“Begin,” said Eric.

The tester roared at him, “Yield!” Duncan stabbed through a fold in space, directly up between the tester’s legs, his blade penetrating half its length. The three Blade Echoes that followed tore the man wide open. Did that fool just try to oppress me? He’s two levels higher than me and probably hasn’t fought anything more intimidating than a student in years.

The healer surrounded his opponent in a golden dome. “He’s in stasis,” she said. “I’ll have him back on his feet in a jiffy.”

Duncan turned to Eric. “I could have landed that same shot under his chin. I’m afraid I simply can’t fight your testers like this.”

“I see,” said Eric. “This will be an object lesson for our testers and instructors then. You will fight me. I trust you don’t think you will harm me the same way? You can see my level?”

“Both of them,” replied Duncan, “I agree that you’re likely to be a lot sturdier than him.” He ignored the strange looks the testers and other board members gave him.

Eric raised an eyebrow, but said only, “Summon all the faculty. We are going to admit Duncan as a student, and I want everyone on staff to understand why.” Like Duncan, he summoned his armor directly onto his body, and a massive two-handed axe into his hands. That looks just like the axes the giants in the Endless Depths were trying to hit me with for the past month. I bet he’s stronger and faster than them, though. Eric’s armor was heavy plate, as well. Looks like a theme with these guys.

It took almost an hour to assemble the faculty to watch the fight. Duncan meditated while he waited. They ended up taking the entire group out to a basin arena at the edge of the property. Eric addressed the faculty. “This is Duncan of the Valley. He comes to us at the recommendation of the Adventurers Guild. He is eighteen years old and delves dungeons alone. We are admitting him because he has a passion for fighting and because he cares about the wellbeing of his opponents in this non-lethal environment. We are going to turn him into the best warrior in the empire.”

“You know that some of our more established students, and some of the new students from certain families will try to provoke him or get him involved in challenges. You will squash those attempts. You are here to witness the reason why.”

Eric turned to Duncan, “Don’t hold back. Lady Gillian is present, and I am far sturdier than anyone you have ever faced.” At Duncan’s nod, he said, “Begin!”

Duncan struck him with a Mind Spike, Blinked behind him, and hammered a cut into the back of his knee. His sword ignored the metal armor protecting the joint, and tendons parted. His cut was stopped barely half an inch into Eric’s dense flesh, but the three Blade Echoes that landed with it finished cutting the tendon and Eric’s knee buckled.

The headmaster spun even as his knee gave out, bringing the great axe around in a sweeping cut. A wave of fire accompanied it. Duncan blocked the axe with his shield, and it stopped dead, drained completely of the momentum the great swing had imparted it. The flames washed over him, searing his flesh, but he used Destrin’s Restoration to heal himself and stabbed Eric in the exposed armpit. Again, his blade penetrated only a little bit, but the Blade Echoes helped, and there’s a bundle of nerves in the armpit that react quite poorly to being struck. Eric rolled away, his right arm limp, the great axe held only in his left hand.

Duncan struck him with another Mind Spike and Blinked in again, stabbing Eric in the kidney, right through his heavy plate armor. The blow had little penetration, but excellent placement, and Duncan’s blows were adding up.

Eric exploded into a massive ball of fire. Duncan was hurled backwards, flesh charred again. Even as he landed awkwardly, he healed himself and Blinked away. A ball of fire smashed the ground where he had landed and grew into a man-sized fire elemental. It very much resembled Eric, actually. Eric himself was surrounded in a sphere of flame. Duncan assessed Eric and found him to be badly wounded. The fire elemental was at full health.

Duncan stored his metal sword and pulled out his Spirit Sword. The fire elemental pointed at him, and he Blinked behind it as a wave of flames burst out to engulf the place where he’d been a moment earlier. Duncan swept his spirit sword through the fire elemental and blade echoes followed. The creature’s health dropped by a quarter in Duncan’s Assessment. He struck it with a Mind Spike, and it seemed stunned, so he swept his blade through it again. Barely over a quarter of its health left. It turned into a tornado of fire and rushed at him. He cut into it again, and it dissipated even as it seared his flesh again. One more use of Destrin’s Restoration, and he turned to face Eric, only to find him already leaping through the air at Duncan, axe raised to smash.

Duncan raised his shield to intercept the blow, but with an incredible show of strength, Eric changed the path of the axe and lopped Duncan’s leg off at the knee.

Duncan Blinked away and regenerated the leg even as Eric threw a fireball at him. He’s burning through my mana, literally, and he seems to have healed himself too. Duncan Blinked past the fireball, appearing several meters to Eric’s right. He stabbed through a fold in space, and his spirit blade sank into Eric’s torso along with its Blade Echoes. Duncan followed up with a Mind Spike to stun him and swept another long cut through Eric’s body, then Blinked away before the stun wore off. Eric appeared unharmed, but Duncan’s assessment showed the Spirit Sword had done even more damage than his metal blade had done. If I can avoid having to heal myself for a few more attacks, I can win this.

