Chapter 51: Trials Day Three (Patreon)

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Cayden and Elise stuck around for the rest of the matches before leaving the arena. Many more people had shown up to watch the fights compared to those that watched the affiliate trials, but the arena was still more than half-empty. The following day of trials was expected to be more popular, though.

Cayden could understand why fewer people were interested in these matches. It was definitely interesting for him to see the variety of skills, so many more than what the Avernon adventurer’s guild possessed. But the matches themselves were less than interesting – regardless of the applicant's skill, they had little chance of besting their instructor opponents. For the most part, the trials were just a series of one-sided beatdowns on the young adventurers.

It served the purpose of distracting Elise, though, and they chatted for the rest of the day about the applicants, the skills they possessed, and whether or not those skills might be able to combine into a viable tier-two skill for Cayden.

As afternoon crossed to evening and the list of remaining applicants to be tested dwindled, Cayden and Elise left the arena. Rather than head immediately back to the inn, they visited the front building of the academy where they waited in a short line to speak to a secretary.

“I was told to come here for admittance,” Cayden said when they stood before the desk at the front of the line. “On sponsorship by Princess Valeria.”

The bunnykin secretary smiled prettily at Cayden. “Of course! Name?”

“Cayden Johannson.”

The secretary disappeared through a door behind her desk while Cayden waited patiently next to Elise. After a minute, she returned with a sheaf of papers and a long metal rod.

“Hold this, please,” she asked, and Cayden grabbed the edge of the rod as Elise stepped forward next to him with an intrigued look on her face.

“Huh, I’ve never seen an enchanted item like that before,” she muttered, and Cayden glanced at her while still holding the rod.

“What’s it do?” he asked, lamenting his current lack of [Inspect]. He resolved to re-learn the skill in place of [Meditation] that night, as he was sure there would be plenty of situations where the skill would be helpful as he started his time at the academy, especially if he didn’t have Elise constantly by his side.

“It’s called the Identifying Rod,” the bunnykin answered before Elise could. “It’s just pulling your name from your status to verify that you are who you say you are.”

“Aren’t there runes that can do the same thing? Why have an enchanted item dedicated for it?” Elise asked.

“That’s true, but there are skills that can bypass the effects of runecarved items. This thing will reveal someone’s true name on their status, regardless of race, class, or any obfuscation skills. Completely foolproof!”

Elise and Cayden glanced at each other with a commiserating look of skepticism, but neither said anything aloud. Elise often ranted about how nothing in the system was foolproof, that for every skill description that was listed as ‘absolute’ there was another skill that invalidated that claim. Typically, this was in regards to [Resistance]: while Cayden hadn’t yet encountered a damage type that was immune to [Resistance]’s reduction effects, Elise cautioned Cayden that skills existed that could bypass it.

This wasn’t the time to challenge the secretary’s claim, however, and a moment later she grabbed the Identifying Rod back from Cayden and examined something on the end. Cayden hadn’t felt anything while he was holding the enchanted item – it had seemed like a mundane metal rod to his senses – but evidently, it was able to successfully verify his name, because the bunnykin looked up at him with a smile.

“Thanks for being patient! You’ve got a room reserved for you here on campus, will you be staying there tonight?”

Cayden shook his head. “No, not until tomorrow or perhaps the day after.” Elise wouldn’t find out if she was accepted until the following day at the earliest, and so had extended her reservation at the inn for one more night. Cayden didn’t see the reason to make his own move early.

“That’s fine. Here are some things you’ll need.” She handed Cayden a few sheets of paper. “On top is a map of the campus, and I’ve circled your dormitory. Below that is a form detailing some information about your status that you’ll need to fill out and return before the first day of classes. Don’t worry, everything you tell us is strictly confidential, and we aren’t asking for anything too specific – we just need to know generally about your build so we can best help your progression.” She smiled one more time at Cayden. “If you have any questions or need assistance with anything, feel free to ask me or whoever’s on duty here!”

