ACT V
THE GLORY WARS
“What are you cooking, professor?” Hans asked after Walter terminated the communication and with a scheming smile his black-bellied professor answered, “A big mess.”
"Hmm, I've learned something new today, Professor."
"And what's that?"
"How to never owe you anything again. I feel bad for that poor alchemist.”
Hans couldn't shake the uneasy feeling settling in his gut. Walter had instructed the Alchemist department to conduct a public harvesting of a Great Mamba captured by him, and everything seemed to be in his favour. Yet, an ominous sense of foreboding gnawed at him, and his instincts, which had never steered him wrong before, now warned of impending trouble.
Later that day, the Colosseum was chosen as the most fitting venue, and the Alchemist department hastily dispatched a notice for a special lecture. Given the renowned expertise of Concordia's alchemists, the finest in the world, a vast audience congregated in anticipation. Even the second-year students, who had missed Hans's remarkable spectacle due to their initial hunting lessons in the first star region, eagerly assembled. They occupied the second row, followed closely by the first-year students. However, one perplexing detail left them scratching their heads—the person credited with capturing the Class Three beast was none other than their fellow classmate, Hans.
But there was one person who wasn't surprised—Delimira. She knew Hans had the skills for it. Yet she couldn't help but exclaim, "Seriously, a Class Three...ugh," though she kept her annoyance in check. Their previous fight, which had turned into a nasty incident, was still fresh in her mind. Hans did the unthinkable again and it was rubbing her in the wrong way.
However, the last one in the trio, Chris was shaken to the core. He had fought a Class Two creature during his holiday training with his father, and it had been a close call, with him giving it everything he had. "Hans is strong, but this seems unbelievable," he said, staring at the nearly 100-meter-long scaled beast. "How much did he train to get this strong?" he asked Delimira, who, while not as baffled as him, couldn't take her eyes off Hans, standing next to the alchemists in the arena.
Chris tried to get answers from her, but she stayed silent. Then, someone behind them spoke up. "He hardly sleeps, maybe four hours at most. Planning isn't his strong suit, but he's really good at coming up with solutions on the spot. He probably can get out of any situation, no matter how tough." Vanessa added glancing at Delimira, “Did you forget he even survived Xandor? You know it better than anyone here, right Junior.”
...
“I don’t know what exactly happened between the two of you, ” Vanessa continued, “Whatever it is, you two need to be on the same page, Glory War is no children’s squabble, many have died over the fake game of honour.” After she spoke, Vanessa left Chris and Allynna, who were even more confused. "Who was she?" Allynna asked Delimira.
Finally, Delimira broke her silence. "She's Hans's... older sister—"
"Hold on," Chris interrupted. "What did she mean by that? the same page... it's more than teamwork, right?"
Sighing, Delimira answered, “he developed something very troublesome, we complement our fighting style that's how we fought a grade seventy knight. I was the exception to his power yet look what happened to me.” She sounded downcast, not because Hans had harmed her or because he had captured a Class Three beast, but because he was advancing much faster than they were. “ I don't wanna admit it, but he was right, what was I doing when he was working this hard, maybe I needed the wake-up call…”
"What's happening over there?" Suddenly, Allynna exclaimed, jolting Delimira out of her thoughts. Allynna was pointing at the arena floor and asking, "Why is he there?" She was referring to none other than Vanir, who seemed to be riding on Hans's success, mingling with the alchemists and passing his name to the curious ones.
Many professors from the higher academy were showing interest in Hans, and they were discussing him among themselves. Each of them was responsible for their own squads, so when a talent like Hans emerged, they couldn't help but take notice. Vanir wasn't slipping through their notice either, being a spell crafter who had previously been overlooked by the Mage Tower. He had the potential and the drive to challenge the Mage Tower's supremacy in magic.
'It's a shame I can't recruit him now.'
‘Don’t even try approaching the juniors, unless you wanna get your ass fired.’
‘I know the rules, too, blockhead.’
'But why do you think the Mage Tower let a spell crafter slip away?'
‘Yeah, like they even give commoners a chance.’
'Well, they should continue doing that, and we'll become the best in magic too.'
'Yes, we're already the best in alchemy, the association has the finest knights, and the Tower has the top mages.'
'True, but most of them were our students.'
‘Concordia should revoke the independent policy, and force the good ones to work here. don't you think...’
