Chapter Text
The next 2 and a half weeks fell into a pattern of jogging, monster fighting, and the occasional hunkering down in his fortress to wait out a manastorm. With Torric’s new loot power they were even able to pick up some better gear. And his treasure sense had netted them some even more amazing things. Not just weapons and armor, but Skill books, caches of astral coins, and all kinds of wondrous items.
Torric gave all the coin caches to the royal guards that had traveled with them. When he got money through his powers it was all in GS, making normal astral coins significantly less valuable. Better to make nice with the people who were risking their lives for him and had, as he learned, were actually relocating to Avalon with them to act as Liam’s guards since he was royalty, albeit foreign royalty, and not one in contention for the throne.
Liam's parents were more than happy to have a way to remove one block in a potential future succession crisis, especially since Liam’s status of a Luminari’s lumin was far superior than royalty. Still, his parents wanted people on Avalon to have a visual reminder of the support that they could levy.
Even though the Sol’feyran empire was only 3 planets strong, their military might was far greater than such a small empire traditionally could produce, and they also supplied food for a good chunk of the nearby multiverse. No one wanted to risk offending her imperial majesty and get their food supply cut off.
They camped out outside of the dungeon scenario that was to be their entry trial to the Academy. They’d all three grinded some serious levels on the trip. Lily was already a third of the way into her grade and had entered the first bottleneck that came with the grind from C to B. Liam too had hit the 2nd bottleneck that came at 600. The last 300 levels from C to B were particularly brutal.
Torric got to cheat most of that thanks to his mother shoving 46 planets into his soul. Not only had he immediately jumped to being in the late 1900s of C grade, but he gained 2 levels a day just by existing as he absorbed more of the world energy in his soul. Add that to the experience gained from the assassination attempt on Torric by Praetoria’s gods and absorbing their soul shards and what should have taken centuries to achieve happened in a matter of months.
Lily and Liam had also benefitted from his rapid ascension, being dragged into C grade with him.
Now that they had reached their goal the three sat down with Senshia, Katseya, and Meinorn to spent their free points and initiate the many Skill upgrades they had earned. In Torric’s case he also had mountains of Devotion and Skill points to spend. Plus he had reached the level threshold to upgrade to sub Iron, which came with its own bonuses. Like the ability to make a divinity shard.
Senshia had spent every night the last two weeks drilling the knowledge of how to do it into his head. And all three of the adults, Torric didn’t remotely count as a true adult yet by multiversal standards, none of the 3 of them did, had helped him decide which patterns to use to make his new Divinity Shard. He would also be able to incorporate the shard that Senshia had given him. If he was lucky one of the shards would allow him to develop a new Divine Power or Blessing.
The chances of such an occurrence from just two shards was unlikely, typically. But the more shards you had the more likely it became, and the more shards absorbed at each rank up also boosted the likelihood of getting a Power or Blessing. By the time he hit A he would be getting multiple Powers and Blessings at each sun grade rank up.
They wanted to take the time to get every stat and Skill as high as possible before entering the trial. Luckily Torric’s sub grade rank up wouldn't take days to complete like his grade rank up. He’d even had enough time to sit down to meditate after to incorporate his gains.
Then, suddenly he had found hours had passed and day was upon them and they were having breakfast before gearing up to enter the trial.
“Remember, it will seem like you are in there for weeks, and for you it will be, as you are entering a time dilated astral space. In the real world only an hour will pass for each day you are inside. You can leave at any point, but that means you failed the trial. And if you die in the trial you’ll just be dumped in Avalon, whole, healthy, and a failure.” Senshia said as they prepared. “There are plenty of other similar schools with far less stringent entry standards.”
Torric nodded. “We can do this.” He vowed, then stepped through the portal.
-*-
“I cannot do this.” He announced, greying at the scenario that he had found himself in. They were in a webbed dungeon. No, not just any webbed dungeon. A perfect replica of the dungeon that haunted his nightmares. The dungeon where Meideon died.
“You knew this was a possibility. The trial is designed to test your mettle in the face of your greatest fear or weakness.” Liam tried to soothe him. “Do you truly want to give up before you began?”
Torric’s eyes drank in the yawning web filled chasm in front of him and then steeled himself. “No. But this time we aren’t speed running. We are killing every fucking spider that comes our way. And we’ll take a full day’s rest between each floor. We get double experience while in here and these spiders won't have been dragged up from below the 70th floor.”
