System Change

Thomas stepped forward with his team and waited for the other two teams to get into their respective positions. He looked around at his team members and was happy that Eric was selected alongside him. Eric was an elven earth mage who Thomas had been paired up with once before, and they worked well together that time. The elf wasn’t much of a talker, but when it came to battle, he was great.

The other three members were students that he’d never been paired with during his exams, but he’d watched them fight plenty. Their healer, Sandra, wasn’t the best healer in his class, but she was at least above average—at least compared to the rest of them. Then there was Mark, the support mage. He wasn’t as good as most of the others—he had a knack for panicking and even missing casts occasionally. That was a shame, because, in Thomas’s opinion, he had some of the better skills from his class.

Finally, he was happy that Syd was selected as their tank. He’d proven himself time and time again to be one of the best tanks in the class. As long as Thomas paid attention to his output at the beginning of the fight, and let Eric do his thing, Syd would have no problem keeping whatever beast was chosen for them to fight at bay.

Thomas could feel the nerves and excitement that he got every week during this time. It was the only real time they got to fight enemies that pushed them. Most of his studies in the academy were just that: studies. He’d managed to run a single dungeon before the world shut down and the academy students were barred from leaving the city, and that dungeon was one of the easiest ones in the kingdom—selected as a dungeon for freshmen to ease into.

Habitually, Thomas ran a quick check of the items in his storage ring. In his hand was the spear that Derek had commissioned for him, and that he received from the dwarven smith, Carrie. He treasured the spear in his hand—not only because it was a well-crafted spear made specifically for him, but because Derek had thought about him and had it commissioned before he left on the raid.

He was very attached to the spear, and even though he would outgrow it soon enough, he planned to at least keep it as a memento for the future. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t have other spears, though. In his storage ring, along with the many potions he had—which they were banned from using during the exam—were a few backup spears just in case something happened to his main weapon. Those spears weren’t near as good, but they would do in a pinch.

What he was truly waiting for was Brandi to be ready to craft him one specifically for him, but he had a hard time asking for such a thing. However, he knew that it was just a matter of time, and he couldn’t wait to see it. Thinking about the girl caused him to feel a small amount of embarrassment inside, as he knew that she was already a much higher level than him, and was just getting even further away.

“Students ready!” Thomas was broken out of his thoughts, and pulled his attention away from his storage ring as his Instructor Miles called out for them.

Thomas felt the adrenaline pump through his veins as he waited for the instructor to introduce the beast they were to be fighting. He slightly bent his knees in preparation and watched the tunnel where the beast would soon appear. He hoped it wasn’t another boar. He’d already fought countless of those, and they also gave him an unpleasant memory. Though, putting him up against one was like giving him an easy exam, so if he really cared about his class rankings, a boar would be best.

But Thomas’s class ranking was fine. In fact, it was more than fine. While he wasn’t number one, he easily made it into the top ten, and even the top five in most things. Before going to the academy, he had felt like he was far behind, but after a year in the academy, he realized that he was just used to hanging out with monsters like Derek and Brandi. So, though he felt bad about falling behind his friend, he couldn’t really feel too bad. What would the other students think if that were the case?

Luckily, his hope came true when Instructor Miles yelled, “Fight!” and the wolf appeared from the tunnel.

It was the same kind of beast that Brett’s team had been so careless against earlier in the day, and also one of the harder ones to fight because of its speed. However, instead of his nerves getting the better of him, when Thomas saw the beast, his anxiety completely left him and all he could do was smile. This would be perfect.

Derek leaned far forward to where his face was almost touching the glass so he could get the best view of Thomas’s battle as possible. Damn, Derek thought to himself. The boy’s shot up like a weed. How much is a teenage boy supposed to grow in just under two years? He’s what? 15 now? Thomas was definitely a lot taller than Derek remembered. He had to be at least six inches taller, in fact. We’re going to have to get him a longer spear.

After looking over Thomas, Derek had looked over the rest of his team. He was a little worried about what looked to be the support class. The boy had a staff, and he was gripping it so tightly that Derek thought it would break any minute. However, the rest of Thomas’s team looked solid—especially the tank. The boy showed no signs of nerves as he stood staring into the tunnel that just produced a giant wolf.

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Derek also quickly glanced at the other two teams and saw them fighting a giant boar and another of the gorilla-like beasts before he moved his attention back to the battle that was about to begin—with his main focus being on Thomas. I wonder if he still has any hidden trauma about the wolf that was stalking when I first broke out of the void, Derek thought, but seeing the way Thomas calmed as soon as the wolf appeared, that thought quickly went out the window. Guess not… he looks a lot more confident than before. I wonder what’s caused that.

