Raka walked down deep in thought. His destination was the Magic Academy and his purpose, to meet with Lady Verina. And as he walked he kept thinking about his plans. He had learned as much as he could from Thelmova for now and perhaps, he should now plan to move to the fishing village of Fellon.

He had thought about it before, but not realizing when he would be able to learn the water magic, his plans did not have a timeline. Now he had to seriously consider when he should move out. So he started thinking about the things left to do in Thelmova. The top of that list would be learning the Herbal Medicine skill. Even though it was a discovered skill which meant he did not need to stay in the capital, he still needed the books. He had noticed other oddities.

There was a huge library but no book shops. 'Maybe printing was a problem?' Raka could imagine that printing presses would not have been invented yet. So buying or selling books would have been quite difficult. Though couldn't there be magical means to copy books? Looking at the missing book shops however, he thought perhaps that may not be possible or maybe very difficult. Which meant that most of the copies would have been created by hand, limiting the amount. It made sense to have libraries then. This way a lot of people could get access to such books without the need to own them. On the other hand, it made books exclusive to libraries. Which meant if there was no library at the fishing village, he would not be able to continue studying for his Herbal Medicine skill.

Ofcourse, lending out books should have been an alien concept at this point in time. There still remained another option, albeit a non ethical one. And right now, Raka was highly enticed to choose that one. Though his moral compass was creating doubt as usual. Which is why he was deep in thought.

'Speaking of oddities, there is religion but no priests or religious institutions.' On earth, every civilization, ancient or modern, had some kind of person who acted as priest. You know, the link between man and God. They may not have a particular building like a temple or cathedral and they may worship one or many Gods and Goddesses, but they always had a priest. Based on that, the religion on Ilmentia was weird, or maybe it was another oddity with mysterious explanations.

Thinking this and that, Raka reached Cassian's office. He knocked.

"Please come in." Lady Verina's clear voice sounded out. Raka entered.

"Ah hello Raka. You are a bit early aren't you."

"Only a bit. They said you were in so I came up. I was half expecting you to be with someone else."

"Hah...yeah it's been busy lately. I am sooo tired. My head hurts. My body hurts. I am so sleepy. In fact I would have dozed off already, if you hadn't come. When will all this be over?!" Lady Verina complained with feeling.

"Good work then, holding out for so long. If I can help out, let me know." Raka said.

"Hmm...ah no, it's mostly talking to nobles and diplomats and stuff like that so you won't be any help. Thanks for offering though. Wait a minute...you can help!" Lady Verina suddenly brightened up.

"Please give me a massage! I really really need it." She batted her eyes.

Raka sighed. "All right please lie down......"

A few minutes later, wherein Raka ended up all sweaty, most of which was not from the labour involved and Lady Verina ended up content and serene though blushing for some reason, they resumed talking.

"Ahh that felt good...I sorely needed that. Thank you Raka." As Lady Verina stood up and stretched her arms with a yawn. "And now it's time for a good nap!"

"......" Raka simply stared.

"Alright alright, jokes aside. Actually I couldn't think of a deserving reward for your help. So I decided to do this." Saying that Lady Verina took off a ring from her left hand and approached Raka.

'Eh! Ehhhhhhhhhhhh!'

"This is not an engagement, is it?!" Raka's throat had suddenly dried up like he was in a parched desert. He gulped loudly.

Lady Verina froze. She blushed and closed her eyes. And then started trembling. She waved her hands and Raka could not move anymore. No, he literally could not move. She had just done the same 'Bind' magic once done by Cynthia, but she had managed it without a word. And then,

(slap)(slap)(slap) "You" (slap)(slap)(slap) "are" (slap)(slap)(slap) "a" (slap)(slap)(slap) "Million" (slap)(slap)(slap) "YEARS" (slap)(slap)(slap) "TOO" (slap)(slap)(slap) "EARLY!! IDIOT!!" (slap)(slap)(slap)"

Not that Raka could say anything.

Swollen face! Your face has become swollen. Slight speech impediment for the next 3 minutes.