“You are also much stronger than you were then.” Lily reminded him.
They did not use spells or Skills to keep them from sending vibrations down the web road path, not this time, though they did use ones to keep them from being slowed by the webs. It did not take long for the first scout spider to come. Liam killed it with ruthless efficiency.
“You’re right. These are easier.” He said, turning to Torric with a grin. “Let's experience farm.”
This was no mad dash of desperation, fighting foes far stronger than they were. Nor were they the far more dangerous monsters of the lattice they'd been fighting. They were fighting against creatures the same strength as them. The same strength but not the same skill or intelligence.
Lily, Torric, and Liam had spent 3 weeks total fighting their way through the lattice together. Maybe the first week they were carried, the monsters spoon fed to them, but by the end they were fighting without assistance, at least against smaller groups or single monsters.
This time it was a scene of absolute carnage. They developed a system where when it was only one or two spiders Liam would handle them alone with Lily supplementing with heals and spells as needed. As a shaman she was a proper caster, and not just a Magic Skill user like Liam and Torric.
When they had 3 to 5 monsters Torric would assist when needed. But it was towards the end, when the spiders came in swarms did Torric’s new abilities shine through. A terror of shredding claws moving at impossible speeds, whipping magical chains around and dealing massive amounts of retribution damage and liberal use of his new suppression abilities.
Ripping into spider after spider with his bare hands was satisfying in ways he couldn’t really describe. It was like he was getting to face his own nightmare in real time, but this time he could fight back. He was the strong one. He didn’t run in fear worrying he was going to die. Instead he could exorcise his demons on magical constructs.
They took on the boss as a team, with Torric maximising his suppression abilities. He took the roll that Senshia had filled when they fought the real version of this boss, weaving a path of absolute carnage through the adds while Liam tanked the boss. Lily supported him with offensive magic, throwing out heals to both of them when needed.
When the boss went down it left all three of them with a rush of adrenaline, pride and endorphins. Torric pulled Liam to him, wrapping his arm around his waist and kissing him, really kissing him, for the first time since Meidron had died. He’d not been able to touch Liam most of the time, except at night when he had clung to him the entire time they slept.
When he broke the kiss Liam searched his face. “There’s the kitten I remember.” He said with a soft smile. “Welcome back.”
“I’m not. Not all the way. But this is helping. More than I thought it would.”
“Me too. I’m not going to lie, when we got here part of me wished you did turn around to give up. This place has no good memories for either of us.”
“Sometimes fighting the literal manifestations of your fears can be freeing.” Lily said, then paused before adding, “But sometimes it makes the trauma worse. I am glad it is the first, and not the second.”
They trooped down to the next floor, setting up a temporary camp in the antechamber at the entrance. Lily used an alarm spell, several, actually, so that if a spider did try to come in while they rested they would be alerted. They all slept in their armor, weapons next to their bed, just in case.
Before sleeping though they were able to get clean courtesy of one of Lily’s spells. It was quite refreshing to go from being covered in sweat and blood and viscera to fresh as if he had just bathed in an instant. And it meant he didn’t have to clean his armor after, if he wore it when she used the spell.
Lily cooked with Liam’s assistance, which was slowly but surely improving. The atmosphere was relaxed, jovial almost, like they were actually on an adventure the way adventurers did. This was the life Torric had wished he could have, not the terrifying rush of death and danger it had become after being uncursed.
When they woke up 5 hours later, fully refreshed thanks to the enchantments on the beds, they set out once again, using the same tactics as before. Floors that that they had charged desperately through before they walked confidently through now, deliberately clearing as many spiders as they could as thy went. Floors crossed in 5 hours were now taking 15.
They took injuries, Torric a lot because that was what his build was built around, but nothing was overwhelming and none of them felt like they were about to die any minute from the difficulty.
When they got to the final boss of the scenario Torric could immediately sense the ambush waiting in one corner of the room. His more enhanced senses easily pierced the ‘divine’ shield that had hidden them in the real version of this fight.
He quickly devised a new plan. Lily used a spell to put the boss to sleep, and at the same instance Torric was going to teleport into the middle of the group of ambushers to begin laying waste to them.
He started with the man who killed Meidron, slashing open his throat with an Abyssal Rake followed by Broken Moon Execution, killing him in 2 blows and immediately looting his body. The cursed dagger the fake killer had depositing into his inventory and thus keeping anyone from picking it up off of the dead man to use against him.
