was by combining my three elements, water, earth, and light and in this way creating a new element called "Nature". It is an element that I am just getting used to, but it has many uses like the one you have just seen. The spell I use is called [Briar Trap], and besides that, I can use a little healing magic thanks to this element."

Shaila walked over to where Kiara was standing and raising her staff, she said, "[Whispering Dawn]", Then shiny green dust began to settle on Kiara's injured arm, healing it almost immediately—leaving us all surprised.

"The wound was not serious, so it was not difficult to heal." Shalia said.

"Nature is a difficult element to use that not many people have managed to master. It's incredible how much you've improved in such a short time." Kiara reply.

Shalia thanked Kiara, and after that, Kiara calls for Ryul to face her.

Before the battle starts, the stance Ryul chose was [Heaven’s Stance]. When the duel starts, Kiara uses her dark magic and shoots a few [Dark Blast]’s at him. Ryul dodges the blasts with the help of his [Sixth Sense], which he can access only because he is using his [Heaven’s Stance] skill. Even when Kiara uses her [Shadow manipulation] to pull a black hand out of Ryul’s own shadow and try to grab his feet, his improved intuition has him avoid her attacks. It’s incredible. I think he might do it. Ryul could actually defeat Kiara.

Kiara then gives up on trying to defeat Ryul at a distance. She creates herself a shadow sword and walks up to him for a melee confrontation. Ryul first dodges her sword, then grabs Kiara by the wrist and pulls her out of balance. Next, he kicks one of her legs from under her and Kiara falls. He’s done it! But when Kiara hits the ground, she sinks into it and disappears. Wait, what?

Ryul and the rest of us are confused. Where did Kiara disappear to? Suddenly I feel a hand on my shoulder. Then I see Kiara running past me, straight towards Ryul. How did she get behind me?

In her rush towards Ryul, Kiara uses her [Shadow Manipulation] to grow herself two wings. She flaps them once to lift her slightly off the ground and even faster towards Ryul, who just now sees her. Then Kiara adjusts her shadow wings into the shape of a large shadowy arm covering her right arm. With a scream, she sands a large shadow hand, the size of a full-grown human, towards Ryul. My elf friend raises both his forearms in front of his head, but he gets swept away by Kiara’s giant shadow hand.

Ryul got up from the ground, hurt but good enough to keep fighting without problems. After spending so much time with him, I know he's hesitating to use [Berserk], but before he could decide, Kiara cut him off.

“Congratulations.” Kiara compliments Ryul. “You made me use my second skill, [Shadow Teleportation].”

“Shadow what now?” Ryul asks, confused.

“It is a skill which allows me to jump into one shadow and out of another. As long as they are not too far apart.”

I look behind me, where Kiara came from after she disappeared into the ground. There are not many objects there, but the castle's main structure does cast quite a large shadow that extends all the way over there. That must be the shadow she escaped from. Kiara may be a B-Rank, but she is holding her own against A-ranks like Ryul and Shalia. I guess that could be because she has more experience in her skills. Or maybe rare skills really can make that much of a difference.

Next up to face Kiara is Leona. Before our mentor can even return to our little arena, Leona is already there waiting for her.

“Come on, Kiara.” The catgirl says. “This time, I’ll defeat you.”

Leona still seems dissatisfied with the last fight they had.

Before the start signal is even given, I notice Leona keeping her shield high and in front of her face. I guess she’s doing that to keep her eyes safe from another blinding flash. Leona advances towards Kiara at an average pace. Kiara tries to summon shadowy hands to grab Leona’s feet, but Leona either slashes it with her sword or stops on it with her heel every time one shows up. When Kiara realizes her tactic isn’t working, she employs her [Shadow Manipulation] to create a halberd in her hands. Then she meets Leona for a melee attack. Knowing that Kiara can only use [Shadow Manipulation] on one object at a time, that means Kiara is now unable to summon shadowy hands to grab Leona’s feet. Leona takes advantage of this and increases the speed of her movement. Once the two meet in melee, the fight is quite fierce. Leona slashes at Kiara. The dark sorceress uses her shadow halberd to defend herself. Then she counterattacks, but Leona protects herself with her shield. Both of them are moving quite fast.

