Chapter 20: The Scholar's Respite
The massive, ancient stone of the ruined ziggurat violently vibrated beneath our boots.
A deep, mechanical groaning aggressively echoed through the entire Bloodwood, completely drowning out the distant, agonizing screams of the remaining squads fighting in the mud.
"Ten seconds!" Rolf howled into the wind.
His yellow Beast-Aura violently flickered and snapped as he brutally swatted away a stray fireball hurtling from the burning tree line.
"Hold the stairs!"
"I am holding! I am holding!" Nyssa yelled frantically back at him.
Her slender hands were visibly shaking as she desperately maintained a fragile, shimmering emerald shield over our exposed flank.
I was on my hands and knees in the freezing mud.
My ears were still aggressively ringing with a high, agonizing pitch from the Elven siege spell detonating so closely.
My scrawny goblin muscles felt exactly like they had been mercilessly run through a heavy meat grinder.
Using The Sovereign's Conduit to forcefully swap between Aura and Magic twice in under a single minute had completely, utterly drained my F-Grade core.
Five... Four...
A massive, shadowy dire-wolf aggressively broke through the burning tree line.
Its jagged jaws slavered hungrily as it bounded rapidly up the steep stone steps, aiming directly toward Nyssa's unprotected blind spot.
Before I could even attempt to force my exhausted body to move, a blinding flash of silver flawlessly intercepted the beast.
Kaelith instantly materialized from the heavy gloom.
Her twin daggers sank flawlessly and deeply into the dire-wolf's thick neck.
She effortlessly used its own massive momentum to flip it completely over the jagged edge of the stone stairs, landing silently back on her feet.
The silver star-bracelet I had given her perfectly caught the bright glow of Nyssa's magical shield.
Three... Two... One.
The dark, stormy sky directly above the ziggurat violently tore open.
KRA-BOOM!
A blinding, deafening, highly pressurized pillar of pure, crystalline blue mana erupted aggressively from the exact center of the ancient ruins, shooting straight up into the heavy clouds.
The sheer atmospheric pressure of the Geyser rapidly expanding knocked all four of us flat on our backs into the mud.
A mechanical, disembodied voice boomed terrifyingly across the entire burning forest.
"THE BLOODWOOD GEYSER HAS BEEN SECURED. SQUAD GRIK QUALIFIES. INITIATING RECALL."
The blinding blue light aggressively swallowed us whole.
The suffocating smell of burning pine and fresh blood vanished instantly, entirely replaced by the sterile, ozone-heavy scent of the Academy's Grand Hall.
Gravity brutally slammed back into us.
I hit the polished obsidian floor of the massive hall with a wet, incredibly heavy thud, groaning loudly as every single abused nerve in my frail body vehemently protested the impact.
THUD.
All around us, the massive hall was entirely dead silent.
Professor Hilde and Arch-Lich Malacor stood imposingly on the elevated professors' dais, staring silently down at our ruined squad.
Dozens of highly ranked upperclassmen and eliminated, bleeding first-years heavily lined the towering stone balconies.
We looked like absolute, unmitigated hell.
Rolf's silver fur was singed a smoking black in large patches.
Nyssa's pristine academic uniform was completely covered in dark soot, her silver-rimmed glasses violently cracked directly down the left lens.
Kaelith was heavily drenched in acidic, black monster ichor. And I was covered entirely head-to-toe in thick mud, grey ash, and deep purple bruises.
"They... they actually held it," an arrogant Orc noble muttered quietly from the high balcony, his shocked voice carrying perfectly in the dead silence.
"The pathetic goblin squad actually took the absolute center."
I let my heavy head fall limply back against the cold obsidian floor, staring blindly up at the massive vaulted ceiling.
I took a deep, painfully rattling breath, the massive flood of combat adrenaline finally, aggressively crashing completely out of my system.
"You know," I rasped heavily, my weak voice echoing slightly in the massive, quiet hall.
I absolutely did not try to get up. I just lay there exactly like a discarded, broken ragdoll.
"The ancient, highly enlightened scholars of the mysterious East had a very profound, deeply philosophical saying specifically intended for moments exactly like this."
Rolf groaned miserably, rolling slowly over onto his back right next to me, clutching his bruised ribs tightly.
"Please... by the great Ancestors, tell me you are not going to give an academic lecture right now. I am literally bleeding from my sensitive ears."
