Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How are you all doing?

Ehhh, f-five starts?

How come this story is so well liked?

I mean sure, Euphoria has a load more followers and thus, people who rated it but still.

I guess its because the plot is faster here, more easily defined.

Oh well.

Surprised nobody else gave a review yet, but I guess VIKKUTORIA said everything you all needed to see.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

The following morning... - Academy Training Grounds - Alice's Point Of View...

"Sorry, I'm late!" I exclaimed in minor panic as I rushed through the entrance to the massive regimental area sourrounding the illustrious academy. Back when the city was still being built and the area around us was not quite so densly-populated, wild animals and forests needed to be conquered in order to allow the creation of a proper settlement.

This urged the kingdoms to create a large regimental grounds where their troops could restock and deploy whenever neccessary. Once the city was properly built-up however, the grounds became useless as they were in the middle of it, so the headmaster turned them into one large training yard where much of the students do their daily physical activity and attend classess which require such activity.

One of those classess is the reason why I am currently here; Combat Enchanting."Hmm... not quite as late as you may think. We are still waiting on other students, miss Pendragon." A tall, slim person approached me. In his hands was a masterwork, albeit iron sword which seemed to shine against the sunlight.

His hair was a golden blonde and flowed all the way down to his waist which, when combined with his unearthly pale skin made him a rather handsome man. I blinked at him in momentary stupefiction and then promptly noticed around seven female students of varying years staring at the man."Ahh, how I wish I was just a dumb first year again so I could be part of his class..."

"Preach. Preach it, sister." Another, slightly larger should we say, female student exclaimed with star-struck eyes.

I let out a massive sigh as I bowed before the man, whose elven lineage was rather obvious at this point."I see. Thats.. good for me, I suppose. Anyways, may I know your name, teacher?"

He beamed me a bright smile and mimicked the bow."Arrian Adhana, a pleasure."

I blinked."Adhana? And Arrian?... your father has a sense of humor." His name literally translated into happy accident. How... tasteless... and insulting.

A deep sigh was let out as the half-elf offered me a somewhat amused snort."I suppose. In any case, I see that you've brought Luctus with you." The sentient Halberd in question innocently floated in mid-air, seemingly intent on being as suspicious as was possible.

Turning around to look at the Halberd before taking it into my hands and turning back towards the teacher, I asked."Uh, you know about my weapon?"

He smiled again."Of course. I did train your father, after all. Now come, I have much to show you."

We walked towards a set of training dummies, magically floating wood which could regenerate from any blow given time and that they aren't utterly obliterated by the strike."First off, I can see that you haven't yet adapted the weapon to your own soul."

Blinking in confusion as I tilted my neck sideways, I managed to mutter."Uhmm, what?"

A deep chuckle escaped the half elf."The weapon you wield is a sentient one, made out of a strange, almost organic material. This allows it to change shape in accordage to its user. The form it has now is merely the form which your father preffered... I am quite sure that your soul desires another kind of form."

"How can you be so sure?" I quirked an eyebrow at the man as he pointed towards one of the dummies."You will see, Pendragon. For now, strike that dummy with as much force as you can muster in any way you wish."

A blink, no make that several before I promptly decided to oblige. I made a rather slow strike to what would have been a mans abdomen, fully intent on severing the thing in half, only to find my strike repelled by the mana-empowered wood."OW! owowowoow!" I rubbed my sore hands as pain pulsed through them and Arrian nodded towards me.

"Before you struck the dummy, you rose your right hand and left hand upwards to be at around the same height... this is, sadly not a good way to use a halberd. In fact, its a good way to break your own arms. The only reason your fingers haven't been broken already is because of your family's natural strength." He explained as I took another look at my hands and watched the memory replay in my mind to find out that he was right.

Scracthing the back of my head somewhat lamely, I asked."Okay but.. what does that exactly mean for me? What kind of weapon would you recommend, sir?"

"I'm afraid we will need to do some more testing in order to be able to fully acomodate your needs. Though this class is about combat enchantments, such enchantments are useless without the user being good at the weapon they're using in the first place." He explained calmly as he pointed towards a rack which held many different types of weaponry. Swords, maces, lances and bows alike laid prone upon the metal, seemingly all made out of the same enchanted wood that the dummies were."Take your time and test yourself. Tell me which of the weapons felt the best to use and please do not hurry yourself, we have several hours at our disposal, after all."

Then he turned his head around."Now, while you do this, I must go and attend to the others. Do not worry though, you are easily my prize student in this class and as such I shall be watching your progress. Do not dare to slack off."

I swallowed down harshly as the mans darkened gaze was laid down upon my backside. I could feel a great deal of power behind his words...