Eric began spinning in a circle. Nope, we’re having none of that. Duncan’s Mind Spike stunned Eric again and he fell awkwardly mid-spin. Duncan Blinked forward and swept the Spirit sword through his body again and Blinked away once more.

Eric held up a hand, “Enough, lad. I yield.” A confused murmur passed through the crowd. Duncan put his sword and shield away and showed his empty hands to acknowledge the end of the bout.

Eric said, “Lady Gillian, if you would be so kind?” A golden aura suffused him, and he smiled. “Much better, thank you.” He addressed the crowd. “The start of the fight was fairly simple to follow, I think. Duncan possesses a ranged stun, a blade that ignores my armor and can penetrate my skin, a Blade Echo Technique that multiplies the damage he does by a significant margin, a shield that can stop my most powerful attack, and an instant teleport. He can regenerate himself almost instantly, including regenerating his limbs.”

“The second part of the fight was a little less clear to the casual viewer. I used my Fires of Restoration Technique, and my fire elemental attacked Duncan while I was protected by my flame barrier. Duncan switched to a Spirit sword to destroy my elemental.” He turned to Duncan and added, “Damage to my elemental heals me. Against a normal opponent, the elemental would inflict a lot of damage before being killed, given that it takes very little damage from physical attacks, and I would be fully healed at the end.”

He addressed the crowd again, “Duncan destroyed my elemental, and while I was fully healed, so was he. I was low on mana, and I have to assume he was, too, but he didn’t show it. He teleported past my fireball, and instead of appearing where I could hit him, he appeared just out of my reach and struck me with a ranged sword attack with the Spirit sword. He stunned me again and hit me again with the spirit sword. I may have appeared to be fine, but Spirit damage is insidious. Had the fight continued another ten seconds, he would have killed me.”

“Yes, it’s possible I have an emergency ace up my figurative sleeve in my storage space or a Technique I didn’t show, but who is to say Duncan doesn’t have something similar? And so, I yielded. He is a fresh-faced youth, but he delves alone in dungeons where most of us would hesitate to go in a group. If your students provoke him, well, you’ve seen what he can do. Don’t let it go that far.”

“Faculty Dismissed. Admissions board, we reconvene in twenty minutes.”

Duncan picked up his severed leg and stripped the armor off it. He pressed the lower leg armor piece to the upper and fed it mana until it repaired itself. Then he dismissed his armor and equipped the clothes he’d been wearing earlier. He stored the leg in his storage space, too. I’ll throw that away in the next dungeon I enter.

As he walked back to the classroom building with the admissions board, Eric asked in a low voice, “So, how was your mana doing at the end there?”

Duncan grinned. “I was starting to worry. My heal is expensive. Fortunately, the rest of my Techniques are not. Thank you for the bout. That was exhilarating.”

Eric laughed. “I love how you assume that someone of my level,” he gave Duncan a piercing look, “would be alright losing to someone of your level. It never even crossed your mind that I might be plotting to have you executed for shaming me in front of my staff.”

Oops. I guess that should be a concern. Duncan shrugged, “This level system is bogus. There are so many things it doesn’t take into consideration. I spend every waking hour in dungeons fighting things that will kill me if I make a mistake. Besides, I think you enjoyed most of it, too.”

“Well, not the parts where I got stabbed or cut, or the part where I lost. But the rest of it was alright. I learned that sitting behind a desk is going to kill me, too. Thanks to you, all the faculty will be going dungeon delving during the end of year break. Delving, I love that term. Feels classy.”

Uh oh. I hope no one holds that against me.

They returned to the room where he’d first met the board, and the board members took their seats behind the table again. Duncan stood before them, waiting.

“Does anyone see any reason why we should deny Duncan of the Valley access to our training and expertise?” Eric asked.

“Other than the fact he can kill any of the other students and most of the faculty at will?” said Ashleigh. “How do you discipline him or maintain order?”

“We’ve already established that he just wants to train and improve. Duncan, if you cause a problem, we’ll kick you out and not refund your two days’ delving worth of gold. Understood?” replied Eric.

“Yes, sir. You will find I’m not a troublemaker. I will ignore verbal provocations,” said Duncan.

“Any other objections?” Eric asked. “No? Good. Duncan, you are admitted into the Academy as a first-year student. You will take academic classes with the first-years. Your fighting skills put you beyond most of the students here so you will train with the third-years and we will arrange private training for you on top of that. Some of our classes mix in students from the Mage and Healing Academies in the area. I’m confident our instructors will keep an eye out for troublemakers. You can pay Jacob your dues for the first year. He will arrange for your uniforms and room. Roommates are chosen by lot, so here’s hoping you get a good set. We will doubtless see you around campus. Again, welcome to the Academy of Steel. This meeting is adjourned.”

The board members stood and left the room. Duncan turned to Jacob and said, “Right, then. Lead on.”