This fight went dramatically differently than the original. Rather than fresh off a boss fight they were fresh from a 5 hour rest and a hearty meal. And in Liam and Torric’s cases, with hearts full of murderous hatred. They slaughtered the effigies of the men and women who killed their beloved, mercilessly cutting down each one.
After they demolished the ambush Lily healed all their injuries and refreshed their stamina then drank a mana potion to refresh her mana pool. Only then did they trigger the boss, taking her down with the same clean efficiency as they had everyone else. When they looted the Champion’s Chest the dungeon dissolved and they suddenly found themselves in a large office facing Katseya, Meinorn, Senshia, a strange but serious looking human man and a devastatingly gorgeous fae woman with long black hair and vividly violet eyes.
Morrigan the Archfey. Queen of Avalon and the founder of the university.
“That was very well done, you three.” The queen praised them. “Few would face their fears while the wounds of the death of your third were so fresh upon your soul. I did not set the subject of your trial, the trial sets it for you. When we saw what you were to face we expected you to leave immediately. We did not expect you to grind experience.” She added the last wryly.
“I wasn't sure I’d make it when we first started, your majesty. Not that we couldn’t do it physically, but because my will would give out. But instead of it hurting more the deeper we went the more… healing? it was. Especially that final fight.”
“I’m glad you found the experience transforming rather than traumatizing. Now, I am, as you deduced, her majesty Morrigan the Archfey. With me is Prince Arthur Pendragon. He too came to me from another world. Sadly it destroyed itself before he could return to it, so he remains in Avalon forever more. His current hobby is running my school. He’ll be discussing enrollment and the like with you in a few moments. First we must deal with politics.”
She smiled at him, and Torric realized her canines were slightly pointier than normal teeth, but not as much as a beastkin.
“You are one of the Luminari, and one who has arrived rather explosively upon the political stage, especially for one so young. As your mother’s son you will be afforded the same respect and courtesies of visiting royalty. Upper tier royalty. Your lumin would traditionally be considered mid tier royalty, but due to his association with you has also been upgraded to upper tier.”
“There is no slavery in Avalon, but you have a good deal of popularity among the indentured servants and common folk here. A shrine has been set up for you within the Temple of Bahumet and offerings have been collected and stored for you since it was announced that you were visiting with the eye to staying. I highly recommend you stop by, and make it a habit of going there regularly when classes aren’t in session.”
“I am glad to hear there is no slavery here, your majesty. Though I must confess I am not entirely sure what an indentured servant is.” Torric replied. “I will be delighted to visit my mother’s temple.”
“I’ll explain indentured servitude later.” Liam promised quietly.
“As queen I have absolute authority over this realm, though I have several princes and princesses to help handle affairs, they make up my Royal Council. You’ll be introduced to the rest over time. Some of them are my biological children and others are not, like Arthur here. Below the royal household I have my nobility, which is sorted by tiers. Tier 1 is the highest rank of nobility, whereas Tier 5 is the lowest. All rankers are automatically at a minimum a Tier 5 depending on their grade, level, and ability. The higher your grade and level the higher your Tier. Your other lumin is not of noble, royal or divine blood, to my understanding.”
“No, your majesty. I am as common as mud on my world. Or as common as a ranker can be.” Lily replied honestly.
“You are C now?”
Lily coughed. “Um. So I have a Skill that lets me and my party double our experience gains as long as we are lower in level than the highest level person in our party. And that stacked with the double experience that is naturally part of the trial, so Liam and I were getting four times the experience per skill.”
“What Lily is trying to say is that one dungeon scenario pushed us all the way to our B grade evolution.” Liam explained succinctly.
“And my double experience put me up to sub Diamond but I haven’t done any of my rank ups yet, so I'm technically still sub Iron.” Torric added.
“Well, that is most unexpected. And impressive.” Morrigan replied, a twinkle in her eye. “Most Skills that increase experience gains can’t stack with other increases.”
“It was a Legendary Skill that I was granted when his eminence was reforging me into his lumin.” She replied meekly, ducking her head with a flush to her cheeks.”
“Well then as a B grade I shall make you a Tier 3 noble. As visiting royalty his eminence and his highness are automatically Tier 1. Upper Tier 1 at that. You’ll be a mid Tier 3.”
“Thank you, your majesty. That is most kind.” Lily replied, ducking her head again.