You have just suffered the effects of a violent action initiated by a person having high intimacy with you. Due to high intimacy and lack of ill intent, no loss of Life or other attributes will occur.

'Thanks for letting me know!' Raka thought wrily.

A bit later Lady Verina calmed down and undid her magic.

"Bi bem borry!" Raka started to speak.

"What?" and Lady Verina lifted her head and looked at Raka's face. Then she burst out laughing.

"Sorry sorry, did I do that? Well you deserved it, you know." Lady Verina said unabashedly.

"Hah" Raka said. Thankfully the duration was not long and soon his face started resembling his face again.

"I said I am sorry. But did you have to hit that hard?" Raka winced feeling his face returning to normal.

"Yes. Any less would not get through your thick skin. Anyways I am giving you this ring though I am in half a mind to not give it now." Lady Verina pouted.

"Thank you very much." Raka decided to take it before she could change her mind.

He looked at the ring. It shone in a shiny silvery light reflecting the white light of the lamps. It was plain looking but it had some kind of design etched on to the metal.

"Um...is it valuable?" Raka asked.

"Yes it is. But more than that, I think you will find it useful." Lady Verina replied.

"Eh. What's it do?" Raka was curious now.

"It is a low level magic ring. It can store energy temporarily."

"What?" Raka sounded as confused as he looked.

"Ah you wouldn't know. Just like I said, it is used to store energy. When you transform energy, don't you collect it first? And then you have to apply the magic. In your case it takes quite some time, doesn't it?"

Raka nodded.

"Well you can use this to store energy that you collect. Due to the nature of it's material, it can store that energy for quite a long time. And then when you want to do magic, you already have the collected energy to just transform."

"Wow. This is awesome!" Raka was clearly surprised. Most of the time in the colorful world was trying to gather the energy required to transform. But with this ring he could skip that step completely. It would significantly speed up his magic process.

"What is it made of? How much does it cost?" Raka had to know the source.

"Hmm. How to explain this? You know that everything is made of energy, right? But some places have a higher concentration of energy and some places less. It is easier to do magic in the places where energy is concentrated. In the magic training hall, we try to artificially increase this energy concentration using certain magics and materials. But then, there are natural areas around the world where there is much more concentration of energy than usual. Things in those places sometimes develop a high capacity to absorb energy. This ring is made of metal found in such a place."

"Is that so! So where would those places be?" Raka asked.

"Wouldn't we like to know! These areas move around. Energy like weather is not a fixed thing. The concentration of energy keeps changing all the time due to external influences. Just entering such an area will disturb it's concentration, its so volatile. Only in rare cases and when the energy has not been disturbed for a long time, we find stones or ores which have developed this ability. In addition, these areas are extremely small. Like one or two hand's length, if not smaller. It is very difficult finding these places and even more rare are these materials. Which makes them very very expensive. In fact, a material from a high level magical site could go for thousands of gold."

"Oh so there are high level and low level sites?"

"Yes. I think there are seventeen levels of such sites depending on the concentration of energy and the quality of the materials found in them. I don't know much about the levels but this ring is supposedly from a level 1 site which are more common. It's made of silver though which raised it's price a bit. I bought it for 3 gold during one of my travels long back.

'Hmm this sounds like something I have heard before. But first let's check it.'

"Identify"

[p=center]Low level Magic Ring (Rare)[/p]

Class: Accessory/Ring

Energy: 0/35

Options: Energy stored for 1 day

Weight: 2

Durability: 200/200

Made of silver and found in a Lvl 1 magical site, this magic ring can act as a temporary store of energy. After 1 day the stored energy will dissipate.

"Do the magical bones have something to do with this?" Raka asked.

"Ah you know about them. They have the same principle. The concentration of energy within a magical creature is higher than usual. But, because the bones have been part of the magical creature, they become limited to certain types of magic only, unlike the ring. There are other differences but it would be better to ask the ones who deal with them about it."

