Victoria PoV

I’m tired.

Eight days of Darius Spartan training.

When I run out of mana he would make run around the temple, when I run out of stamina I have to start practicing my magic again, no breaks allowed.

If he could, I wouldn’t even be allowed to log out.

Just this morning I got the skill, but Darius isn’t satisfied.

He says that unless I can hit him with my magic spear, I’m not ready to leave.

For hours we have been sparring, you wouldn’t expect a magic user to be so skilled in physical combat.

I’m not even close to hitting him.

Believe me, it isn’t like my spear is slow, he is just too fast.

“Looks like you will be staying here for a while”

There it is, his sadistic smile.

By now I have grown used to his rotten personality.

I form a spear in my right hand, slowly I get closer to him, little by little his movements get his back against the wall.

“Interesting”

The smile hasn’t disappeared.

He looks as confident as ever.

But I have been preparing something to get rid of that smile of his.

I throw the spear towards him, he easily avoids moving to the right. I noticed before he has a pattern, always avoiding to the right, so a second spear formed in my left hand was thrown predicting his movement.

It hits his hand, he easily stops the spear, but I managed to hit.

I clench my fist and start happily jumping around.

“I didn’t expect that, to form spears in both hands it is necessary to have great control over your mana”

Nope, his smile didn’t disappear.

“I underestimated you”

He pauses for a second.

“You can leave now”

What? That’s it?

“Thanks? I really appreciate your help”

He turns around, I notice a grin in his face, then he walks back inside a room.

Now I’m going to say goodbye to Daniah.

After eighteen days I can finally leave this academy.

I hurry to the temple of Naleya.

When I arrive to the garden, an unexpected sight appears before me.

A man that looks like a knight is sitting next to Daniah, the mood around them is too romantic, I don’t feel like interrupting.

Awkwardly for me, she noticed my presence.

The knight gets up and walks away, he’s blushing.

When I’m in front of Daniah I notice she is blushing too.

“Looks like something is changed around here”

I have not forgotten how she was teasing me the other day.

As I look at her eyes she avoids my gaze embarrassed.

“How did it go with my brother?”

Her voice sounds nervous.

She looks so cute, I can’t resist hugging her.

“Wha… what?”

Now she sounds surprised.

“I missed you my friend”

She hugs me back.

“Even though you got someone to replace me”

I sit next to her.

She is pouting.

“It is not like that, Sir Francis is“

She pauses, looking for a word to describe his new friend.

I laugh.

“I know”

I smile.

“I came to say goodbye, I’m leaving the academy”

She smiles at me.

“Me too, we will see each other outside of here”

That is an unexpected answer.

“How come? Aren’t you supposed to be an instructor here?”

She giggles.

“I was here on a trial to become a High Priestess, which I completed thanks to you”

“What did I do?”

“You came here, my trial was to find an adventurer worthy of Naleya’s teachings and prepare her to serve our Goddess”

I remain silent for a while.

She looks at me.

“Well, you have a choice in the matter, when the time comes it is up to you to become a servant of our Goddess”

“I understand, I don’t see why not”

She smiles.

“If you head to our main temple on the capital of Romunia Republic we will meet again”

“I will remember that”

Then we bid farewell with the promise of meeting as soon as possible.

After that I head to the examination center.

Probably the biggest building within the academy.

I’m invited to get inside by a NPC standing outside the building. Apparently he can see I already have three skills.

Once inside they ask me to wait a few minutes, until an older woman comes for me and asks me to sit in front of her.

“Welcome miss Victoria”

The woman talks in a polite tone.

“Allow me to inform you that you are the seventy sixth adventurer ready to take the test, from which forty eight have already passed”

Less than I expected, it’s been two and a half weeks already.

“Are you prepared to take the test?”

“That’s why I’m here”

The woman smiles, then with the snap of her fingers I’m transported to a white room.

All around me are different kinds of weapons, some of them I don’t even recognize.

Should I grab something? I am a magic user after all and I didn’t learn anything about weapons.

Now I’m starting to feel anxious about this, I’m not as prepared as I thought.

“Show Status”

‘Name: Victoria

Class: None

Health: 40/40

Mana: 45/45

Stamina: 100/100

Satiety: 84/100

AGI: 5

WIS: 14

VIT: 9

Faith: 10’

At least training with Darius raised my health, I hope it is enough.

How about my skills?

“Show Skills”

‘Class Skills:

None

Common Skills:

Mana Manipulation – Beginner Level 4

Naleya’s Touch – Beginner Level 1

Magic Spear – Beginner Level 2’

Mana Manipulation went up three levels, I’m guessing it has to do with using two spears at once.