Shaking my head out of my stupor, I promptly let go of Luctus and grabbed a wooden sword. The training weapon was a helluva lot lighter than my halberd and I could feel myself moving far more easily with it in my hands. Yet... this didn't feel right. As soon as I grasped the sword by the handle, I could feel the uneven length of my hands or perhaps the uneven structure of my body itself.

Due to having broken my right shoulder before and the fact that the bone regrew a little bit off but not exactly badly when compared to some other instances which I had seen, the reach of my right hand was a little bit... extended, should we say. This made my grasp on the sword become... well, uneven.

Wrong and unstable. Sighing out quite loudly and releasing my left hand from gripping the sword, I found that my current stance felt much better. Perhaps, a single sword style was in my future?"Hi-yah!" I exclaimed somewhat comically as I struck the wooden sword against the side of the dummy, only to find the painful shock to course through my arm nearly twice as painful as it was before.

Something is wrong here... the way the pain traveled through my body...

I struck the dummy again, this time with a forward lunge. This caused me to nod as I found that I could deliver a lot more power if I plunged the blade straight into the dummy. Really though, I was using the sword as if it was a mace or an axe instead of a sword.

Nodding to myself, I placed the sword back into the weapons rack, deciding that it just wasn't for me. Next thing I grabbed was a lance, because I wished to confirm what teacher told me some moments ago... taking my experience with the sword into account, I lunged towards the dummy once again and found myself easily penetrating the dummy, yet as I did so the event caught me off guard and caused me to lamely fall onto my arse as I lost my footing."Ow..."

"Guess this is how it feels like to trip over your own feet..." Muttering out in dissapproval of myself, I remembered how I once read that lancers, pikemen and spearmen alike need to know how to move their legs properly to be effective. They require extensive amounts of footwork... something which isn't exactly appealing to me in the least.

Of course, every weapon needs proper footwork to function, but long ranged meele weaponry just needs that much more. Hmm... what about other short range meele weapons then?

Quickly checking out a mace and an axe made me realize that they have the same problem as the sword did... My wrongly healed arm causing mayor instabilities when I wield such weapons."But then what do I take?"

A strange shine caught the back on my eye as I turned my head around to find a set of ... gauntlets?

Shrugging, I promptly equipped them, finding that the elbov-guards which came with the gauntlets fit quite nicely to my hands. These were somewhat heavy and wielding them meant that I would have to learn how to punch stuff, but considering my talent for holy magic... maybe I could become a monk?

A female monk?... never heard of it. But just because it does not exist yet does not mean I can't make it happen.

Finally managing to fit my hands into the gauntlets, I pull back my right fist and hear my shoulder crack in semi-protest, the wrongly healed bone seemingly popping momentarily into place as I released an abdominal punch. I struck the dummy hard, causing the thing to ricochet as the wood it was made off was shattered on impact and whatever pain I would have otherwise felt was consumed by the gauntlets."Ah, it seems you've found your weapon. A pair of gauntlets? How peculiar."

I blinked as the teacher rushed towards me in curiosity."Uhm... How come the dummy managed to resist my blow when I used Luctus but shattered when I used these?"

"Thats because the dummies are enchanted, or better to say cursed, making them nearly invulnerable to physical damage unless the person striking them is in tune with their weapon." Realization dawned upon me."So thats why you had me try out all the weapons... to see what the dummy would react to."

He nodded and then turned towards the sentient halberd still floating near me."Indeed. Now, I do not truly know how your father changed the former sword into the halberd he used all of his life, but from what I could tell it came to him naturally. I would like you to try and change Luctus into a pair of gauntlets."

I nodded towards the man and undid the straps which held the gauntlets on my arms, putting them back onto the rack as I sat down cross legged with Luctus in my lap. The giant halberd pulsed with life as I closed my eyes and thought.

Hmm, what kind of... gauntlets would I like?

Well first off, those elbov-guards seemed pretty good for me as they deflected my... disability's effect, should we call it. Also, teacher said that the only reason my fingers haven't been broken by the first blow is because of my family's natural strength. Hah, if only he knew... Anyways, maybe something to protect my fingers would be nice?

A strange shape suddenly formed in my mind, a pair of .. gloves? Strange black gloves which were made out of purely black material, seemingly organic in nature yet also ... alive.

A living metal. Freely moldable, yet supremely resilient in whichever shape it is stabilized into. The left glove had a small opening on one of its fingers, quite possibly to allow me to keep my ring on even while wearing the gloves. The black material of the gloves extended beyond my elbovs, covering them in spiked guards, the right glove's material then extended further towards my shoulder and back, putting pressure onto the place where I broke it.

My left glove seemed to have small runes etched into the fingertips, possibly to allow spellcasting. That means I'm going to have to learn how to begin casting with only one hand.