"Hmm...thank you again for this ring." Raka said. And then he remembered. "Ah I would also like to give you a gift to show my appreciation. As I will be heading to Fellon soon, we may not be able to meet for a long time so perhaps my gift will help you in remembering me. But I haven't made it yet. I intend to send it by pigeon once I have made it."

"Really! I will wait eagerly for it then." And Lady Verina flashed a wonderful smile.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I will need 200 bricks of size 92X57X203 mm. Cement to bind. Wall height needs to be 8 feet, with a gap for windows 2 feet from the edge....." Swamy instructed.

He was giving the exam for 'Virtual Reality' subject. It was deemed very difficult to take a written exam on a subject which is like a combination of imagination and reality. Not that people hadn't tried but then had realized their futility. It was like combining something like civil engineering with interior design in the same subject!

So a different kind of test was devised.

Most virtual reality worlds are developed from something called the virtual reality construct programs. Swamy did not understand it fully. He wouldn't have been able to explain it considering he was still a first year student. But basically these construct programs were like blank canvasses. Here, developers develop rules and train the AI on those rules. Rules such as construction rules, physics rules, weather rules, terrain rules, magic rules, etc which would be used to create and eventually govern the new virtual reality world.

As these rules depend a lot on the kind of world being developed and cover so many varied areas, the governing of any virtual reality world by human hands is nigh impossible. Hence the need for training artificial intelligence. For example some worlds may consider north to be extremely cold and south to be extremely hot. Other worlds may go the earth route, that is north and south are both extremely cold and the equator is hot. As the world varies, so will the rules governing weather, terrain, wind, etc. There would also be changes in the flora and fauna, the type of animals, etc. Some may have magic, some may not. Some could have two moons. Even developers would put in different building structures or characters or races making it different.

Each virtual reality world would be governed by unique rules and therefore have a unique AI. And because of that the construct programs are complicated and too expensive. In fact the University of Bangalore could only manage to buy 10 copies of it. Thankfully these construct programs could be matched with any gaming capsule.

The way a construct program worked is by observation. You make a building, the AI understood how to make a building. You make a boat, the AI understood how to make a boat. Ofcourse there are a lot of things which have become common in most virtual reality games. Things such as gravity, physics, maths, etc. Already configured rules are available on the internet which can be downloaded and can be used to train the AI, like patches in software programs. It makes life much easier for virtual world developers.

Swamy's construct program AI had already been trained in the rules of construction. The exam was to build a room using that. Some additional rules were that the room will not be a standalone room but as part of a house. Which meant you could not put windows on all sides and had to consider someplace where the room would join with the rest of the house. Also you had to make the things which would decorate inside the room as well. Tables, chairs, etc, whatever caught your fancy. Other than that it was up to your imagination.

Points were being given for the accuracy of the construction that is how close to reality they were. Then there were points on your creativity. It was a super fun exam with people doing all sorts of crazy stuff. Electric fan stuck to the floor, check. Archway doors, check. It may not be a habitat for a human but weirdness was welcome as long as the things were as real as possible.

An hour passed and Swamy's turn was over. He stepped out of the capsule and let the next batch get in. Thankfully the construct programs had a reset function. So that any weird rules learnt during the previous attempt would not affect the subsequent people taking the exam.

Swamy sighed and went back to his seat to look at what the other people were doing. The ten construct programs were connected to ten screens hung in the room and people could watch the genius or the weirdness of their fellow classmates. The atmosphere was almost festival like, with loud talks and laughing going on all corners.

'Definitely the best exam ever!'

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sophie Aldcott looked into the mirror in the rest room. She had come in to take a break from the hectic crowd at the exhibition. She had been smiling all day and was kinda tired.

"A couple more hours. Come on.. you can do it." Her reflection responded to her. She quickly adjusted her shoulder length blond hair and the light makeup and looked around her business suit once more to see if everything was in place and stepped out. 'Shit! Its still so crowdy.'