“This is a place for learning first and foremost, students are and always will be free to choose their paths. Your job is to prepare them for the world, not to make choices for them," the man sitting behind them remarked. He then left the two professors who were chatting, leaving them surprised because they hadn't sensed his presence until he spoke. Both of them were skilled in their own right, one being a warlord and the other a warlock.
“Who the fuck was that?” one of them asked.
“Maybe Chairman —”
“I should have seen his face then, damn it. Do you think anyone knows what he looks like?”
“I guess… NodeMaster Shaerra might know.”
“Yeah, she’d definitely seen him, after all, she was his last student.”
“Shaerra Clandor is a scary existence… ooh...Just thinking about her gives me the shivers."
Rudolf and Sierra were eavesdropping on their conversation from behind and were also surprised to hear about the Chairman's appearance. They had missed seeing him as well. "He's as elusive as always. Did you get a look at him?" Rudolf asked his wife, but her response was something else since she was thinking about the latter part of the discussion. “Shaerra, the only one who rivalled Sam." And Rudolf nodded in affirmation, “Yes, Sam hated her so bad ‘cause he lost his spot to her.”
“She is doing fine," Sierra teased, "She even became the leader of Concordia’s node, keeping Norwin in check. She is stronger than you, dear husband —”
“You just have to rub in, but we never fought." Rudolf defended, rebuking quietly, "How can you say that? Should I try climbing the rankings, rank nine is not doing me any justice.”
“Just stay put, we are not young anymore —”
“Say that after looking into the mirror, Sierra.”
“Your compliments never failed to amaze me, Rudolf.”
“That was not a fucking compliment.” Sadly Rudolf neither had the guts nor the dying wish to say that to her face so he just accepted it as it was and the show Walter had put on, began.
Taking the stage, he announced that Hans would be chosen as the seeded contestant, and as he expected, no one dared to disagree with his decision. Among the committee professors, there was a quiet discussion, but before anyone could voice their thoughts, Walter spoke up, "In my junior league, anyone can be the seeded contestant, but they have to prove they're better than this young man here," he said, pointing at Hans. "But I don't want to throw an outstanding student like Hans into endless battles. So, if you want to challenge him, you should at least hunt a class three beast." He grinned and added a twist, "I would even allow you to fight him if you can bring me another class three in a group."
His last words clearly meant, that even if you group up, you can’t meet the criteria, at least with dignity intact to challenge Hans. With no objections from anyone, Hans became the seeded contestant for the Glory Wars Junior League. This perk allowed him to skip the preliminary selection, which was set to take place in a couple of months. Once this facade was settled, the alchemists began their special lecture.
First, they expertly removed the scaled leather from the beast, demonstrating their skill. Hans tried to follow their actions in his mind, but he realised that learning the trade after just one look wasn't something he could do. "I guess I can't do everything..." he muttered.
"What are you mumbling about, senior?" Vanir asked, overhearing his mixed words. But Hans brushed it off and urged Vanir to pay attention to the special lecture. Then, the senior alchemist performing the dissection extracted a cluster of sacs that resembled grapes.
"These are called thousand poison sacs. They're the first things to break down after a Great Mamba dies," he explained. Turning to Hans, he continued, "This is the beast's self-destructive mechanism when it's near death. You did a fine job, young man. If this had been an official request from the alchemist department, it would have earned you at least 2000 credits."
“2000, 2000, darn 2000.” It was the only thing ringing in Hans’s head, and fuming he turned towards the elf apprentice who requested the task, “Damn it, I got scammed.” he almost blurted out, but the elf feeling the deathly stare, only showed a gesture of apology by tilting his head down. “Well, he said it was all his savings.” Hans consoled himself, patting his chest to calm down. However, Vanir couldn't hold back and loudly proclaimed what Hans was thinking, "Senior, we got fooled."
“Don’t listen to your foolish junior, Hans, everyone is watching,” He kept patting his chest, “The elf gave quite useful advice… but my 1300 credits.” He clenched his fist, “Think of Golems, big sturdy Golems, powerful Golem army… Agh I’,m pissed.” Vanir persisted in shaking Hans by the sleeve until Hans turned to him and declared, "Vanir, we're going to have another sparring session after this."
"What? Why another venting session?" Vanir asked in disbelief. But Hans was not gonna reason with him, he added, “Prepare to kill me or else your whole body will curse you later.”