Then, with a polite wave of goodbye, the secretary turned her attention to the next person in line as Cayden and Elise left the building.

“Don’t worry, you’re getting in, I’m sure of it,” Cayden said a minute later as they walked through the streets back to the inn. Once again without distractions, Elise looked nervous as they stopped for a quick dinner at a booth on the side of the road.

“But what if I don’t?” Elise asked.

“You will,” Cayden emphasized, but Elise didn’t look reassured. He sighed. “If by some miracle you don’t get in, we’ll figure something else out. You mostly wanted to get in so you can get access to the libraries, right?” he asked, and Elise nodded. “Well, I’m sure there’s more than one way to get access. You’re smart enough that I’m sure you’ll be able to figure something out. And even if you can’t, I’ll have access to the libraries as a Delver’s Academy student. If it comes down to it, I’ll figure out a way to sneak out the books you need. Or maybe I can learn a skill that’ll let me copy them.”

“That…seems like that could get you in serious trouble. The library in Avernon had restrictions on anything being removed, and I can’t imagine the royal or academy libraries being any less strict.”

Cayden shrugged, slapping his free hand against the papers he still held in his claws. “Possibly. But what are they gonna do? Kick me out? This is a great opportunity, and I’m excited for my time at the academy, but it’s not the end-all-be-all to my life.” He gestured to the city around them. “We have plenty of money to live on for a few months, and I’m sure we’d be able to make plenty more through the guild here. There are so many more dungeons and opportunities in the capital than there were in Avernon, and we’ll be able to see Tiana soon. Honestly, we should have moved to the capital ages ago. Even if everything with the academy doesn’t work out, I still consider this a net positive.” He looked into his friend’s eyes, trying to convey his earnestness. “But that doesn’t matter. You didn’t listen to all the other applicant’s presentations for the affiliate academy. I did. I am confident that you are getting in. Let’s not borrow tomorrow’s hypothetical problems.”

Elise stared back at Cayden, her eyes still nervous. But then, after a moment, they relaxed as she nodded resolutely. She grabbed the map of the campus from Cayden’s hand. “Where’s the affiliate student dormitory? I’ll need to make sure all my stuff is properly packed and ready to move from the inn – we don’t have too long before the semester starts, and I don’t want to waste any time. Do any of your forms say if the library is open before the semester?”

And then, once more engaged in relaxed and companionable conversation, they returned to the inn.

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Cayden screamed with the horde as the monster collapsed to the sand, finally succumbing to its wounds.

“NESTOR! NESTOR! NESTOR!”

Cayden had no idea who or what a ‘nestor’ was, but he chanted it along with the rest of the crowd as the stands vibrated beneath him to the stomping of feet. Apparently, at least one of the five applicants who were now panting in the center of the arena had a bit of a fan club who had started the chant when they first entered the arena. And now, after such an exciting battle, the rest of the stands joined in.

After fifteen years in this world, growing up in his tiny village and then in the provincial town of Avernon, Cayden had forgotten how much fun sporting events were. But now, surrounded by thousands of other screaming fans, he reveled in the nostalgic feeling.

Elise was significantly less enthusiastic.

It took a minute for the crowd to quiet down, but eventually Cayden settled back into his seat as the five adventurers walked out of a side tunnel and workers began resetting the arena for the next battle.

“I don’t get why everyone was so excited…” Elise said after the crowd quieted enough for Cayden to hear her. “That was one of the worst teams we’ve seen so far. They even looked like they might lose for a while there.”

“That’s exactly why we’re all so excited,” Cayden explained. “It’s not about how strong or skilled the applicants are – it’s about the spectacle. No one wants to see a blowout.” He paused. “...well, maybe if there’s a hometown favorite they might not mind a blowout. But with unknown adventurers? It’s much more exciting to watch a close struggle.”

“But the way they fought! And the way they used their skills! There was no synergy at all. It was all so…inefficient.”