“Avalon is a jewel of many facets, your eminence,” Morrigan continued. “One wrong tilt, and it glitters too brightly in one direction, blinding all others. You are a new facet now. My nobles whisper, my priests shuffle their offerings, my servants already chant your name in back streets. The commons adore you, but the Houses will expect you to bow to tradition. The Academy will test you, and your mother’s temple will bind you to expectation as much as it uplifts you. Every kindness you give, every chain you break, every word you speak here will be remembered as politics, not merely sentiment.
There will be people here who will move against you, who will try to ally with you, who will try to marry you or get a child off of you. Because of the very high magic levels here on Avalon we have a very large population of outworlders who have grown too powerful to survive on their homeworlds who have immigrated here. We therefore respect all beliefs and walks of life here.
While open murder in the streets is frowned upon, duels to the death are perfectly permissible.
Avalon is not an island, no matter how it pretends. The Courts of the Fae, the Demon Principalities, and the Astral Empires all keep embassies here. Some will treat you as a prize to be courted. Others will see you as a weapon to be stolen.
In Avalon, like many other System worlds we ascribe to the Tyranny of Rank. I know Praetoria followed that path, though I am unsure if you know of the phrase.”
“Tyranny of Rank means might makes right. If I want to fuck with you within the boundaries of the laws of the world you’re on I can as long as I’m of higher grade than you, or otherwise somehow more powerful.” Torric answered.
“Correct. The only real law that the high grades have to follow is to not run around wantonly killing outside of official state sanctioned duels. Naturally the common folk and lesser Tiered nobility have more stringent rules. A a sub Diamond B you’ll have a latitude, and as a Luminari you’ll have even more, but this is not Solstheen or Praetoria. There are many fish bigger than you in this ocean and all of them would love to do nothing more than take a bite out of an unwary first lifer if given a chance. Just because you may have Rank over someone else they may very well be connected to someone greater than you and I will not interfere with lawful acts of retribution.”
“I understand your majesty. I’m pretty sure Senshia here is going to be my own bigger stick against high rankers.”
“Yes.” Senshia replied simply, taking a sip from her flask.
“That is the lay of Avalon’s land. Are you prepared to walk it?”
“Yes your majesty.”
“Grand. I have a kingdom to run, but we’ll be hosting a reception for you, her eminence, and your luminature in the coming days. My secretary will send the details along when they’ve been finalized.”
Morrigan rose, as did everyone else in the room as a matter of respect. They resumed their seats once she vanished through the use of some form of teleportation Skill or ability, leaving behind only the headmaster of the school.
“As her majesty said, I am Authur, the Dean of this Academy. Students come here from all over the multiverse, many of them scions from very powerful Houses, royal families, or are the descendants of gods and greater astral beings. As such we have a rule here. Your noble status gets left at the gates of the academy. On school grounds you are merely just another student. You are not his eminence, you are not a god. You are Celivor Vethari. And you are not his highness Liamarillus Veythari, prince of Solstheen.
You will not get special treatment by the staff and if you try to throw your rank around on campus then you’ll find yourself swiftly tossed out on your ear. The only thing that matters in this school are your rankings.
Everything you do increases or decreases your rank. Every failed test or exceptional exam. Every merit or demerit earned, every boss you kill, every duel you win or lose, all of them affect your rankings. Right now you’re on the low end of the middle of the rankings just because of your grades. As you progress within the school your ranking will go up or down. Every weekend we send out the new school rankings. Every 6 months we finalize rankings for the period. That is when you’ll get upgrades or downgrades depending on where your rank is.
Everyone on campus is between C and middle A. Once you hit middle A you graduate, no matter how long you’ve been here. Do not mistake the Academy for merely a school. It is my forge. I temper heirs, outworlders, and gods’ brats alike in its halls. Those who graduate become the web that binds Avalon’s power together. Fail here, and your legend dims no matter what else you accomplish.”
“If refusal of status is our number one rule, our second is that combat is not forbidden, but it is regulated. Duels are allowed, sanctioned, and even encouraged when properly declared. Ambushes, assassinations, and sabotage outside the dueling arenas are punishable by anything from demerits and punishment details to immediate expulsion… and in some cases, execution. If you want to settle a grudge, you do it where the rules demand. Are we clear?”
“Yes your highness.”
“I’m the dean here, you’ll call me Dean or Ser Pendragon. Do you understand?”
“Yes ser.”
“Third, all students contribute to Avalon. Your time here is not just study and battle. You will serve in public works, research projects, at clinics, or defense patrols of the capital. You will learn what it means to use your strength for others, or you will find yourself without the Academy’s protection when you leave these halls.”