***
Announcement
NEXT : THE DIVINE POTION
ACT V
THE GLORY WARS
“What are you cooking, professor?” Hans asked after Walter terminated the communication and with a scheming smile his black-bellied professor answered, “A big mess.”
"Hmm, I've learned something new today, Professor."
"And what's that?"
"How to never owe you anything again. I feel bad for that poor alchemist.”
Hans couldn't shake the uneasy feeling settling in his gut. Walter had instructed the Alchemist department to conduct a public harvesting of a Great Mamba captured by him, and everything seemed to be in his favour. Yet, an ominous sense of foreboding gnawed at him, and his instincts, which had never steered him wrong before, now warned of impending trouble.
Later that day, the Colosseum was chosen as the most fitting venue, and the Alchemist department hastily dispatched a notice for a special lecture. Given the renowned expertise of Concordia's alchemists, the finest in the world, a vast audience congregated in anticipation. Even the second-year students, who had missed Hans's remarkable spectacle due to their initial hunting lessons in the first star region, eagerly assembled. They occupied the second row, followed closely by the first-year students. However, one perplexing detail left them scratching their heads—the person credited with capturing the Class Three beast was none other than their fellow classmate, Hans.
But there was one person who wasn't surprised—Delimira. She knew Hans had the skills for it. Yet she couldn't help but exclaim, "Seriously, a Class Three...ugh," though she kept her annoyance in check. Their previous fight, which had turned into a nasty incident, was still fresh in her mind. Hans did the unthinkable again and it was rubbing her in the wrong way.
However, the last one in the trio, Chris was shaken to the core. He had fought a Class Two creature during his holiday training with his father, and it had been a close call, with him giving it everything he had. "Hans is strong, but this seems unbelievable," he said, staring at the nearly 100-meter-long scaled beast. "How much did he train to get this strong?" he asked Delimira, who, while not as baffled as him, couldn't take her eyes off Hans, standing next to the alchemists in the arena.
Chris tried to get answers from her, but she stayed silent. Then, someone behind them spoke up. "He hardly sleeps, maybe four hours at most. Planning isn't his strong suit, but he's really good at coming up with solutions on the spot. He probably can get out of any situation, no matter how tough." Vanessa added glancing at Delimira, “Did you forget he even survived Xandor? You know it better than anyone here, right Junior.”
...
“I don’t know what exactly happened between the two of you, ” Vanessa continued, “Whatever it is, you two need to be on the same page, Glory War is no children’s squabble, many have died over the fake game of honour.” After she spoke, Vanessa left Chris and Allynna, who were even more confused. "Who was she?" Allynna asked Delimira.
Finally, Delimira broke her silence. "She's Hans's... older sister—"
"Hold on," Chris interrupted. "What did she mean by that? the same page... it's more than teamwork, right?"
Sighing, Delimira answered, “he developed something very troublesome, we complement our fighting style that's how we fought a grade seventy knight. I was the exception to his power yet look what happened to me.” She sounded downcast, not because Hans had harmed her or because he had captured a Class Three beast, but because he was advancing much faster than they were. “ I don't wanna admit it, but he was right, what was I doing when he was working this hard, maybe I needed the wake-up call…”
"What's happening over there?" Suddenly, Allynna exclaimed, jolting Delimira out of her thoughts. Allynna was pointing at the arena floor and asking, "Why is he there?" She was referring to none other than Vanir, who seemed to be riding on Hans's success, mingling with the alchemists and passing his name to the curious ones.
Many professors from the higher academy were showing interest in Hans, and they were discussing him among themselves. Each of them was responsible for their own squads, so when a talent like Hans emerged, they couldn't help but take notice. Vanir wasn't slipping through their notice either, being a spell crafter who had previously been overlooked by the Mage Tower. He had the potential and the drive to challenge the Mage Tower's supremacy in magic.
'It's a shame I can't recruit him now.'
‘Don’t even try approaching the juniors, unless you wanna get your ass fired.’
‘I know the rules, too, blockhead.’
'But why do you think the Mage Tower let a spell crafter slip away?'
‘Yeah, like they even give commoners a chance.’
'Well, they should continue doing that, and we'll become the best in magic too.'
'Yes, we're already the best in alchemy, the association has the finest knights, and the Tower has the top mages.'
'True, but most of them were our students.'
‘Concordia should revoke the independent policy, and force the good ones to work here. don't you think...’