I’ve decided, I won’t grab any weapon, why bother using something I’m not familiar with?

There is only one door within the room, I open it and walk through it.

Once I step on the grass and take a look at the huge clouds in the sky, the door behind me disappears.

Nothing I can do now.

I walk around for a while, the grass extends to the horizon.

It doesn’t seem to have anything out of the ordinary.

For minutes I keep walking, until I feel a sudden pain in my stomach, I look down and see a knife going into my body.

‘Health -25’

I fall to the ground on my knees.

A disgusting grey creature is dancing around me, looks like he is celebrating its victory.

I grab the knife and remove it from my body.

‘You are bleeding

Every 10 seconds health reduced by 5’

“Naleya’s Touch”

Saying the name of the skill helps me to use it faster.

I feel my mana going down and my health recovering, the wound on my stomach closes and the pain disappears.

Sadly, half of my mana was spent on that.

I get up from the ground.

The creature doesn’t notice I’m still alive.

“Magic Spear”

On my right hand the spear is formed and a few seconds later is ready to be thrown.

I look at the little monster, he notices me but it’s too late, the spear pierces through its body.

It cries in pain, but one hit wasn’t enough to kill it.

I only have mana to make one spear.

The bleeding creature moves fast, it doesn’t have its knife so it should be harmless.

Making a second spear takes longer.

The grey monster rushes towards me, I throw the spear piercing straight through its head.

It falls lifeless to the ground.

I have no mana left, somehow I survived.

My knees lose strength and I kneel on the grass.

‘You have killed the Young Goblin’

‘You have passed Initia Academy test’

So that was a goblin.

After reading the messages I pass out, everything goes dark.

When I come to my senses, a warm feeling spreads through my body.

As I open my eyes, Naleya, Goddess of Love and Wisdom is next to me, her hand on my body.

“I restored your mana”

She smiles.

“You barely passed the test”

I smile at her.

“Where am i?”

“This is the room where your class will be decided”

Class, right, I passed the test and now I’m ready to leave the academy.

“And what are you doing here?”

“Every adventurer that graduates the academy gets the protection of a God, meaning we provide you with a class”

“I see”

I get up from the ground.

“I knew you would come here soon”

The Goddess look pleased by my presence.

“Normally you would be meeting a minor good, but you were trained to become one of my followers”

So this is what Daniah meant by a choice.

“I have decided a class for you, well, you have a choice if you don’t want to accept my decision”

By the tone of her voice it doesn’t sound like I really have a choice.

“Will you accept my decision or would you like to hear your options?”

No need to anger a goddess.

“I will accept whatever you decide”

She is the goddess of wisdom after all, I doubt I will get a useless class.

“Very good”

The goddess seems pleased by my words.

“You will become the Queen of Hearts”

What?

I remain silent for a while.

I hoped for the goddess of wisdom decision, I totally forgot she is also the goddess of love.

Worst, I already said I would accept her judgment.

I can’t go back on my word, can I?

The Goddess laughs.

“You adventurers are really interesting, most people would be thrilled to receive a class directly from me, yet you look like it is the end of the world”

I awkwardly smile.

“I’m sorry, it is just, saying I’m the Queen of Hearts to other people would be too embarrassing”

This time she burst out laughing.

“That’s what you are worried about?”

“Yes?”

A minute later the goddess calms down.

I don’t understand what is it that she finds funny about this situation.

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to tell you are the Queen of Hearts, you can say your class is Naleya’s Priestess or something like that”

I sigh.

Well, if it’s like that I don’t see a problem.

“I understand, I will take it”

“Very good Victoria, I’m expecting a lot from both of you”

She sounds amused.

Wait, both of us?

“What do you mean both of us?”

“Just a slip of tongue”

Then her expression gets serious, a second later I’m kneeling on the ground.

I know it’s her mana exerting pressure over me, it isn’t intimidating, I just can’t seem to control my body.

She puts her hand on top of my head.

“From now on you will be known as Victoria Royalblood, the Queen of Hearts”

‘You have become the Queen of Hearts

Health +30

Mana +40

WIS+10

VIT+5

Faith +5’

‘You have learned the skill Royal Presence’

That is a great improvement of my status.

“Well Victoria, I know we will see each other again, hopefully by that time you will understand why I chose you”

I try to ask something, but my voice doesn’t come out.

A moment later everything goes dark and I’m no longer conscious.

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I realize this chapter was a little bit shorter than the previous, but a bonus chapter about Gabriel will be coming later today.