“Fourth, knowledge is treated as sacred. Plagiarism, spell-theft, or sabotaging another’s research is a crime here as grave as striking a teacher. Knowledge is shared or earned, never stolen. Break that rule, and you will wish for exile.”
And last: the Academy itself tests you. The halls shift, the wards listen, and the old magics do not tolerate arrogance. Do not abuse the sanctuary of this place. Do not bring divine wars, extra dimensional threats, or parasitic bindings within its boundaries.”
Arthur let his gaze sweep across the group, settling for a moment on Torric. “You are strong already, far stronger than most who walk in as first-years. But strength is not enough. The Academy will strip you down to see what remains underneath. If you endure, you will emerge tempered. If you fail, you will not die, probably, but you may wish you had.”
“There are student clubs of many varieties, it is expected that our students join at least one, or one of the sports teams if not both. You’ll also need a party of at least four before you are allowed to dungeon delve, so you might want to get on that sooner rather than later. You are also welcome to join any of the guilds in the city. I’m sure they would be happy to take someone of your stature if you choose to go that route.”
“Two more things before you begin thinking this is all rules and no freedom.”
“First: Rankings are public. Every student, every teacher, every noble House with eyes on this Academy can read your placement on the lists. If you think to coast or to hide, understand you will be shamed in front of thousands. Conversely, climb high, and your name echoes across Avalon. Recognition comes with glory, but also with expectation, rivals, and enemies.”
“Second: infractions are also public. Duel too violently, abuse your power, cheat an exam, your peers will know. Reputation here is half the forge. You are not just honing strength, you are being hammered into a symbol. Decide what you want that symbol to be before someone else decides it for you.”
He gave the faintest smile, though it didn’t soften the steel in his eyes. “Clubs and guilds are where the real politics live. Sports teams build rivalries, societies hoard resources, research groups trade secrets for loyalty. Some will offer you camaraderie. Some will try to bind you in subtle chains. Choose carefully. Or don’t, failure to choose is also a choice.”
He let the silence stretch, the weight of Avalon’s system pressing in.
“Finally: the Academy remembers. The walls shift not by chance but by judgment. Fail too many times, treat knowledge as a toy, or insult the balance of Avalon and the Academy itself will close doors before you, sometimes literally. I have seen halls refuse to open for students unworthy of them. I have seen the library devour thieves. This place is alive, and it will know you. Respect it, or it will break you.”
Arthur’s gaze lingered on each of them in turn, settling again on Torric. “You are strong, yes. But here you are just another ember. The question is whether you blaze, or whether you’re snuffed out before your flame matters.”
“When it comes to classes you will be required to take one combat class, our basic dungeon diving class, and one utility or support class, minimum. Which classes are up to you, but once you join one you can’t drop it until the half year rerank. You can choose to take more classes than the minimum three but you cannot take less. Until you get to know the lay of the land I recommend you stick with three, four max.”
“I’m going to assume that you’ll want to do the dungeon class together, but what about the rest?”
“We all have healing abilities of some kind.” Torric said slowly. “I think we should join a healing class as our support class, and then we can split up for combat because we all fight really differently.”
“That is a sound plan. Liam you are a paladin who uses a sword and shield, so we can put you in our introductory martial melee class. And as you just entered the school all of you are going into the basic entry versions of your classes no matter what your starting skill level is. Part of that is so that we can get a solid idea of what you can do and thus where we can place you when the rankings change.”
“Lily, you are a caster, so you should go into our basic combat magic class. And as for you, Torric,”
“I’d like to do unarmed combat and aerial combat.” He interrupted Arthur. “I can handle 4 classes easily and I have very, very little aerial combat experience. If I have to pick between the two then I want aerial over unarmed combat.”
“We can make that happen. I’ll sign you up for all four classes, and your classes as well, Lily, Liam. If you take this list to the library you can pick up your required text books, and this form will get you your school uniforms. They must be worn to all classes, minus your combat classes where you’ll be in your armor. When you’re on your off time you can wear your regular clothes, and lastly this form will get you the necessary supplies for your classes, minus weapons, armor, or consumable items. Those you have to supply yourself.”
“You actually came in good time because the new semester starts in five days. You’ll have plenty of time to do your rank ups and explore a bit before classes begin. Plenty of other students have already arrived and will be arriving daily. The school cafeteria is not yet open for the school, so you’re on your own for food until the school term starts.”