Sophie did not like crowds. She lived in a small house in Switzerland with her parents and she liked it there. She loved the weather and the sounds of nature. No one could say that the country had lots of people. In fact Swiss authorities were still stingy with any form of immigration. But her parents had managed to move there. As a result she was born, a mix of her German father and her French mother, maybe their best parts. She was not very tall. About 5'8''. She had maintained her fine figure through rigorous excercise. In fact she loved swimming and had one time even aimed to join a swimming team.

Unlike India which was turning out to be too hot, too uncomfortable and filled with too many loud people for her taste.

But she had a job to do. Even though she was young, almost 19, she had chosen to actively participate in her father's small company which made small and light weight lifting machines. Not having completed her studies, her father did not give her a management position. His specific words were, "to run any business you first need to meet with the customers." And so Sophie was included in the team coming to India for this exhibition.

Her job was to attract people to their stall and explain things about their new product. Well, the other people could also do that so it was mostly to attract people. And her good looks had attracted a lot of them. Too many for her comfort.

And yet she smiled as she saw a group of three heading towards the already crowded stall.

"Welcome! Are you interested in our new product, the lifting machine T2X11?"

The taller guy came forward and said,

"Hello I am Christopher. Our company is intending to buy the T2X11. Here is my card. Would you kindly give us a demonstration?"

"Certainly. Please wait a bit. We only have one sample so it is taking some time. In the mean time you can see about the machine in the brochures." And Sophie handed one to each of them. As she tried to hand one to the person standing next to Christopher, the guy refused to take it. Rather, he did not even move and simply kept staring at her. Sophie felt a little creeped out but she had met many who were like this and did not let it show on her face.

"Sir, would you like to have a brochure?" She asked insistently. Finally the guy comically raised his hands like a robot and took the brochure, still standing stuck in that position. Sophie almost giggled but stopped herself.

"Ah I have a question regarding this....." Her attention was then taken by Christopher who started talking about some stuff.

Meanwhile the guy with the robot arms, Swamy just kept staring at the beauty in front of his eyes. 'She is beautiful', his thoughts were kinda stuck on that like a broken record. It was only when someone nudged him hard that he awoke from his trance.

'What the hell am I doing!!' as memories of the past few moments crashed back in his mind.

"She is cute, isn't she? Look at Christopher laying his charms out. I bet he already knows all about their machine. I should try talking to her too." Amit, his colleague, whispered to him. Swamy nodded. But after the fiasco of the past few moments, he doubted he had a chance. Not that he could compete against the sheer handsomeness of the guy he was with, Christopher. He was tall, pretty athletic and had his own business card. Most of all he could talk to her while Swamy had been frozen stiff.

Truthfully though, Swamy did not think that even Christopher had any chance. He sighed.

A bit later,

"Ah the machine is free now." The pretty blond girl spoke in a nice accent. 'Wonder where she is from.' thought Swamy but then smacked his head to clear it. She was probably from the same country as the company which makes the machine. He could easily look it up later. Right now he had to focus on the machine and give his feedback, after all that's what he had come out to do in the first place.

The guy handling the machine moved it around, displaying the various systems and explaining them in brief. Well, as Swamy was already used to their previous model, it was mostly stuff he knew about. He focused on what was new. 'Seems like they reduced the weight a little bit and added some more safety features.' It wouldn't actually increase their effectiveness by much so he quickly lost interest in what was being said. He turned his head a little to peek at the beautiful girl who was now welcoming other guests. Swamy sighed again.

"As you have experience with them, would you like to test them yourself?" The guy, who was explaining, asked.

"Hey Swamy, why don't you try it?" asked Christopher.

"Ok...." Swamy stepped forward and took the controller. He moved it around a little bit. 'Seems the same.' He looked around for something he could use to test the thing but the only decent size object was the pedestal the blond girl was using.

"Could I try lifting that pedestal?" Swamy asked the guy.

"Sure, but please be careful. There are people around." The guy cautioned. He simply signalled the other members and they cleared some space. Swamy quickly manipulated the controls and lifted the pedestal moving it towards him and then back to where it was. He slowly let down the thing, being careful to not let it tip over. And then he brought the machine back.

