Chuck swore as another firebolt slammed into his barrier.

"Pay attention, Chuck!" the teacher yelled.

He had been distracted since the nightmare he had. He felt like he was running out of time. Chuck barely managed to unravel the next firebolt thrown at him, feeling the wave of heat wash past. Sweat was pouring from his face from the exertion of this exercise. It didn't help that his opponent had the skill maxed out and he only had it at level three.

He had been so distracted by the dream and its ramifications that he had forgotten to add any of his skills to his training queue. He only remembered as he was entering class, kicking himself for being stupid. The lapse had cost him over twelve hours of training time. More like eighteen if he factored in the fact that he could train multiple skills at once.

He hadn't even had time to see if any of his skills were compatible for combinations. Another major miss on his part. With the looming threat growing in the north he needed to be as efficient with his skills as he could.

Another firebolt slammed into him as he was processing his screw up. He felt the shield flicker and fail as the residual heat made his eyes dry up and water.

"STOP!" the teacher yelled. "Chuck is dead, and yet has just given us a valuable teaching moment. Anyone care to guess what that is?"

The whole class stopped and looked at Chuck as he picked himself off the ground, his face flush in embarrassment.

One of the students replied, "don't become distracted?" he said, not sounding quite sure.

"Close," the teacher said, pointing to another student.

"Distraction during a fight can kill you."

"Correct but let's expound upon that, shall we. Chuck is obviously distracted, anyone with half a brain can see that. That means any mage worth his salt can take advantage of that." the man said while he slowly walked around the students in the arena.

"Now, imagine Chuck here was holding the line for people to escape. His distraction now cost his life and the lives of every other person he was trying to protect. Clear everything useless from your heads before you go into battle. The only thing you should be worried about is the task at hand. Switch roles and return to sparring."

***

Rudian turned his head as a figure appeared in the doorway of the colosseum. The man motioned for him.

"I will be back in a few minutes, keep practicing until I return."

He walked over to the man and bumped his chest in salute, "General, what brings you by, I thought you were on deployment?"

The man with the small feathered hat responded, "I was, but they recalled us when scouts saw the Vitor forces pulling back."

Rudian spit on the ground, "cowardly fools, why do they constantly test us?"

"They are looking for weakness so they can exploit it, just like their weak-minded citizens. Is this the new class?"

Rudian turned to look at his student, "yes, there are a few that may survive a fight."

The General snorted, "seems you have little faith in the youth of our nation old friend."

"We grow more accustomed to peace with every passing year. None of these students have seen the horrors of war or grew up on the border as I have. I fear a quarter of them will die in their first engagement, a few may even try to run if war is ever declared."

"Well, they won't get far. They are bound to their oath as soon as they accept any form of training from the tower. My worry is more on the lack of new recruits for the warcraft specialty."

"Most only wish to study and learn, few are eager to die for a cause. They will either die or learn to survive."

"Too true. If I recall correctly, you spoke of a promising student in your letter?"

"As if you would ever forget something," Rudian smiled, "yes, Vigo is a promising student with a focus on Geomancy. I haven't seen focus or drive like his since my day."

"Splendid, any other noteworthy students we should keep an eye on?"

"There are a few but I don't see the same drive from them. One does have the drive but he becomes easily distracted so I am not expecting much from him in the future."

"Very well, keep up the good work. If you want to give them a real test we could bring in some of the commanders. They could use an outlet since we were pulled back from the front."

"I will keep that in mind, General."

Rudian saluted one more time as the General turned and left. Rudian turned back to his students with a smile. They would learn what true mage combat was all about when he brought in the commanders.

***

Chuck was exhausted after the classes today. Even after the admonishment from the warcraft teacher, he still wasn't fully in the moment. He just couldn't keep his mind from going to the feeling creeping in from the north.

He decided to do something to take his mind off of that issue, studying his spells to see if any new combinations presented themselves or any greater skills were unlocked.

He felt a few new connections, some felt unstable though. He glanced at the skills in question.

Earth Blade: 5-5

Fire Blade: 2-5

The connection was tenuous, maybe because he only had fire blade at level 2. He felt the same thing when he looked at firebolt and rock spear and examined their levels.