Ah, never mind, the runes appeared on the right side too."Hooh? Looks like a pair of dragon-skin gloves." Teachers voice suddenly interrupted my thoughts as I opened my eyes to find both him and my classmates staring at me in curiosity.

I looked away, somewhat bashfully."Uhmm, thanks?" My questioning tone caused the man to let out a chuckle as he offered me a hand to help me stand up, which I took because why not. Standing up, I took a look at my new gloves to find that they shone in the sunlight, seemingly devouring it much the same way that the dragon on my family's banner did.

"How interesting..." I muttered out somewhat curious as I put them on, finding that the gloves fit me perfectly and that they were pretty easy to equip. Each finger was as mobile as it was without the gloves, yet I could feel the denseness of the metal which covered them. The weight of the gloves was nothing to scoff at either. In fact, they weighted the same as Luctus did, though wearing them was easier than carrying them."Well, try them out!"

Teacher said as he pointed to my left. The dummy which I had destroyed had regenerated itself fully, standing rather tall in defiance of my previous actions. I grinned and leaped into action, hearing my own bones crack in protest due to my general unwillingness to move as I pulled back my right hand and poised my fist to strike.

Wordlessly and as soon as I let out a breath, I struck the dummy once again, this time pummeling right through the enchanted wood as if it was soft clay."Whooah.. Shes pretty strong." The boys and the girls in my class watched on in amazement."I guess thats just what should be expected of basic royalty.." Brooke muttered out in dissapproval as he tightened his fists around a caster staff.

Well, I guess that mages could enchant their staves too should a meele situation arise. Wait... Brooke. Peasant.

Clothes."Aaah! Dammit! I knew I forgot something!"

"Please, there is no need for such language, Pendragon! And what did you forget?" Teacher asked me in an amused tone as I turned to look at Brooke."I bought him some new clothes cause he seemed worth remembering and I dont want to see what he has fall off."

Brooke's, not to mention the many other peasants around, eyes went wide in shock and surprise."Y-you... bought me clothes? Because I was... interesting?"

"Pretty much. You seem like someone who likes to work hard for what you want... the clothes you have on you are probably the only ones you have, though. Which means that your parents brought you here using more than a years worth of their savings, which means that you are feeding yourself on free Academy food and don't have enough money on you for anything other than the bare essentials, clean and well-woven clothing not being one of those essentials." I explained my reasoning to them with a sigh.

One of the boys shook his head out of his stupod."W-wait, so you didn't buy the clothes because you like him or something?" I deadpanned the idiot who said that, causing him to look away in shame."Hell no. I just don't wanna see whats beneath and I'm sure you don't either."

A bunch of approving murmurs erupted from the crowd as the teacher looked on in silent interest."Before you said something about you doing it because he was interesting though. Are you sure you don't just like him?" Harnedy, the other interesting character in my class, said with a slanderous tone as I sighed."That would mean that I am equally interested in you though, Harnedy."

She blushed and turned her head away in embarrassment."S-so, y-y-you t-think that I-I am i-i-interesting t-t-too?"

"I guess." Harnedy did not say anything after that, just throwing me side glances while hoping that I wouldn't catch them. I did my best to ignore her eyes.

One of the famale peasants approached me and raised her hand shyly as if we were in a classroom."Yes?"

She gulped almost as if scared of me as she spoke."Uhmm... I'm Petra and uhm, my situation is kind of the same as Brooke's so... I'd like to ask you what I'd have to do to get some clothes for myself.."

I blinked. Oh dear, what did I get myself into?

Still, this could prove advantageous."Neither Brooke nor Harnedy did what they did on purpose so uh, just do something interesting enough and I'll think about it. Same goes for all of you."

She nodded, seemingly satisfied by my answer as the crowd finally dispersed, hushed murmurs and delicate plans being forged in whispers."You really do know how to make an impact, don't you?"

"I wasn't exactly trying to, though..." I replied to the teacher as I stared at the semi-excited crowd of my classmates, each of them taking a weapon into their hands and striking a dummy with greater fervor than before.

The man chuckled at my flabbergasted self, clearly amused."Well, intentionally or not, you've made my job and possibly that of every other teacher of this class a whole lot eaiser. This is sure to get you some friends in the faculty."

"I see. I'll make sure to remember that should I ever get myself into trouble." I understood the true meaning behind his words. The headmaster has put up some teachers to watch me, realizing that I am a likely target for assassination.

Seems like he really took that incident to heart and what I've unintentionally accomplished today will make things easier for the both of us.

Hn. I just hope the theory is never put into practice... though that may be little more than wishful thinking at this point.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Food delivery arrived.

Time to eat. Three thousand words is good enough for one chapter, anyways...

Naturally, as I usually do, I will stay online for a while to edit mistkes and answer them early commenters.

Of which there will be none, but oh well.

Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!