“And before you bring it up, I am aware of your special dietary needs. You are not our only Luminari student. There is a separate building with small private kitchens for our Luminari students so that their food doesn’t get mixed up with anyone else’s. All the cooking supplies and implements are there and ready for you, you must supply the ingredients. And each kitchen is assigned to a single Luminari. There are five active kitchens right now, including yours.”
“If I were you, I’d split up to pick up your supplies then meet back at your dorm room. The campus gates will be closing soon, so if you leave you won’t be able to get back in until morning. And once school is in session there is a curfew of 10pm. If you aren’t back on school grounds before the gates close you’re not only locked out until morning but you will receive a demerit. We have six days of classes followed by three days of rest where your free time is entirely your own. Your schedules will vary by class, but classes in general start at 8 and end by 4. Between 4 and 10 your time is your own. This is your dorm assignment, you’ll all be sharing a room. Do you have any questions?”
Torric, Liam, and Lily shook their heads. “Good, then get going.”
“Torric, get your things in order then meet us at the guest quarters for the school and we will have a meal together before you all start your rank ups.” Senshia cut in before they could leave.
“Yes ma’am.” He replied. “But I want a bath first. A real one and not a cleansing spell.”
“That’s fine.”
They decided to go with the dean’s suggestion of splitting up to get their things then meet at their new dorm. Lily would go get their uniforms while Liam went to get their school supplies and Torric went to the library to collect all three of their classbooks.
Torric was halfway to the dorm room after accomplishing his errand when his psychic bond with Lily grew increasingly more agitated and she began silently calling him for help. He immediately used his Skill Shadow Step to reach her immediately. Technically the Skill was line of sight, but with his Celestial Predator’s Domain he could see everything in the city at will if he chose, normally he kept his senses to just everything within one mile of him that wasn’t actively warded against spying.
He found Lily with her back against a wall, three male students crowded around her, pinning her there with their auras.
“Come on, a cute new student like you, a C rank at that, you definitely can’t be walking around without a protector. You can be my woman and I’ll make sure no one touches you.”
“I’m sorry to say that position is filled.” Torric said coldly from behind them.
“Lily, come here.” In a flash of light she oozed between the three men who had pinned her and reappeared at his side.
“And who the fuck are you?” The man who’d been trying to make Lily ‘his’ snapped. “I don’t remember giving you permission to speak to me.”
“I don’t need your permission to speak to you when you are harassing my lumin.” He shot back.
The three strangers studied him, and he could feel their blatant Appraisal use upon him.
“B sub Iron, big deal.” The leader of the three scoffed. “I’m B sub Mithril. Give her to me and I’ll walk away. Tyranny of Rank and all that.”
“You would have to kill me first.” Torric answered coldly. “She is my lumin. Do you understand what that means?”
“She’s the servant of a Luminari. Big deal. Your status doesn’t mean shit here. You can find a new servant.”
“She has been imbued with a piece of my soul. You will not touch her.”
The stranger sighed heavily. “New students are the worst. They never understand the rules. I’m a higher rank so you give her to me. That simple. Or I duel you and then I take her and you lose face in front of the entire school before the term even starts.”
“Then we duel. Tomorrow. We are expected at a dinner with her eminence Senshia shortly. Unless you intend to have her come looking for us, wondering why we had been delayed? She’s my guardian. An S rank. She would be more than happy to step in then. Tyranny of Rank and all.”
“Tomorrow. Noon in the main arena. I won’t kill you, mostly because I don’t want the hassle of having a pissed off S ranker coming after me in revenge. It’ll be to surrender or unconsciousness. You lose I get the girl.”
“And if I win?”
The stranger snorted. “Not going to happen, chump. But if you do win then I’ll hand over one of my women.”
“Not interested.”
“Then what are you interested in then?”
“I win and I get to pick a Skill book from your family vaults for myself and my two lumin. Any Skill book.”
“Any skill book up to Epic rarity. I’m not giving over Legendaries or Mythics for some bitch, no matter how cute she is.”
“Deal.”
The stranger’s eyes trailed over Lily’s body as if mentally undressing her inch by inch. “Tomorrow you’ll be mine, little bitch. And you’ll regret not coming to heel when I first offered.”
Torric put a possessive arm around her waist, pulling her against him. “I’m going to gouge out your eyes tomorrow.” He promised the stranger. “Hopefully you have access to a healer who can replace them when they’re gone.”