Firebolt: 3-5

Rock Spear: 3-5

The feeling wasn't quite the same. With earth blade and fire blade, it felt like it was lopsided. With firebolt and rock spear, the connection just felt extremely weak. It felt like he could combine both pairs if he desired but the feeling he got was that it would cost a significant amount more effort to do so. Chuck decided to wait to do anything with those four skills, for now, deciding to check others.

The only other connection he felt was between water blade and wind blade. It felt lopsided as well but only slightly. He decided to concentrate on these since it was the only other option that presented itself.

He sat on his bed and concentrated on the spell forms in his mind. It was slightly easier now that he had some basic understanding of spellcraft from his class. Before he had been brute-forcing the spells together. He was surprised he had succeeded at all with that approach, he was more likely to have the spells unravel in his mind, giving him mana backlash.

Even with his new understanding, the process to combine the two forms were long and tiring. He collapsed on the bed after two hours. The process had been completed. He wiped the sweat from his face before he checked to see what he created.

Name: Pressurized Water Blade

Rarity: Crafted - Rare

Level: 0 - 5

Prerequisite: Water blade level 5, Wind Blade level 5

Damage Type: Water/Air

Status: Active

Stat: Intuition

Range: 5m

SP to Next level: 800

Description: Creates a condensed blade of water that can slash a target. Will cut through most leather and chainmail armor.

'Finally,' he thought, 'a blade skill that wasn't completely useless.'

Chuck just needed to train wind blade to take advantage of the new skill. He decided to max out the other skills before he tried creating the other combinations.

He pulled out the pendant and activated it. It was time to try and learn some more about Grema.

***

Genemi prostrated himself in front of the King. He had been waiting for this summons since he returned to the capital with his new host. "My Liege," he said reverently, copying the mannerisms with flawless ease.

"Rise great warrior and look upon your liege lord," one of the King's advisors spoke.

Genemi rose and looked upon the pathetic old man sitting on the throne. He had to control his emotions as to not let the contempt slip out.

"Genemi, for your valor in battle and for driving off our enemies we bestow upon you a title of knight. From today forward your lineage shall bear the name Alibaster, for your purity in the face of evil. Step forward Sir. Knight, Genemi Alibaster, first of his name and protector of the realm. The Holy Kingdom of Vitor recognizes your bravery."

Genemi stepped forward and accepted the stupid token that they clipped onto his sash. How he wished he could just slaughter this entire kingdom and be done with it. He had the power but it would leave him weak and exposed after. No, the plan he put together was far more entertaining. He could watch the sheep kill themselves while he sat back.

"The king has decided to name you the commander of the host that will be sent against the heretics in the south. May Firon guide your hand to a quick and decisive victory," the advisor spoke, reading from a scroll.

After Genemi was dismissed he smiled. Everything was falling into place far easier than he had anticipated. The fools had even given him full command of the army. He would squander the lives as he saw fit, causing as much damage and death as possible. Then he would destroy both kingdoms and move on to others until he killed or corrupted this entire pathetic ball of mud.

***

The next few days went by quickly for Chuck. He had managed to max out all his common skills as well as mana sense. He had also managed to get pressurized water blade, or PWB as he liked to call it, up to level three already.

He found a quiet place to test the skill and found it to be quite devastating against soft targets. The force wasn't enough to cut through a person but it would certainly leave a large deep gash.

He got yelled at a few more times by his warcraft instructor but he was beginning to realize the man yelled at anyone if they slipped up in class. The feeling of foreboding had faded from his mind and he could no longer feel the link he had in the north. He didn't think that was a good thing though.

He threw himself into training during all of his waking hours, only spending an hour at night before bead studying the Grema. Both areas were starting to show improvement though. He had finally hit level two of the short sword skill and he was starting to understand a few words spoken in the recorded memories.

His history teacher was a big help with that part. Chuck went up to him and asked him if he had any other translated Grema documents that he could look over. The man had been all too pleased to help a young mind turn away from the savagery of combat, to more intellectual pursuits, as he put it. He didn't have many documents but the few he did have unlocked enough for Chuck to start following the conversations the two in the recording were having. He was still a week or more off from anything substantial though.

Chuck took a look at his progress.

