73 The Tournament! (1)

Link received 50 Points for completing the Mission, leaving him with 8 Light fruits which he sold as well, he managed to get 10 Points per Fruit.

Total Points : 247

With the lack of creatures, Link could only take Gathering Missions to earn Points, he decided that since he could not hunt the creatures himself, he would purchase the Beast Cores others hunt. He asked for the prices from Raol.

For Level 1 Cores (10 Points)

Level 2 Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Cores Go from (50 to 100 Points)

Then last but not least the Level 3 Basic, Intermediate and Advanced beast Cores may vary depending on the creature (From 200 Points to 500 Points)

Link asked Raol about the higher Level Cores, if he manages to get his hands on one it might be more useful than any of the rest.

To Link's disappointment, Raol told him that few students Would dare venture out past the Third Area of the forest, and for the upperclassmen that do, most of them keep their Cores to use in research or other things.

Link understood from Raol that the Forest is separated by Areas, from the First Area to the eighth. In each area creatures reside.

For example, the First Area contains Level 1 Beasts from Basic to Advanced. In the second Area Beasts of the Level 2 live and so on.

Link frowned upon understanding this and asked "Why is it so organized? Did the Academy have a hand in it?" It was way too convenient which prompted him to ask.

"No, we don't have the power to do something like that, even with the Headmaster being a Level 8 Mage, he wouldn't manage to do something like that, since at the Seventh and Eighth Areas live Creatures of terrifying strength" Raol explained.

Link paused for a bit when he heard that the headmaster is a Level 8 Mage, they are the most powerful forces out there.

"Then why didn't the Academy get attacked?" Link asked.

"We are at the edge of the Forest, there is nothing of interest for the creatures here so they do not care, plus with the professors and the Headmaster, even if all the Creatures from the First, Second and Third Areas attack, they won't even manage to pass the front gate." Raol Continued "As you know, the deeper you go inside the Forest the more resources you find. Those resources are not only beneficial to us, but to the creatures as well, so a hierarchy was built between them. The weak ones are left in the back while the stronger you are the deeper you go, they fight for them which is why a weaker creature does not dare go any deeper than their power permits them."

Link grabbed a gathering mission and left, he was planning on accumulating 500 Points to buy the Advanced Level 3 Beast Core, that was his goal for now.

As days passed Link finally received his next class date and book, it was titled 'The Art of Combat' which is one of the basic classes for the first years to have. By the time the class started, Link managed to collect 365 Points.

He was so close to 500 which excited him, but little did he know that excitement will not last long.

After he got ready, Link, Tom, Fei and Samuel headed to their new class which Samuel will finally start joining them.

This time, they entered what looked like a spacious room with weapons and shields set in racks on each wall, and at the other side of the room 4 circles seemed to have been drawn, they were big in size with scratch and sword slashes on the ground.

"Welcome everyone" A man made of muscle was sitting in a lotus position in the middle of the room. He had two horns protruding from his head and pointy ears. "I am your new instructor Bai." Bai continued "As you can see I belong to the Draconic race, but opposite to my scaly brethren, I look more human."

Bai walked over to the students, and stopped in front of them. He stood upright with an assertive and correct posture. He had his chin up, chest out, shoulders back, stomach in. Link recognized this as The position of At attention, or standing At attention, it is a military posture.

"From here on forth, when you enter this class, you must take your position and stand at attention until I say otherwise" Bai looked at each of the students "Do You Understand?" He spoke each word slowly. Bai is an intimidating man, he was tall, probably around 7 feet, with a body chiseled in muscles, his clothes barely held themselves together.

For a while, Bai started organizing them in a line, and firmly taught each of them how to properly stand at attention without any mistake. Even the smallest of details was caught by him, and he would correct it.

That was tiring for the students, but not physically.

Bai stood in front of them, admiring his work. After 10 minutes he spoke "Be at ease now." The student took a deep breath, standing comfortably again.

"As you already know, this is the 'Art of Combat' class. They sent you a book but I will not be using that" He continued "Each of you go grab your weapon of choice and move around the circles over there." Bai said, pointing at the drawn circles at the other half of the class.

Link and the rest walked over to the racks, there were weapons of all kinds, from Swords and Daggers to Whips and Morning stars. Since Link had only used Daggers until now, he grabbed what he knows as an Assassin Dagger with a Red colored grip.

"Is that really what you're picking?" A boy spoke, Link turned around to see a blond boy with his hair parted like a prince, his eyes were bright blue and his skin was fair.

"From what fairy tale did this guy come out from?" Link thought to himself. "Yeah, what's the problem?" He said to the boy.

"That kind of weapon can barely do you any good in a fight, it's short and probably not as hard as a thick sword." The boy said with a laugh.

"Leave him be, can't you see? He's probably a commoner or a peasant, how unsightly" A girl spoke from behind him, she had long dark hair with an average face, she held a Needle Sword.

"You're right" The boy said, laughing and walking away.

"What the f*ck just happened? Are these guys ok?" Link muttered, he was not angry by what just occurred but found it amusing.

Students started circling the Area with the drawn circles, as Link got closer he now could see them clearly, they were not drawn, but a small set of runes were placed in that way, there were so many of them that they looked like a line drawn by white chalk.

"What is this?" Link thought.

Bai walked forward and stood in the middle of the 4 circles where a small space was. He had a piece of paper in his hand "Ok, to understand the skill of each one of you, we will hold a small tournament" He continued "These circles are called Rune Zones or Runic, they will allow you to go all out against your opponent, without any fear for their lives, they will be thrown out of the zone before any life threatening injuries occur"

Students started whispering to each other.

"A tournament?"

"I can finally show off my skills"

"What skills dude, you tripped while going up the stairs in the dorms the other day"

"Hey, you said you wouldn't tell anybody"

One of the students raised her hand "Sir, will there be a reward for the winner?" She asked.

Bai thought for a bit, started checking his pockets and spoke "Sure, a winner must be awarded, let me see." He walked to his bag which was hung by the door and took something out "This is a Mana Core of a Beast i've killed recently, i think it's a Level 3 Advanced Core, we can use this as the reward"

"What? a Level 3 Advanced Core? That would be worth 500 Points right?"

"Yeah, i wonder what Beast did it belong to"

"Sir, what Beast did the Core belong to?" Link raised his hand and asked, he just got the chance to get his hands on a Core for free, and he wouldn't miss it.

"If i remember correctly, it was a Tiger looking creature, i didn't really pay much attention to it" Bai answered, placing the Core in his pocket "Alright, if i call your name, step up and walk to the Runic Zones. Is everyone READY?"

"YES SIR" All students spoke in unison, they were hyped and excited about what will transpire.

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Thank you for the votes and comments, please keep it up <3

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Currently :

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--Beast Souls

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-- Status :

<User: Link>

<Race: Human>

<2 375/3 200 exp>

<HP: 30/30>

<MP: 640/640>

<Strength: 10>

<Agility: 15>

<Stamina: 10>

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-- Skills :

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-- Quests :

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