With a loud howl, the wolf pounced forward. The tank took a small step forward, then smashed the pummel of his sword into the middle of the shield, releasing an aggro-type skill that drew all the attention of the wolf to him. About that time, the tank was hit by a couple of buff skills, too. Better late than never, Derek thought.

After the wolf crashed into the tank’s shield, a green light fell over the boy from the healer. It didn’t seem like a fast heal, but more of a slow regeneration skill—the perfect skill to keep the tank topped up and let the healer save her more powerful heals for later.

What Derek did make note of was that both Thomas and the stoic elf stayed back and let the tank battle the beast for some time. Then, the tank gave a nod, and the two damage dealers made their moves.

Thomas ran in from the left side of the beast with his spear ready, and the elf slowly raised his hands into the air. Oh? An earth mage? Interesting, Derek thought as he saw the earth from behind the wolf slowly rise—doing its best not to draw the beast’s attention. Smart…

Finally, Thomas’s body glowed yellow with his Haste skill, then he arrived at an all-out sprint. He’s going a little too fast, Derek thought, but was proven wrong when a silver-ish blue transparent copy of Thomas moved out from his body and slid under the beast—stabbing upward at the same time with its spear. Now that’s new, Derek thought. Thomas’s class was called Soul Spear, and before, Derek could remember him doing the same thing with his spear to extend its reach, but now it looked like he could make somewhat of a copy.

Interesting. Instead of slowing, Thomas continued forward with his spear out, and the tip began shimmering with the same silver-blue color of his projection. The tip easily pierced through the side of the beast as his projection jumped to its feet and copied Thomas on the other side. At that point in the fight, the beast was flanked on both sides and had a tank in front.

Its only move would be to back away or go over, but as soon as it tried, it was met by a reinforced earthen wall that had been erected from behind while it was distracted. Finally, a quick, makeshift ceiling grew from the top of the wall and covered the wolf from the top as well. At that point, Derek knew that the fight would be over soon. The wolf’s only option would be to go through Thomas, the tank, or Thomas’s projection—which would be easiest, but the elven earth mage was already preparing another wall behind the projection, stopping that.

That only left Thomas and the tank, and it seemed that the wolf knew this. Derek clutched the mug of coffee in his hand and leaned even closer to the glass than before—if that was even possible. The enraged wolf made its decision and broke the aggro from the tank to focus on Thomas.

With a snarl, it swung its head in the boy’s direction—its massive maw opened wide to bite down on Thomas. But Thomas held his ground. Just before the beast took a chunk out of the boy, he sidestepped and silver-blue projections of his spear formed—causing multiple wounds with each thrust.

Thomas reminded Derek of Shae at that moment. He was built for speed—at least compared to the level of monster he was fighting and the classmates that had gone before. It was like a dance as the spearman ducked under a claw swipe and stabbed, then dodged its bit again and stabbed. The beast even saw a possible out to flee from, but Thomas’s projection disappeared, then split from the boy once again—covering the escape route.

I think he could have won by himself, Derek thought as he watched Thomas dodge every attack from the wolf. His projection moved slower and its attacks were weaker, but that didn’t seem to matter. Thomas was like a dodge tank himself with a crazy amount of damage output. I wonder if those projections count as magical or physical damage.

If they counted as magical, then that meant that Thomas was outputting both types of damage at the same time—magical with the projections and physical with his spears. That would be a bit overpowered, Derek thought.

At this point in the fight, the tank and Thomas had changed positions. The tank had already moved his shield to his back and was two handing his sword. It had a gray glimmer to it as he reinforced it with some other skill. The boy wasn’t just a tank, his damage could keep up with the output of many of the students that specialized in damage that Derek had seen throughout the day.

The beast let out one last whimper before falling at Thomas’s feet. Thomas continued to stand at the ready, but he soon relaxed. Must have gotten the kill notification, Derek thought. The earthen wall fell back into the ground, and the elven mage slowly walked over to where the battle took place with his hands in his robe pockets and a bored look on his face.

Derek checked the other two battles currently going on and they weren’t anywhere near close to finishing—at least they didn’t seem like they were. Damn, Derek thought. Thomas’s group wasn’t the fastest battle of the day, but it seemed to be the easiest. In fact, neither the support nor healer had to do anything other than cast a couple of spells. Though that support should have buffed the rest of the party, too, Derek thought. Unless it was worked out beforehand.

The instructor soon walked over to the wolf and said a few words with a smile, then the tank reached down and the wolf disappeared. After that, the five students made their way back to the stands. The healer and support walked the fastest and were the first to reach, while the tank walked alone to the stands. At the back, Thomas happily chatted away at the stoic elf, as the elf only nodded and occasionally opened his mouth to give the boy a short reply or two.

Derek wiped the condensation off the glass in front of him, then leaned back in his seat. It was nice to see that the boy was doing well—very well, it seemed.

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