I'm a little taken aback that this instructor thinks so highly of me. No one's ever really expected something of me before. I simply nod and he looks at me for a few seconds before turning and gathering everyone's attention again.
I can't help but wonder if that's really all there is to my power, simple rage. I haven't put my finger on it, but it feels like there's more to it. We're directed back inside now and guided to a large room. There are several white rings on the floor and another group is currently in the middle of their exam.
They seem to have around twenty-five people like ours and most of them watch as two people fight using hand to hand combat. There're three judges on a raised platform taking notes. A series of thuds later and a girl with blonde hair stands victorious. I can't hear what the judges say, but it apparently makes the girl happy as she practically bounces out of the ring.
Our instructor goes over and talks to theirs, after another match the other group leaves the room. He turns back to us and announces what most had already guessed.
"Third test, unarmed combat. Not only will you be trying to win against your opponent, but the judges here can also decide if you pass or fail based on the performance. This is so that if two skilled people enter against one another, each have a fair chance of passing. This should be obvious, but I have to say it. Affinity condensing is not allowed in this test."
He casts his gaze around at each of us.
"Who wants to go first?"
I'm already moving before anyone else. They're still looking around, trying to see who they might win against, that doesn't matter to me. I know I'll win.
The bored instructor had a hint of amusement at my willingness.
"Alright, that's one. Who wants to fight Kelric?"
To my surprise the red-haired girl with the fire affinity takes a step forward.
"I'll go."
Her green eyes are fierce, and I think she's upset that Elias and I stole her thunder during the affinity test.
I can't help but let my mind wander as I take in her beauty.
"Okay, there we have it. Kelric Bladebane versus Marinah Pyne. Enter the circle and begin on my signal. This should be obvious as well, but if you step out past the line, you lose."
We stand facing one another and I feel the familiar battle energy course through me, and my control slips a little.
"Fight!"
The rage burns hot, and my bloodlust is released, Marinah falls backwards as I rush forward.
Fingers are straightened and ready to pierce flesh as I aim my stab.
My hand is caught by the instructor, inches from her throat. His hand is trembling, trying to hold me back.
"Kelric enough!"
My rage simmers out and I realize I was about to sink my fingers into her esophagus.
I relax and the instructor let's go of me. His voice is low so that only I can hear.
"Were you trying to kill her? And that bloodlust.. you have some explaining to do later boy."
I can feel my anger flare again, but I instantly push it down.
The instructor had moved back a step defensively after my bloodlust leaked again.
"I'm no boy." These are the only words I can say.
We stare at each other for a long, hard moment before he grunts. He turns to the others and clears his throat.
"Alright, while that happened a little fast, I hope you get the gist of how this works now. Everyone, pair up and claim a circle. The judges and I will intervene if things get dicey, like just now."
My group seemed to be a little more wary of me now and I curse my impulsiveness.
'I'm not here to kill! I'm not in the god's damn arena anymore you idiot!'
While everyone went to find a partner, I made my way to the edge of the room to continue my self-berating words. The judges didn't have any words for me so I can only assume I passed.
I look up after some time and see the girl I almost killed walking towards me.
'Oh shit.. I bet she's mad and wants an apology.'
My thoughts are turned upside down as she sticks a hand out to me.
"I'm Marinah Pyne."
I'm so confused by her actions that my response is a little terse.
"I know."
Her face reddened slightly and I think I've upset her.
"Oh yeah.. I guessed my name was said earlier.."
Her hand was still outstretched towards me.
I don't know what to do, so I don't do anything.
Her redness deepens as she tries again, "You're pretty skilled at fighting."
"I know."
I think she's going to cry now.
"... Do you want to be friends Kelric…?"
I've never seen someone's face so red before, and her words aren't hostile. I can't decide if she's mad or not, maybe she was and just swallowed her pride to congratulate me.
"Uh.. sure, we can be friends."
I'm a little surprised at my success in making connections, I haven't done anything yet and people are already trying to get acquainted with me.
Marinah moves her outstretched arm to get my attention.
"T-Then you should take my hand!"
"Oh.."
I reach out and clasp her hand, it's soft and small. I control my grip as to not break it. After I'm done shaking it, she stands in silence looking at me.
I look at her.
No one speaks.
Then Elias calls out to me from a little distance away.
"Ooouuu already putting the moves on. You're a sly dog Kelric."
I see him give a wink and Marinah runs away as if I threatened to kill her. Well, I did almost kill her.
Confused by his words, I ask him what moves I was putting on.
Elias's face beamed brightly, and I know he's about to tease me for something.
I guess my confusion throws him off his stride and he deflated, sighing loudly.
"Kelric… are you perhaps, dense in the head?"
My mouth falls open in shock, I'm not even mad as I wonder why he just insulted me.
Our group is smaller by four when we leave this test and head to the next. Marinah is still with us, and I guess that she got another chance to prove herself.
I'm at the back of the group when we are directed to enter another room. The instructor is leaning on the wall and catches my eye, he signals for me stop.
I slow my steps and let the door close, leaving the two of us alone.
His face and voice are no longer bored, he's serious as death when he speaks.
"I'm giving you a special warning Kelric. This next test is with weapons. Control yourself, the consequences will be severe if you accidentally kill your opponent."
I clench my jaw as my teeth grind. I'm not even angry at his words. I'm just upset with myself for allowing my rage to consume me so thoroughly earlier.
I nod to let him know I understand, and his expression eases a little.
"Good, now that that's settled… you wouldn't mind telling me why your bloodlust is so thick would you..?"
"I would."
He stares at me a little impatiently.
"Well then, let's hear it already."
I shake my head at his misunderstanding.
"I would mind telling you. It's not any of your business."