“Tch.” The strange man sucked his teeth then spat on Torric’s boot. “We’ll see who needs healing tomorrow, little baby B.”
The three turned and walked away. Torric didn’t move until they turned the corner around a hallway and were out of sight.
“Can you really beat a Mithril?” Lily asked quietly. “You’re only a diamond.”
“I’m a diamond with Divine Shards and 15 Legends. I’ll be fine. You know I just realized I never asked his name. And he never got mine. I wonder who I’m going to blind tomorrow.”
They left for the dorm together, Torric’s hand possessively curled around Lily’s, and taking a different direction than the other three had left in.
His dorm room was significantly smaller than anywhere he’d stayed so far. It was made up of two bedrooms, and a small lounge between them for entertaining guests. One of the bedrooms was much smaller than the other and clearly was meant to house a servant rather than another student.
They explained to Liam what had happened while they unpacked in the main bedroom. Lily might not be his lover in the way Liam was but she was still part of his luminature. Her joining them was a given and had been ever since he had remade her with his power. There was no bathroom in the bedroom, but there were gender restricted bathrooms at either end of the hall.
He disappeared into the men’s bath with Liam while Lily headed over to the women’s. The bath was empty for the moment, and consisted of a changing area, a split off area where there were small basins to wash at, then one large soaking pool already full of steaming hot water. There were enchantments on the water that constantly purified it and had a minor regenerative effect.
They washed off in the basins getting handsier with each other than they had since Meidron died. “I want to fuck you tonight.” Torric whispered in his ear after breaking their heated kiss. “Delay your Evolution for me for a few hours? Pretty please?”
“No need to beg. I’d love to make love to you. It’s been so long that I feel like I will explode.”
“If only Senshia weren’t waiting for us, I’d fuck you now.”
“Later.” Liam promised hotly, nipping at Torric’s lower lip.
“Have I been neglecting you?” Torric asked gently, cupping his face.
“No. You’ve been grieving, and so have I. And we have been surrounded by other people fighting our way through the lattice so it isn’t exactly like we had a lot of privacy.”
“Fair. Let’s dry off and get dressed. I’m sure Lily is already waiting for us.”
She was, in fact, waiting for them when they arrived to collect her. When they reached the guest building that Senshia was staying in they explained to her and Meidron’s parents what had occurred with the unknown upper classman. Senshia was outraged that someone was attempting to steal Lily from him, and would have been immediately breaking in Arthur’s door to put a stop to the duel and censure the mystery student if she wasn’t absolutely convinced that Liam was going to beat the shit out of the man the following day.
Sure he was only a presumptive sub Diamond, but with his 9 Divine shards that made him the equivalent of a sub Celestial. And he’d be making more Divine shards tonight as he ranked up to Diamond. His stats would also be significantly higher for his supposed rank thanks to all his Devotion points.
They shared a nice meal together, the 6 of them, then Liam and Katseya escorted Lily to one of the campus Evolution chambers so that she could safely cross the threshold into B grade without anyone interfering. No one wanted to let her make the trek alone after what had already happened.
While the other two were with Lily, Torric sat down with Senshia and Meinorn to begin creating the patterns for the first two of many Divine shards. Going from Iron to Steel meant he would be able to make and incorporate 2 Divine shards instead of one like he had when he went from Bronze to Iron.
When he went to Silver he'd be able to make 4, then 8 at Gold and 16 at Diamond. He had decent odds of getting at least a half dozen new Divine Skills or Blessings doing 4 subgrades of ranking up in a row. And adding 20 new Divine Shards to the 9 he already had would shoot his power through the roof. Plus he had a ton of Skill Points and Free Points to spend after gaining almost 400 levels in a mere 5 days.
Katseya and Liam rejoined them as he finished making his second shard. Both were combinations of Life and Healing. Once he was ready he began the process of ranking up from Iron to Steel.
Neither shard gave him a divine power, but he hadn’t really expected it to. He had like a 2% chance of getting one, so not great odds. While he still had the patterns of Life and Healing fresh in his mind he began studying Meinorn’s pure Shard of Crafting. He made four Shards using that combination of three Domains. The odds were slightly better to get a power at a whopping 6% per shard, which made getting any powers at all pretty unlikely as well.
Thus when he got the notification that he had gained not one but two Crafting Domain abilities he was absolutely shocked, and so was everyone else. He’d been trying to get something related to alchemy or potion making, but what he’d gotten instead was better, way better.