"Nicely done." The blond girl complimented.

"Well...um....I kinda use it...so its not much, I guess." Swamy spoke carefully haltingly. He could not trust his tongue right now.

"Did you like it? What did you think?" the girl asked.

"Um...handling...its the same as the last one, I guess. The less weight would probably save some electricity, I guess." Swamy replied.

"Haha that's true."

And just like that it ended. The girl went back to dealing with other people and Swamy stood there feeling like he had lived in another age. He sighed.

Finally it was the end of the exhibition and Sophie welcomed the sight of the leaving crowd. It had been hectic, too hectic.

"Hopefully he comes here soon." She thought aloud and one of the men packing up, lifted his head and smilingly said,

"You can go if you want. Nice work there but I can see you are really tired now," the man smiled. He was one of the senior employees and had known Sophie since she was little.

"Ah...merci beaucoup!" and Sophie quickly pulled out her cellphone and called.

"Ah Frank...merci!" She said to the other person in the car as she took the passenger seat.

"Pas de quoi Sophie." The young man called Frank replied.

Sophie got back to her hotel room and quickly showered and changed. Feeling better, she accessed the internet. "Still no news about Raka....hmmm."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is said that things have this weird habit of coming to a head just as soon as you start getting comfortable.

"Fight me!"

Raka looked back at the person who spoke those words. Von Gult Despira. A magic student. A noble. A son of a Count. So far he hadn't bothered with him, hadn't talked with him, hadn't even cared to acknowledge his presence. Yet here he was. And the first words were something like...this.

"Um...what?!" Was how Raka felt too.

Von Gult Despira was a very ambitious man. Von Gult Despira was also a very desperate man. Not only did he dream to head the noble house of Despira, which even though being the oldest and bearer of rulers had declined over the years to a state where it was considered a noble house in name only, he also wished to become the highest power on this island, the King, and bring his house to the forefront once more.

For that he had studied and trained diligently, in all matters of the state and battlecraft. Politics, magic, weapons. He even strategically thought out who to make friendships with. Skipping the local magic institute, he had joined the Magic Academy in Thelmova for this purpose. It has been a long tradition of noble houses of other lands to send their sons and daughters to each other's lands for education. Originally a measure to instill cooperation and peace, it also became a chance for him to make some worthy connections. Even powerful ones. And he had been successful so far. His friends treated his abilities with respect and followed him naturally. His magical talent and hard work was being appreciated in the royal court and his father proudly discussed his achievements at dinners with other nobles. It would not be strange to say important people were keeping an eye on him.

But it is said that higher expectations lead to greater disappointments.

For the first time Von Gult had encountered fear, real fear. And he had been helpless in the face of it. Before he met the pirates, he had been confident in his own abilities. After he met them, he had fallen into a deep depression. He had been useless. Gone were his ambitions to gain recognition. His prided abilities and strength had been of no use during the battle. He was overwhelmed by people who he had considered inferior, namely the soldiers and sailors. Though he had received elite training ever since he was a child, he could not even hold his own against the pirates. In fact, during the battle he had to be protected by those soldiers many times. Ever since he had landed, he had been writhing in agony over his own weakness.

Thus he had decided that he wanted to learn from the best. Lady Verina was considered the best on the island, just after the Queen in magic. But when he approached her she had declined owing to her busy schedule. Von Gult just had to accept her decision, he didn't have a choice. She was higher ranked than him, even if she was not a noble. And he didn't want to make a bad impression on her by being forceful.

But then he heard rumors that she did have a student. About Raka. At first he wouldn't believe it. That lowly guy who was responsible for mopping the floors and serving the food was her student! Wasn't he responsible for cleaning her rooms? As far as he saw, he was very weak in magic and that Lady Verina was simply taking pity on the weakest. Could he be her student?