Kiara is strong, but A-Ranks still have a higher strength boost than B-Ranks and it shows. Leona’s strikes land harder than Kiara’s. Eventually, Kiara manages to make some distance between her and Leona. That is when our mentor raises her right hand and summons a [Sun Lance]. White light appears above her and takes on the shape of a spear. I was surprised that Kiara has a similar spell to mine. When she throws it, Leona is ready. The catgirl readies her shield for an impact and activates [Divine Blessing]. A skill that allows her to decrease the power of magical attacks thrown at her. So far, I have learned this is one of Leona's rare skills and that she can use it only once per day. When Kiara throws her [Sun Lance], it first comes into contact with Leona’s [Divine Blessing] and becomes less bright. Then it hits Leona’s shield, presumably, will less **** than it usually would have. After that, Leona rushes at Kiara. Our mentor tries to defend herself, but when her shadow halberd gets within the [Divine Blessing] range, it too weakens.

Leona was about to hit Kiara with her sword pommel, But Kiara raises her arms and yells “Yield!”

Leona immediately stops her movement. “But you haven’t teleported yet?”

“I can’t. I have to wait 10 minutes every time I do it. The duel with Ryul hasn’t been 10 minutes yet.” Kiara explains.

Leona becomes visibly frustrated and says, “You mean to say the only reason I beat you is because you are still weakened from your previous fight?!”

Before Kiara can respond, Leona angrily walked away. Sometimes Leona is too competitive. Despite her sudden outbursts, I am amazed at how much she has also improved. I'm sure that if we go now to the cave where Syvis took us, we wouldn't have many difficulties fighting those cyclops.

After a short break, during which I see Kiara use a mana potion, it is my turn to face off against Kiara. She’s had over 10 minutes, so she can use her shadow teleportation again. Then there’s her [Shadow Manipulation], which has already proven to be very versatile and very powerful. After watching her fight, I know well that at my level, it is impossible for me to defeat her, but I must at least give a good impression.

When the duel starts, Kiara sends out her [Shadow Manipulation] at me in the form of a tentacle. I use my sword to deflect it. Meanwhile, I start casting [Water Barrier]. A spell that I developed with the help of Ophelia while training in that dark place. It is a sphere of water that rotates rapidly around me, which can protect me from external attacks as long as I stay still in one place.

Kiara’s shadow tentacle lashes at me but bounces off my protective barrier. I had expected her to create a shadow weapon to fight in melee again. She does seem to be fond of that. But no, she does something I haven’t seen her do before. Kiara completely wraps herself in a shadow construct and shapes it like armor. Then she jumps forward, through my [Water Barrier], and pushes me to the ground. She then pins both my arms to the ground and has her knee on my belly. Even though I hadn't had a chance to test my [Water Barrier], I felt confident about the defense it gives me, but I guess it's not enough against a B-Rank adventurer.

Because of my surprise, the [Water Barrier] has already ended, wetting us both. I try to use my magic again, but Kiara prevents that, taking off my staff.

“Not bad. The [Water Barrier] was a good idea. Just remember you’re not the only one who can use magic to enhance defense. In my case, I used my increased defense to enhance my offense.” Kiara explains.

Kiara got off me and with the pain now gone, I lie on my back while listening to Kiara’s advice. She’s right. I focused too much on my defense and thought nothing about how she could improve hers. I look over at the others and from where I lay, I could also see Princess Kathleen up on the balcony again. Unfortunately, I showed a very poor performance. I didn't even have a chance to fight back. Even though Kiara has a magic class, I could not free myself when she had me lying on the ground. The difference in strength between ranks is too great.

I check my adventurer card, but there is no change. It looks like I’m not as lucky as last time.

After the combats, Kiara gathered us in the center. I expected that because of the excellent performance of my companions, they would be invited to join Dark Dragons, but my surprise was great when I was also invited despite my poor performance. I don't know if it was due to the fact that my parents were members, but I don't feel I deserved the invitation.

As if she had read my mind, Kiara turned to me and said, "I want you to know, I am not asking you to join because of your mother. I am inviting you based on your good principles and the fact that I think you have great potential."

Kiara then addressed everyone, “The Dark Dragon guild treats its members as a family. When we are out on an adventure, the only people we can trust out there are our fellow guild members. It is with them that we eat, sleep, fight side by side. It is them that we rely on to keep us alive and them who rely on us to keep them alive. This is how my guild has survived for generations, and it is how we have become one of the three strongest guilds in the city. I believe that the four of you have the necessary qualities to be members. And don't take it lightly since Dark Dragons are quite demanding regarding who it allows to join. Feel proud of yourselves and if at the end of the following week you decide to join us, you will be welcomed."

That said, the third week ended and with that in another week, we will be out of the castle. Soon our life as adventurers will begin.

After thanking Kiara for her teaching, we went back to the castle to take a shower and eat something. At dusk, I went to the greenhouse to meet Syvis. She let me pass, but she felt a little strange. And before I could say anything, she said,

"There's something you need to know."