Chapter 14 - 15 : Entrance Exam (1/2)
Arthur and Lucy soon got back to their little camp not far away from their current location, but he didn't forget to put Zodiak's body into his storage. They sat next to each other but they didn't do anything weird, when Lucy thought of what she did a while ago , her face reddened as she didn't think she was this daring, after all, they are considered lovers but that didn't mean she had to rush up to him and hug him nevertheless him hugging her back made her happy and brimming with joy as she felt comfort when she was in his arms.
They talked all night and Arthur learned that she was proficient in fire and her average stats are between 900 and 1500 with intelligence being the highest one at 1800.
Even though they sat next to each other, they only held hands but simply doing that made his heart palpitate. He didn't get to test his new strength or new skills, and he was quite interested in [godly fire].
Lucy was showing him her skills with fire as she created various things with it like fireballs, fire weapons and even a small barrier she also explained to him that depending on someone's strength the power of the fire and hotness could increase,so he tried testing his newly [godly fire] and what came out was a blood red fire , it was completely different from Lucy fire as this one excluded great pressure even though it was a tiny fire ball. Lucy who was standing next to him gaped when she was that and she bombarded him with a question.
”W-what's that !! I've never seen a fire like that, even in full mastery of the attribute”
Apparently, the color of the fire changes depending on the mastery of it, if you have [basic fire mastery] you fire would be yellow-ish, and if you have [medium fire mastery] it will be orange fire at the beginnig then changes to complete blue at the end , and finally there is the [complete fire mastery] which is the highest anyone could get and only the very best of fire mages could attain that , and the color of fire would be violet so when Lucy saw the red fire of Arthur she was dumbfounded and curious at the same time.
Arthur wasn't that much surprised because he expected something similar as the name of the skill contained the word 'god' and it had relations with his mysterious skill [orb of the fallen overgods] so of course it would be something special.
He discovered his control with fire was very good even on par with the dark magic if not more, and when his red blood fire ball approached Lucy's orange fire it totally engulfed it in a second and the red fire ball semed to get even bigger, seeing the intensity of his fire getting stronger was overjoyed to have gained this strong fire manipulation as it will help him, he soon called back his fire as it was too close to Lucy and he knew she wouldn't be able to handle even a single fire ball. His stats were ten times that of hers but those numbers don't decide the results. One can have higher stats and still lose to the scheming and tactics of his foe.
He recalled having some skill books which might be useful to Lucy so without hesitation he retrieved them and passed them to her, to be honest those skill books were not that amazing but they probably will help Lucy get stronger even a little , she is considered High LVL compared to most people but he didn't know what the level of Strength of students in the academy was so he had to boost her strength even a little, as for him?
He was sure that he would not have troubles as he knew that LVL107 is by no means little but he can't forget the fact that there might be people way stronger than him, seeing he struggled against a young dragon, so the very thought of meeting an adult one sent shivers to him even though he got stronger by gaining the stats of the young dragon and if he can fight him again he might insta-kill him either by another [hell arrow] or by using the [godly fire] as he knew this fire is by no means just a normal and it had devastating power.
Actually, he tried launching a small 5-inch fireball into a tree and holy hell was it monstrous, even with a little fireball the impact sound was so loud that even Lucy covered her ears and not even seconds passed and what was left of the tree was mere black ashes.
Just when he was thinking about his skills he remembered he gained a skill point but he didn't read what it did , so he quickly checked it by using appraisal on it and after reading the information he became overjoyed, because increasing the level of any skill by 1 is considered incredible seeing that since he got here he never leveled any skill and got them all for free
”But if I use it on an already maxed skill will it increase or stay like that? what if I lose the precious skill point”
Arthur was in a dilemma, he didn't know what skill to chose as there was many he wanted to upgrade [godly fire] , [dark magic] and even [faster than death] as it proved very useful to him.
Arthur already told his skills to Lucy which was listening like a little child, it didn't seem necessary but he felt he should do it and after asking for her opinion on what to level up she answered him after pouting cutely with her beautiful face
”Seriously such a cheat to be able to earn a skill point and can use up to 4 attributes! that's so unfair but since [void mage] helped you in your last fight why don't you give it a shot”
Lucy's personality seemed to have gotten a 180 degree change after what happened last night but truthfully Arthur adored her cute behavior and wouldn't mind even if she kept her cold demeanor, when he heard her reply, it indeed struck him, why didn't he think of [void magic] after all he underestimated a lot and without it he wouldn't have won against the young earth dragon, but he still hestitated because he thought that [void magic] is still in primary LVLS and can be leveled up easily but other skills which cannot be leveled such as [faster than death ] or skills which already have reached max lvl like [dark magic] seemed more appealing.
After thinking for a long time, Arthur decided to use the skill point on [godly fire], though [dark magic] is indeed very strong and what it had special is it's penetrating power, it can cut through almost every but what [godly fire] had was destruction power .
A small fireball of a few inches did that damage to the tree so what if he did an enormous fireball? what would the results be and after all some of his dreams when he was a kid is to be fire mage, it seemed really cool and powerful. Once he used the skill point he had, a sound entered his ears followed by the appearance of the familiar blue windows...'ting'
You used a skill point on [godly fire]
The skill [godly fire] has been upgraded to [Ancient fire]
[Ancient fire] : this is a unique skill , the ancient fire is the mother of all flames and it has a big destructive power with extreme hotness
it can absorb any other type of flames as long as the host has sufficient intelligence and +200% damage if faced with any ice or water attribute
cost : none
Arthur was very ecstatic as at first he was doubtful and hesitating because there was a possibility that the [godly fire] would not be upgraded and he would have lost a skill point which apparently is very rare to obtain, hell! even the pope of the Holy church might not be able to obtain one even though he is very powerful.