But then other things started to come to his mind. Like how she was present when he was awarded a medal. Would she be present for any random awarding? And didn't she talk to him like she knew him. Suddenly all the events which he had previously ignored lit up like the light in deep darkness. Wasn't she personally training him?! And wasn't it a student's responsibility to take care of their master's belongings!

Then he heard even more. He had been seen joining the Ladies in the regular meetings which no one else had been allowed to join. And that he was Lady Altia's first student also.

That had been the breaking point. Who knew, maybe he had nefarious plans to become King himself! And what about their relationships. Couldn't he have seduced Lady Verina and Altia to join his camp and maybe more! Even if he didn't become the ruler, didn't he now have the top two ruling candidates dancing in his hands! Raka was officially an obstacle in his path, an snake which needed to be crushed before it could bite him.

This was perhaps the first instance in virtual gaming in which a npc became jealous of a player. But that doesn't matter. The results were the same.

"Fight me Raka! If I win, I will have Lady Altia and Lady Verina be my instructors!" He shouted to a still confused Raka.

Meanwhile, Raka was blissfully unaware of the situation. He kept staring, confused at this Von Gult guy and thought, 'He is really annoying!'

"Um...first of all why should I fight you? Second, if you want to be their student, don't you need their approval?" Raka replied.

'That stopped him.' Raka was about to get all pleased with himself. However,

"I approve it." Everyone's eyes turned to look at who had spoken and found Lady Verina and Lady Altia making their way towards them.

'What the hell! What's going on?'

"I approve it. If Von Gult Despira wins this fight against Raka, I will officially accept him as my student." repeated Lady Verina.

"I approve it too," added Lady Altia.

Everyone was shocked by these words. Let alone the other magic students, even Raka and Von Gult seemed to have their mouths open. Probably one was being very happy and the other really flummoxed.

'Seriously what is going on!' "Um...you are not joking are you?" He tenderly asked.

"No. Why would we joke about this? If he wins against you, why should I have a problem training him?" Lady Altia smiled.

"True. Why would we object? If he won against you even after our training, then perhaps we should train him." Lady Verina smiled as well.

'Something is seriously wrong here!'

But before he could collect his thoughts together,

"Alright everyone, stay next to us, so that you don't get involved accidentally. Von Gult, Raka take places over there, about 20 steps apart and prepare. We start in 2 minutes!" Lady Verina commanded.

Raka did not have the time to think as he started embedding his staff with air. His armor was still useless but then that Von Gult guy was also not wearing any. He chose air rather than earth to give him more options while fighting. However good he may be in fighting with a staff, in magic Von Gult was better. In fact he could hang upside down on ceilings, so what chance did Raka have! He was already prepared to lose.

'Hold on! Then what would happen to my blessings?!....Shit! I cannot lose!' He suddenly realized. Whatever the reason this situation had become like this, he could not afford to think anything else here. It had become very real very suddenly.

"Begin!"

A single sound spread across the hall as each rushed to the other. Staffs clashed as they met. Neither was holding anything back.

Smash, smash, whoosh, dodge, block, smash...went their staffs, neither being able to achieve that first hit. Each trying to send the other's body parts to bloody oblivion. It seemed that they were equal but the situation changed suddenly.

Realizing that both were almost equal in staff technique, Von Gult quickly took some distance and shot fire from his hands.

"Ah....!" 'It hurts.' And Raka saw his Life falling by 35. 'I can't take many of these.'

Thankfully even with the damage his head was clear. His endurance had taken the edge off of the resulting pain. He quickly darted to counter but Von Gult simply moved to keep his distance and shot fire again.

'Not again...' and Raka dodged to the side and continued but Von Gult simply controlled the fire by moving his hands.

"Damn..." The fire took another 25 Life off. Raka clenched his teeth and charged again at full speed. He had to close distance somehow.

This time he reached him and swung his staff almost immediately but rather than block, Von Gult simply struck his staff to the ground. The earth vibrated in all directions and Raka lost his balance.

As he fell forward, Von Gult simply waved his hands. A puff of air hit the pit of Raka's stomach and he was thrown back. Another 15 Life lost.