Bladed Weapons: 5-5

Short Sword: 20/300TP to level 3

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

Enhanced Vision: 2-2

Light Armor: 5-5

Multitasking: 52360/80000SP to level 4

Mana Manipulation: 5-5

Mana Sense: 3-3

Minor Heal: 1-1

Sneaking: 5-5

Stealth: 4950/12000SP to level 5

Tracking: 5-5

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

Elemental Shield: 5-5

Wind Barrier: 5-5

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

Earth Blade: 5-5

Fire Blade: 5-5

Firebolt: 5-5

Flame Lance: 3-3

Flame Thrower: 3-3

Grease: 1-1

Ice Arrow: 5-5

Mud Blade: 5-5

Pressurized Water Blade: 20/4000SP to level 4

Rock Spear: 5-5

Water Blade: 5-5

Wind Blade: 5-5

The list had grown significantly, he did need to shore up his defensive abilities though. A trip to the skill merchant would be required before the week was up.

Since he had all his skills to the max level he dove back in to combine the ones he wasn't able to before.

This time the skills didn't fight him so much as he twisted and turned the forms so they created something new. Doing both skills back to back still left him tired but it wasn't nearly as bad as when he created PWB or flame thrower. He opened his menu to see what the result of his hard work was.

Name: Ceramic Blade

Rarity: Crafted - Uncommon

Level: 0 - 5

Prerequisite: Fire Blade level 5, Earth Blade level 5

Damage Type: Slashing

Status: Active

Stat: Intuition

Range: 5m

SP to Next level: 400

Description: Creates a blade of fire-hardened clay that is razor-sharp. Can cut through leather armor.

Not exactly what Chuck expected but interesting none the less. He looked at the other new skill.

Name: Scatter Bolt

Rarity: Crafted - Rare

Level: 0 - 5

Prerequisite: Firebolt level 5, Rock Spear level 5

Damage Type: Earth/Piercing

Status: Active

Stat: Intuition

Range: 5m

SP to Next level: 800

Description: This skill causes a spear of rock to fly from the caster's hand. Explodes into fragments upon impact, damaging anything within 1m with rocky shrapnel

Another surprise. Chuck had been expecting something magma related but that was probably too much to hope for, considering the low levels of the spells used. Not that he was disappointed too much. He now had essentially a fragmentation grenade in spell form.

While combining spells like this was helpful he really wanted to create a spell of his own. He was still quite a way off from that goal as he barely understood the fundamental components. Unsupervised students were not allowed to experiment with making spells until the end of intermediate classes. There was a high risk of a spell form becoming dangerously unstable if put together incorrectly.

Chuck didn't have to worry about this issue with mana manipulation because the spells he was using were already stable and he was just combining them. The worst he could suffer is some backlash if he lost concentration.

He could certainly risk it with his blessing but that would be a waste, especially if he was killed after he did something stupid like that. No better to wait and learn.

Chuck headed to the skill seller to get some defensive abilities. He really wanted to purchase mage shield and mage armor but the rare skills were expensive and beyond his current budget. He settled on purchasing a couple of uncommon skills for two gold.

Since these weren't class-specific skills, the school didn't have scribes duplicating them and the cost was much higher. Those rare skills would have cost him five gold each. That would have had him eating into his hidden savings just for some skills that were not all that impressive. Or at least that's what he told himself.

He glanced at the two new defensive skills.

Name: Harden Skin

Rarity: Uncommon

Level: 0 - 5

Status: Active

Stat: Willpower

Range: Self

SP to Next level: 600

Description: Hardens your skin against physical damage by 10%. Lasts 5 minutes

Name: Kinetic Barrier

Rarity: Uncommon

Level: 0 - 5

Status: Active

Stat: Intuition

Range: 3m long x 3m high arc 5m out from the caster

SP to Next level: 400

Description: Produces a semi-permeable barrier in a large frontal arc from the caster. Absorbs 50% of the kinetic energy from anything that passes through.

These two skills would come in quite handy if he had to confront any hostile creatures or people. He wanted to train for a few more months before he left. He hoped it was enough as he didn't want to delay any more than he had to. If he could already feel the beings presence it was probably growing in strength or getting closer to him. Neither of these options was ideal. He looked towards the still-unnamed skill, hoping that might help if he finally figured out what it was.