“Hey, no arguments here,” Cayden answered. “I doubt they’re getting into the academy after that showing. But the audience, for the most part, doesn’t care about that. We’re just here to watch and enjoy the battles.”

Elise grumbled, unconvinced but unwilling to keep arguing the point as the next team was led onto the arena sands.

The format for this day’s trials was built to mimic a real-world delve: teams were assigned by the academy’s instructors based on compatible skills and builds, and they would each need to kill their opposing monsters. The monsters they fought varied between each group; sometimes they fought hordes of horned rabbits, and other times they fought a single large golem. Cayden didn’t see a pattern to the monsters, but he assumed they were chosen to best test each group’s specific set of skills and how they adapted to the challenge.

While it was a group challenge, the applicants were graded individually, and it was entirely possible for some members of a team to be accepted while others were rejected. It was based on each member’s individual actions as they fought as a team: how well they used their own skills, but also how well they coordinated with the rest of their team.

And despite the ridiculous number of delves Cayden had completed over the last year, he was learning a lot from each of the matches.

There were two main differences between his delves and the simulated delve that the applicants were facing. First was the presence of mages. While Cayden had delved with numerous groups over the months, he’d never actually delved with someone with a ‘mage’ classification.

As someone who delved mostly solo, Cayden had always seen the classifications as somewhat arbitrary. ‘Mage’ was simply the title given to those adventurers who primarily used magic skills as their weapons of choice. Yet almost everyone had skills that used mana and he would classify as ‘magic’. Sure, he was less focused on his ‘magic’ stats than some others, but he didn’t think there was too much of a difference between the way he fought and how someone who’d invested in the magic stats fought.

After watching the first few matches, Cayden was forced to reevaluate his stance.

The mages in the group matches were impressive.

He had of course seen them fight the prior day in the individual matches and had been impressed with the power and variety of magical skills they could unleash. Unlike his own paltry mana stats, they had the mana and mana regen to cast their skills repeatedly throughout the battle without worrying about running dry, which revealed some interesting strategies that Cayden hadn’t previously considered. Yet it was in the group matches where they were able to truly shine.

When they were able to rely on their team for defense and distraction and focus purely on offense, the amount of destruction the mages could unleash in a short amount of time was terrifying. Monsters that Cayden would have had to slowly whittle down over the course of an hour, they were able to blast into smithereens with a simple emptying of their mana pool. Of course, that was part of the test too – in several of the instances where the teams had powerful offensive mages, the instructors released a second large monster a minute after the first, seeing if the mage would be foolish enough to completely empty their mana pool to get an ‘impressive’ finish, forcing their team to scramble when the delayed second monster was revealed.

That was the second major difference between Cayden’s delves and this trial: the monsters. When Cayden delved around Avernon, Elise always carefully planned and researched each dungeon beforehand, alerting Cayden to the dungeon’s layout, the monsters therein, and those monsters’ weaknesses. Rarely was Cayden caught by surprise, and rarely was he forced to face a monster he didn’t have a counter for. With his [Taunt] and [Resistance], this usually resulted in him delving dungeons with hordes of smaller monsters rather than ones with a few more dangerous monsters.

The applicants, however, had no idea what they were going to face, and often at least one of the teammates’ skillset was rendered mostly useless by their opponents. Part of the test was seeing how they adapted to those less-than-ideal scenarios.

Cayden wasn’t sure how he would fare if he had had to take part in the trials. But after watching dozens of different matches, he was excited for the semester to start so he could experience his own battles and find out.

“Oh, is that your friend?” Elise asked as a new group walked onto the arena sands, and Cayden squinted.

“Oh, yeah, looks like him,” Cayden responded. “WOOOOO!!! GO JEREMY!” Cayden screamed. He had no real investment with his acquaintance, and he wouldn’t be torn up if the formine wasn’t accepted to the academy, but it was fun to have someone he knew to cheer for.