But it was not over, before Raka's feet could even touch the ground, Von Gult launched fire again.

This time it took 45 Life. It was a critical hit.

Raka had lost 80% of his health in less than 5 minutes. He was soon going to reach the red zone.

'Damn! This guy is strong!' Raka was at his wit's end. This guy was not even going for a punch but magic, even when he had been so close. Simply winning was not Von Gult's goal. He had to win in a manner which showed his complete superiority, Raka realized.

He swung his staff to launch an air wave but with such an exaggerated motion, it was easy to predict and Von Gult dodged to the side even before he finished swinging.

Raka realized once again...that he was weak. His mind raced to search for options, anything he could use in this situation. 'The blessing!' Raka still had a chance but only if he could get to the red zone safely. If they stopped the fight before then, he would be considered the loser. 'I need to get close to him!'

Raka ran full speed towards Von Gult. But he leisurely smiled and raised his hands. And released some more fire.

'Now!' Raka simply moved his staff to point to a place just next to Von Gult and launched himself. He cleared the fire just before it reached and landed next to him. He smashed his stick straight into his side.

"Take this!"

"Aaahhhh....." Von Gult grunted in pain but he still managed to blow Raka back before falling down on one knee. He grunted some more but quickly stood back up, holding his side. No matter how conceited he might have become, he had still been trained well.

Raka lost 15 more health and reached the red zone. 'Now I can turn things around...hehehe' but nothing happened.

'No blessing?!!!!!!' This could only happen if the opponent was the same level or weaker.

There is a revelation in the realization that the opponent you are fighting is not out of this world, rather within reach.

'What is the guy waiting for?' Raka could not understand. There he was, far away, and one strike could end this battle. No it could actually kill him. In fact any moment now, the Ladies should come and stop the fight or at least Raka expected them to. But the guy just glared at him.

'Well in any case it's a chance.' Raka closed his eyes and entered his colorful world. He simply moved his hands around his staff and thought 'Air'. In 2 seconds, he had embedded his staff once again with air. 'This ring is awesome!' He had just filled it before all this nonsense began.

'My turn!' Raka rushed towards Von Gult again and in reaction a fireball arrived. 'Tch..the same thing. I have long range magic too you know.' He got out his spell scroll and..

"Fireball!" Raka shot fire also. The two fireballs met and cancelled each other out. But Raka was not waiting. Another two spell scrolls and,

"Fireball!" "Airwave!" The two scrolls activated from his hands. Air and fire combined to make a larger flame. He could not make a firebomb yet, but there was no reason not to combine the effects of two elements separately.

The larger and powerful looking fireball headed towards Von Gult who quickly moved to dodge. This guy's dodging speed was insane. He jumped high up and stuck to the ceiling and launched firebolts. A standard fire magic, which created small fireballs but launched them at high speed.

However it was very difficult to control the direction of a single firebolt and Raka was fast enough to dodge it. But the magic's advantage was in numbers. Von Gult kept launching firebolts continuously. 10....20...'How much mana does this guy have!'

Raka had to focus on dodging while the guy safely fired things while stuck to the ceiling like a bat! He even mixed in some fireballs in between firebolts. It was like facing a cluster bomb, each individual element was weak but the area covered was large.

Raka had to do something. 'First', Raka dodged till he reached just below Von Gult. 'Now!' He released his embedded air magic and launched himself. Flying in closed rooms or halls is not advised. You run the risk of running into the ceiling. But Raka was aiming for this.

Von Gult quickly dodged the incoming Raka missile and jumped back on to the ground. The situation had not changed at all. Now Raka was stuck in the air while Von Gult could keep firing. Atleast, Raka hoped that was what the guy was thinking. His next step depended on that.

Raka cancelled his magic and heaved all his weight away from the ceiling and thankfully managed to land on it with his feet. Then he aimed his staff towards Von Gult and launched again. This time gravity helped him.

"Ahhhhhhh" With a yell he reached the guy. 'You must be shocked by this aren't you...I am too!' Von Gult barely dodged this strange attack as Raka crashed at the place where he was just standing at.