"It is a very important, foundational philosophical tenet, Rolf," I continued smoothly, keeping my vocal delivery utterly deadpan and entirely serious as I stared blankly at the ceiling.
"They looked deeply upon the vast, terrifying, completely uncontrollable chaos of the universe, and they whispered... 'It is what it is.'"
For a long, highly tense second, absolutely nobody moved a muscle.
Then, Rolf let out a sudden, extremely loud, barking laugh that immediately, violently turned into a harsh coughing fit.
"It is what it is? That is your grand, ancient wisdom? We literally almost got totally vaporized by a Tier-3 Solar Lance!"
"According to the foundational laws of complex arcane thermodynamics," I wheezed pathetically, finally propping myself up weakly on one shaking elbow and aggressively wiping a thick layer of wet mud off my cheek, "we totally winged that entire encounter."
"We absolutely did not wing it!" Nyssa snapped loudly, though the fierce, highly indignant scowl painted on her beautiful face was completely, utterly ruined by the thick soot aggressively smudged entirely across her nose.
She scrambled rapidly over to my side, her glowing emerald eyes scanning my battered body frantically.
"That was a highly calculated, absolutely brilliant disruption of a Class-3 arcane lattice structure! You expertly utilized a localized mana-pulse to totally destabilize the enemy caster's core alignment!"
I looked at the brilliant High Hobgoblin, keeping my expression completely, totally deadpan.
"Nyssa, I violently slapped a guy in the spine and desperately prayed. That is not a complex lattice disruption. That is a literal felony."
Kaelith let out a sudden, highly unexpected sound that was dangerously close to a genuine, highly audible snort of amusement.
The deadly Shadow Knight walked purposefully over, completely ignoring the staring nobles, and effortlessly reached down to haul my dead weight completely to my feet.
Her grip was incredibly firm, expertly checking my physical balance before she carefully let go.
"Let the exhausted tactician actively speak his total nonsense, Nyssa," Kaelith said, her melodic voice significantly softer than it had been in weeks. "He definitely earned it."
Nyssa huffed loudly, crossing her arms defensively, but she absolutely could not hide the overwhelming, desperate relief shining in her emerald eyes.
"Your highly unstable mana pathways are currently behaving exactly like a wildly drunk tavern brawler. You absolutely should not even be conscious right now, Grik."
"My entire skeletal structure is currently holding a highly aggressive grievance meeting," I agreed entirely, leaning heavily and gratefully on Kaelith's sturdy shoulder.
Up on the elevated dais, Professor Hilde violently slammed the heavy iron butt of her spear directly against the stone floor, instantly silencing the lingering murmurs of the stunned crowd.
A slow, genuinely predatory, and highly approving smile stretched totally across her heavily scarred face.
"Squad Grik," Hilde announced, her voice booming with absolute, terrifying authority.
"First to aggressively secure the Geyser. First to officially qualify for the Main Tournament. Report immediately to the infirmary to have your severe burns treated.
You have undoubtedly earned your rest."
As we limped slowly together toward the heavy oak doors leading completely out of the Grand Hall, the System chimed loudly in my mind.
A warm, incredibly victorious golden glow entirely replaced the usual, highly aggressive red interface.
{
[QUALIFIERS SURVIVED. REWARDS CALCULATING...]
[Massive EXP gained.]
[Host Physical Status Update: Level 9 -> Level 10]
[CRITICAL SYSTEM ALERT]
>Host has successfully reached the primary physical threshold. The F-Grade core has completely, fully stabilized.
[Species Evolution: Stage 1] is now officially unlocked. Please locate a highly secure, isolated location to immediately initiate massive biological restructuring.
}
I stopped walking completely for a single, shocking fraction of a second, my breath hitching painfully in my throat. Level 10. The volatile seed was finally, aggressively ready to sprout.
"Are you okay?" Rolf asked cautiously, glancing worriedly down at me, his bright amber eyes incredibly concerned.
"Never better, Rolf," I said quietly.
A slow, highly genuine, and deeply dangerous smile aggressively spread completely across my bruised, muddy face.
I looked closely at the towering werewolf, then deeply at the brilliant mage, and finally at the incredibly deadly knight securely holding my arm.
We were a highly dysfunctional squad of rejected misfits and bizarre anomalies, and we had just aggressively, violently put the entire elite Academy completely on notice.