Like all the other applicants, Jeremy was on a team of five: a troll wielding a mace and massive tower shield, an elfin guy holding a staff, an air elemental with a bow and arrows, and a humanoid whose race Cayden couldn’t identify wielding a sword in each hand. And of course Jeremy, with his singular sword.

They seemed confident as they stepped to the center of the arena, none of them talking nor responding to the cheers of the crowd. And a moment later, a gate on the far side dramatically opened, revealing their opponent.

“Ooh, a cave troll, that’s a tough one,” Elise said from next to him. Cayden was too busy cheering with the rest of the audience to respond, but internally he agreed.

It was somewhat strange seeing an applicant with the ‘troll’ race fighting an actual monster troll, but if it bothered any of the five adventurers, they didn’t let it show. The troll-adventurer stepped forward and banged the handle of his mace against his shield to grab the cave troll’s attention, while the rest of his team spread out and around with the elf and air elemental staying in the back.

What followed was the most one-sided battle of the day.

The five adventurers didn’t look like a team that had only met each other that morning; they moved in perfect sync, harrying the cave troll from all sides. The troll-adventurer took the majority of the cave troll’s attention, but whenever he stumbled or took a particularly hard hit, one of his teammates would immediately step in to grab the monster’s attention while he got back on his feet. The elf and air elemental consistently cast offensive spells and shot arrows over their teammates’ heads, never drawing more attention than they could handle, but never missing the opportunity to inflict another small wound when the monster was distracted. And despite the cave troll’s ridiculous regeneration, those wounds added up, eating away at whatever resource fueled the troll’s healing factor.

The five applicants fought as if they had been adventuring together for years, and their coordination paid dividends. Eventually, the cave troll dropped to the sand, dead.

It was seriously impressive, though the majority of the audience was less than enthused by the ‘boring’ showing. None of the teammates particularly stood out above their allies, but they each played their individual parts to perfection, defeating the monster without ever being in serious danger.

Cayden didn’t know if Jeremy had an impressive enough showing to be admitted to the academy, but he had to assume that their display in the arena would earn him at least some points, despite him not showing any skills that were showy or fight-altering.

The five temporary teammates stared for a moment at their downed opponent in silence, before they all blinked and then turned to the crowd, waving and smiling at the cheering fans as an instructor directed them out of the arena. Cayden clapped and hollered with the rest of the crowd as the monster corpse was pulled from the arena in preparation for the next match.

“That’s an interesting skill your friend has. Or maybe suite of skills?” Elise said as she stared at the arena with a look of intense focus.

Cayden glanced at his friend. “What do you mean?”

“Look at him,” Elise replied, and Cayden followed her pointing finger, noticing that, despite the relative ease of their battle, Jeremy lagged behind his group and looked significantly more exhausted than his compatriots. “He’s obviously in some sort of backlash from a skill. And did you see the way they all moved? My guess is that…”

Her voice trailed off as another commotion started on the edge of the arena.

Taking advantage of the lack of shields between the stands and the arena between matches, a crowd member had lept onto the sands and was sprinting to the center. And then a moment later, the kobold’s voice was amplified as he yelled out across the stands.

“Down with the guilds! They take your money, your food, even your li–UGH.”

Just as suddenly as he had dashed onto the field, an armed man appeared in front of him, ramming the kobold in the stomach with the hilt of his sword. The kobold collapsed to the sand and was dragged out of the arena by what Cayden assumed passed as security for the event. He looked to be trying to yell something as he was dragged away, but whatever magic had amplified his voice was now gone, and his words were drowned out by the jeers of the crowd.

“What was that about? The guilds?” Cayden asked.

“I’m not sure,” Elise replied with a shrug. “Sounds like it might be politics. Not something I’ve kept up with.”

That was a perfectly reasonable response in Cayden’s book. Despite his admittance to an academy that catered to nobility, he was planning on staying as far away from politics as possible.

Although…now that he was in an ‘alliance’ with the princess, it was entirely possible that politics would come for him, whether he wanted it to or not.

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