Breath of the Builder – Your breath sanctifies stone and steel, turning raw matter into sacred resource.
- Living Matter (Passive): Wood sprouts green, stone softens into moldable clay, metal purifies of all dross when breathed upon.
- Healing Aura: Any material infused this way radiates low-level regeneration for those who touch it.
- Sanctified Works: Structures built from these materials resist corruption, erosion, and age.
- Limitation: Each infusion drains divine essence in the form of Devotion and cannot be undone once invoked. Excessive use risks overgrowth or unstable materials.
Soulforge Genesis – A forge not of fire, but of soul.
- Living Enchantment (Passive): Weapons, armor, or tools you forge inherit semi-living qualities: blades thirst for battle, shields mend themselves, garments resist decay.
- Life-Infusion: Each crafted object pulses with healing light, restoring vitality to allies who wield or wear them.
- Permanent Blessing: Creations last indefinitely, unlike temporary boons.
- Limitation: Every forging consumes a permanent sliver of your divine power in the form of Devotion, with the power sacrificed being equal to the power of the item forged.
He showed off his new abilities to the other four then quickly set about creating more Life-Healing-Crafting Shards, eager to see what else he could create. Out of the 8 he made, 3 resulted in new powers as well, one more Crafting ability and 2 Healing abilities.
Finally it came time to make the 16 shards for his final rank up. This time he studied Senshia’s pure Shard of Oblivion. He made a dozen shards of various combinations of War, Death, and Oblivion, using combinations of 2 of the 3 patterns, and then a few that combined all three. When he finished with his last Shard he opened his eyes to find that Senshia, Katseya, and Meinorn had all made him a Shard each, and then worked together to create a 4th Shard from all three of them, bringing his total number of Shards to absorb up to 20. The number of shards he already had, plus what he was about to absorb brought his chance up to getting new powers at 56% per shard. Hopefully he would get a bunch of Powers and Blessings out of the massive batch.
His hopes more than came true when he got a whopping 11 Powers and 2 Blessings. He showed off his new Status to the four others with him after spending all his points, letting them all marvel at his new upgrades. With the number of shards he had it made his effective grade SS sub Silver, rather than a B sub Diamond like his actual grade. That plus his ridiculously high Attributes thanks to his mountain of accumulated Devotion points since reaching B grade had just guaranteed that his duel tomorrow would swing in his favor.
After he finished ranking up to Diamond he and Liam disappeared back to their dorm room. They stripped quickly, climbing into bed together. Torric embraced his lover, tenderly kissing him, stroking his face, his body. Exploring it with the tentative tenderness as if he were discovering Liam’s body for the first time.
He didn’t even know he had started to cry until Liam pulled his face up and began wiping away his tears.
I can’t do it.” He sobbed. “I thought I was ready Liam. I’m so sorry. Being with you feels like I’m betraying him. His memory. It doesn’t feel like I should be allowed to be happy for even a moment while he is gone. I know he’ll be reborn, maybe has even been reborn now, but it still feels like a betrayal.”
Liam hugged Torric’s head to his chest, stroking his hair as he cried. “It’s okay, kitten.” He replied softly, using Senshia’s nickname for him over Meidron’s ‘little star’. “You don’t have to be ready. It hasn’t even been a full month in real time since he died. Take all the time you need. I’m not going anywhere.”
Torric’s tears bled into Liam’s skin, and the steady thrum of his heart beneath Torric’s ear was an anchor against the storm of grief and loss inside him. Every part of him yearned for this closeness, yet every kiss felt like stealing something from the dead.
“He was my brother in arms, and my lover, too,” Liam whispered, thumb brushing the wetness from Torric’s cheek. “I miss him every day. Being with you doesn’t erase him. It honors him. Because he loved you, and he’d want you to live, not wither in his shadow.”
Torric shook his head, clutching at Liam’s waist. “I don’t know how to stop feeling guilty.”
“Then don’t stop,” Liam murmured. “Carry the guilt. Carry him. But let me carry you too.”
Torric laid in his arms, crying, until he could no longer maintain the ragged emotions and he fell asleep. The normal nightmares did not come. Not this time. He didn’t dream of Meidron’s death, didn’t hear Meidron’s voice blaming him for what happened.
This time as he slept it almost felt like Meidron was there with him, holding him in bed and whispering how much he loved him and to stop being an idiot.