Arthur didn't waste time as he quickly formed a small fire ball but this time its colour was not blood red instead it was dark red with some grey in its edges , and the heat was just unbelievable, even though it was him who created this little fire ball he could feel it's hotness was several times more than the [godly fire], he threw the fire ball to a large tree 20 meters or so away from him...'BOOM' this time the tree was turned to ash immediatly and what surprised him more is that even all the tree in its entourage were either turned to ash or destroyed beyond recognition.
Lucy's mouth was wide open this time as she rubbed her eyes several times to check if she was not hallucinating or dreaming then she turned toward Arthur and ran up to him excitedly
”So you upgraded [godly fire] , thi-is is incredible, I've never seen such flames”
She extended her petite soft hands and held his with excitment and happiness as if she was the one who got the skill and not him.
He looked at her joyful face and deep black eyes which were staring at him with warmth, he unconsciously patted her head as it had become a habit of him and of course, she didn't refuse him, quite the opposite, in fact, she seemed to really like being patted.
Both of them continued chatting all day long about various things, each second passed their relationship deepened and they became, even more, close but Arthur did not try to do any obscene thing and only held her hands, and he was satisfied with that and didn't want to ruin it.
The very next day the finally continued on their journey, they both sat on the dark cloud and chatted non-stop, with his current speed Arthur could run up to 50km/sec which is almost mach 3 speed as to speak the dark cloud cannot be seen by normal people when it's going full speed and they would only speed a dark blur , they continued to travel for approximately 13 hours a day , Arthur would let the girl sleep and eat and he didn't forget to bring the luxurious bed he had in his storage as to make it more comfortable.... as for him? With infinite stamina he didn't need sleep and but he still gazed at the beautiful sleeping maiden near him everytime she slept but he didn't dare do anything.
A week passed since they resumed their travel and they finally arrived at North of the human continent at a city called Govore city , it had a big port which was full of all kind of boats , Arthur also noticed that the city was very prosperous and it had many visitors but that must be because of the incoming Nemia academy entrance exam which will be today .
Arthur entered the city with Lucy who was beautifully dressed in a red robe which added to her beauty and made her look like a Goddess, of course whenever they passed in the city everyone would gaze at her.
She seemed to return to her emotionless attitude when in public but Arthur didn't mind it as he knew that this kind of attitude will let others think she is but a cold maiden and they would not dare talk to her or even approach, they would only stare at her with lust and amazement.
They both didn't waste time roaming the city instead Arthur asked the guards at the entrance of the city about the city about the location of the teleportation array.
Even though it was costly he didn't mind because he got enough gold and the entrance exam was today, so even if he went by boat there will not be enough time.
Once they arrived at what seemed to be a big square in the middle of the city, there was a long line of people who seemed to wait for something and at the very front there was a burly man who seemed to be in his thirties and just behind hit there was a 5 meter radius circle with runes inscribed at the ground and every time a person stepped on it they would disappear . When Arthur guessed saw that he immediately judges it to be the teleportation circle so he went with Lucy at the end of the line and started waiting for their turn.
He noticed that all the people who were waiting were wearing luxurious clothes full of jewelry and had arrogant looks, they looked at the city's citizens who were passing by with contempt and complete disgust as if they were looking at animals and not humans.
Arthur just ignored those kids but he still didn't forget to appraise some of them and he was shocked to see that the average level was between 25 to 35 with some of them being above 40.
They surely had strength to back up that arrogance of theirs but he didn't worry about them as they seemed weak compared to him but he was worried about Lucy as she may not be able to handle herself so he decided he would not leave her side even in the academy as people there might be even more powerful and even if the holy church can't touch them there they may use underhanded means.
Lucy's looks attracted the attention of these noble kids and some of them tried to talk to her but where completely ignored so they didn't dwell on it but still kept looking at her with burning eyes, they didn't dare to be forceful because they knew she was going to the entrance exam and if so she must be a powerful figure and talented too or else why would she go to Nemia academy after all not everyone can attend it.
One hour passed and their turn finally came, the burly man looked at the black-robed figure in front of him and a petite beautiful girl who was beside him and he too was dumbfounded by her beauty but he soon snapped out of it and said
”20.000 gold coins per person.”
Arthur was surprised by the enormous price nonetheless he handed the burly man a magical back containing 40.000 gold coins and prepared to step in the teleportation array with Lucy but at that moment he heard cheers and girl cries from behind him so he turned around to look at what was going on.
A handsome looking young man was walking towards him, he wore a blue robe which had a golden dragon symbol on it, he held a fan in his hand, is facial features were kind of babyish, big eyes, soft skin, and a small nose nevertheless he looked handsome and would even be considered an idol in Arthur's previous world.
This young man just ignored the queue and headed directly towards the burly-man
”It's lord Christian, he's the second prince, ohhhh I wish I can marry him, he's so handsome.” random girls just shouted their affection to this man but they were ruthlessly ignored as if they didn't exist, some guys were looking at him jealousy but fear as they didn't want to offend him, after all, he is the son of the emperor and a prince at that
”So he's finally decided to join Nemia academy? I heard he was a talented mage, it's rumored he is a dual-image and can use water and wind magic ”