"Earth-shock!" Raka took out a scroll and yelled as he hit the ground. The ground shook in all directions throwing Von Gult to the ground. Raka lost 10 more Life. 'Hah....I survived! Lucky!' But he had no time to celebrate. He quickly stood up and charged.

Even while on the ground, Von Gult was capable of magic. An airwave blew from his hands to blow Raka away. But this time Raka was ready for it. And he was also close enough. He sidestepped and rotated. The staff making a clean circle as Raka ended up on his side and the staff ended up on the back of his head.

Smash! A clean hit to the back of Von Gult's head. Dance of the Fighter applied and Raka's Life and Mana grew.

"Aaaaaahhh!" Blood trickled out from Von Gult's wound but he simply looked back fiercely. And launched a fireball straight at Raka's face.

'Idiot...' thought Raka as he sidestepped and rotated again. And the staff completed another circle to Von Gult's head. But then he savagely jumped towards Raka, staff forgotten, and a punch aimed at his head.

'Shit!' Raka's staff would not make it in time. The punch would have found his home. But then his boots were alright. There are some things a man shouldn't do until he is determined. Kicking another man in his balls is one of those things. Raka decided to kick anyway.

Viewers would have watched in slow motion the death of the two fighting in front of them, the first one to reach would have had a slim chance for survival.

But just then something fluttered and both Raka and Von Gult were thrown back forcefully. Raka looked vaguely at the form...

"Ah Lady Altia..." before passing out.

He regained consciousness some minutes later to find an empty training hall. He checked and his Life and Mana were recovering fast, another handiwork of Lady Verina.

"Awake are you?" asked Lady Altia who was standing right behind him.

"Um yes. How is the other guy?" Raka asked concerned.

"He is ok. Verina patched him up in a jiffy. He is just laying in her office while she treats his wounds. Unlike the Goddess's children, it takes some time to heal from wounds for the people of this world." Lady Altia replied.

"Ah!" And then he remembered. "Why didn't you guys stop the fight? I was about to die out there?"

"But you couldn't really die, could you now. We thought it would be disrespectful seeing that the lad had the determination to face off against one of the Goddess's children, to not let him kill one, if he could!" Lady Verina's smile had a hint of sarcasm.

What is the saying that goes...if you have friends like these, who needs enemies! Raka sighed. Women...he could never figure them out.

Meanwhile Lady Verina also came down.

"Ah so you are awake now. That was quite a fight wasn't it! Too bad it ended in a draw."

"Yes it was. Um a draw?"

"Well, considering that if that guy had been serious from the start, you would have been dead before doing anything...would not be an understatement. So technically this is your loss." Lady Verina simply said.

"But...but but but.."

"True that. Even if he had more training, our disciple is one of the Goddess's children. He shouldn't have been defeated so easily." Lady Altia agreed.

"Eh! But...but.."

"You know what...I guess the blame for this is on the teachers. We just didn't train him hard enough." Lady Verina continued.

"But...but.."

"True that. And it's a pity that he will leave soon." Lady Altia added.

"But we still cannot have him lose this miserably again...after all he represents us now.." Lady Verina sighed.

"We are young, we make mistakes..." Lady Altia sighed.

"In that case, we just do what we do...he won't die after all..." Lady Verina suddenly brightened up.

"True that. Even if he dies, he can still revive...and you could always heal him..." Lady Altia also brightened up.

Lady Verina waved her hands and two staffs appeared. She offered Altia one but...

"Nah...I think it should be good that he also faces my sword sometime.." Lady Altia simply commented and took out her sword and got in stance.

"One by one or at the same time? Should be good to give him experience fighting groups..." Lady Verina commented and took her stance.

"......" went Raka.

Combat status is active. You can only log out when you come out of combat or you die.

'I hate this game!!'

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

A new rumor was born that day. Of the ghost which haunted the magic training hall. That was a joke, see, magic training halls are made soundproof. No one would have heard his screams.