“This is a place for learning first and foremost, students are and always will be free to choose their paths. Your job is to prepare them for the world, not to make choices for them," the man sitting behind them remarked. He then left the two professors who were chatting, leaving them surprised because they hadn't sensed his presence until he spoke. Both of them were skilled in their own right, one being a warlord and the other a warlock.
“Who the fuck was that?” one of them asked.
“Maybe Chairman —”
“I should have seen his face then, damn it. Do you think anyone knows what he looks like?”
“I guess… NodeMaster Shaerra might know.”
“Yeah, she’d definitely seen him, after all, she was his last student.”
“Shaerra Clandor is a scary existence… ooh...Just thinking about her gives me the shivers."
Rudolf and Sierra were eavesdropping on their conversation from behind and were also surprised to hear about the Chairman's appearance. They had missed seeing him as well. "He's as elusive as always. Did you get a look at him?" Rudolf asked his wife, but her response was something else since she was thinking about the latter part of the discussion. “Shaerra, the only one who rivalled Sam." And Rudolf nodded in affirmation, “Yes, Sam hated her so bad ‘cause he lost his spot to her.”
“She is doing fine," Sierra teased, "She even became the leader of Concordia’s node, keeping Norwin in check. She is stronger than you, dear husband —”
“You just have to rub in, but we never fought." Rudolf defended, rebuking quietly, "How can you say that? Should I try climbing the rankings, rank nine is not doing me any justice.”
“Just stay put, we are not young anymore —”
“Say that after looking into the mirror, Sierra.”
“Your compliments never failed to amaze me, Rudolf.”
“That was not a fucking compliment.” Sadly Rudolf neither had the guts nor the dying wish to say that to her face so he just accepted it as it was and the show Walter had put on, began.
Taking the stage, he announced that Hans would be chosen as the seeded contestant, and as he expected, no one dared to disagree with his decision. Among the committee professors, there was a quiet discussion, but before anyone could voice their thoughts, Walter spoke up, "In my junior league, anyone can be the seeded contestant, but they have to prove they're better than this young man here," he said, pointing at Hans. "But I don't want to throw an outstanding student like Hans into endless battles. So, if you want to challenge him, you should at least hunt a class three beast." He grinned and added a twist, "I would even allow you to fight him if you can bring me another class three in a group."
His last words clearly meant, that even if you group up, you can’t meet the criteria, at least with dignity intact to challenge Hans. With no objections from anyone, Hans became the seeded contestant for the Glory Wars Junior League. This perk allowed him to skip the preliminary selection, which was set to take place in a couple of months. Once this facade was settled, the alchemists began their special lecture.
First, they expertly removed the scaled leather from the beast, demonstrating their skill. Hans tried to follow their actions in his mind, but he realised that learning the trade after just one look wasn't something he could do. "I guess I can't do everything..." he muttered.
"What are you mumbling about, senior?" Vanir asked, overhearing his mixed words. But Hans brushed it off and urged Vanir to pay attention to the special lecture. Then, the senior alchemist performing the dissection extracted a cluster of sacs that resembled grapes.
"These are called thousand poison sacs. They're the first things to break down after a Great Mamba dies," he explained. Turning to Hans, he continued, "This is the beast's self-destructive mechanism when it's near death. You did a fine job, young man. If this had been an official request from the alchemist department, it would have earned you at least 2000 credits."
“2000, 2000, darn 2000.” It was the only thing ringing in Hans’s head, and fuming he turned towards the elf apprentice who requested the task, “Damn it, I got scammed.” he almost blurted out, but the elf feeling the deathly stare, only showed a gesture of apology by tilting his head down. “Well, he said it was all his savings.” Hans consoled himself, patting his chest to calm down. However, Vanir couldn't hold back and loudly proclaimed what Hans was thinking, "Senior, we got fooled."
“Don’t listen to your foolish junior, Hans, everyone is watching,” He kept patting his chest, “The elf gave quite useful advice… but my 1300 credits.” He clenched his fist, “Think of Golems, big sturdy Golems, powerful Golem army… Agh I’,m pissed.” Vanir persisted in shaking Hans by the sleeve until Hans turned to him and declared, "Vanir, we're going to have another sparring session after this."
"What? Why another venting session?" Vanir asked in disbelief. But Hans was not gonna reason with him, he added, “Prepare to kill me or else your whole body will curse you later.”
***
Announcement
NEXT : THE DIVINE POTION