We stare at each other, and a tense moment passes.
Then, he laughs loudly.
"Gods above kid, your so damn serious.. Hahaha!"
His flip-flopping attitude irritates me, and I let my anger loose a little. It has the desired effect, and the man is instantly on guard.
My smile at him is predatory, there is no humor in it. It's the same one I gave to many men before their hearts had stopped beating.
Forcing my anger to dissolve, I give the instructor one more glance as I push the door open and join the others.
Elias walks up to me and has another dumb grin on his face.
"What'd he want from you, Kelric? An autograph perhaps.. or maybe.. something more intimate."
I cannot possibly understand what his intentions are in asking me such an obviously untrue question.
Instead of feeding into his weirdness, I say the truth.
"He just warned me not to kill anyone accidentally."
Elias's face froze before turning into a smile.
It froze again as he looked at me, understanding that I'm not making a joke.
He scratched his head as he spoke.
"I don't know why he'd bother doing that. It's not like you were going to kill Marinah earlier.. hahaha.. haha.. ha…"
His forced laughter is weak and sputters out like a candle at the end of its wick when he notices my blank face.
The instructor gathers our attention and explains the rules for this test. The rules are the same as the as the hand-to-hand combat, except only three pairs could fight at one time.
He gave us a few minutes to find a weapon of our choice from the racks on the walls.
The weapons are wooden, but good quality. They're heavy and hard and I'm sure I can make the sword I picked pierce into a body easily.
Before the instructor can say so, I'm standing in a white circle, waiting for a challenger. I groan inwardly as Marinah steps forward.
'Does she like being humiliated..'
There is no battle energy, no rage, no wrath as I look at her.
Her face starts getting red again from my stare. I can't help but wonder if her asking to be friends earlier was a ploy to get me to let down my guard.
Such petty tricks do not work on me.
My eyes look her body up and down multiple times, assessing every opening she presented. Her grip is weak and not centered properly. Her feet are too close together and her waist should be bent lower.
Her hips are nice and wide, it matches well-
'What hell am I'm thinking about right now!?'
I stand there as the instructor begins our match.
"Fight!"
She rushes at me and I almost facepalm. Her arms are over her head placing her wooden sword behind her back.
I guess she's planning to chop me straight down the middle. She reaches me and swings her sword down with all her might.
It stops above her head. My left hand has firmly grasp both of hers and my right lightly presses my sword on her stomach.
I turn to look at the instructor and he nods.
"Kelric wins."
Looking back towards Marinah and I am confused. What could have been her plan there, if it was to look foolish, then she succeeded.
My face gets closer as I study her. It's easy to see what's in the heart when staring through the eyes. At least that's what my father always said, before the slavers killed him.
Her voice is meek as she looks at me.
"I-it's too early to do that…"
What could she mean by this? Too early to give up?
"Too early for what?"
Her face is even redder now and I think she might die from her simmering anger.
"T-t-t-too k-k-kiss…"
She looks downs as I ponder.
"What? Who wants to kiss?"
She snaps her eyes back up to me.
"You. You're going to kiss me.. right?"
I'm even more confused by this sudden development as I try to think of a reason why she would believe I'm going to kiss her. I don't find one and my voice is loud when I respond.
"No, I don't think I want to kiss you, at all."
I commend myself a little at my wording, I don't want to be kicked out of the academy for sexual harassment before even finishing the exam.
Marinah's face twists a little and I know I've said something wrong. I try to explain myself, but it only seems to make her angrier.
"I promise I don't want to kiss you. Please believe me, Marinah…"
I hear Elias laughing off in the distance and I see other examines holding their hands over mouths.
'What is going on right now?'
I let go of Marinah and she started stomping away in a huff.
When I get over to Elias, I ask him why she got so mad at me. His laugh and pointed finger are the only explanation I receive.
Since there are only three pairs at a time, this test is taking a lot longer. Also, everyone who fails to win a match gets two more chances before the judges make their evaluation this time.
Marinah won her second bout in a wild clash of flailing arms against her equally unskilled opponent.
She is definitely a noble and I want to make peace with her, so that I can eventually win her over to my cause. She's sitting in a corner, sulking, despite her victory. Her face darkens as she looks at me.
"What do you want... here to make fun of me again?"
I don't think I ever made fun of her, so I ignore her remark and make one of my own.
"I noticed your form could use some work; would you like some pointers?"
I'm hoping I can earn some goodwill from teaching her. It should be an easy choice to accept my help, considering how much more experienced I obviously am.
"Yeah, and your manners could use some pointers! Go, leave me alone you jerk."
'I thought that was for sure going to work..'
I moved back to my spot and see Elias waiting for me. Opening my mouth before he can distract me with nonsense, I speak.
"Do you think Marinah dislikes me? She just rejected my help to fix her form, and I can't understand why."
His mouth opens at my question, and he gives me a look that clearly says how little he thinks of my intellect.
"Kelric… are you serious? You just offended her in front of everyone, quite literally, fifteen minutes ago."
"How'd I do that?"
His hand reaches up to his face and drags back down it.
"Are you telling me you didn't mean to make fun of her.."
"Why would I want to to do that?"
"…I-… you.. ahhgg. Then why did you say that to her, that you didn't want to kiss her? Loud enough for the whole room to overhear?"
"Because I thought she'd be mad if I said I did and I didn't want others to misunderstand my intentions."
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he asks me one last question.
"What do you think about Marinah?"
The question was a little unexpected and I have to think for a bit before answering.
"Well, she seems alright, I guess. Other than that… I think her hair is pretty.. and her body is.. umm.."
I feel a little color in my cheeks from my honesty.
Elias can't seem to find any words for once to my surprise. Finally, he settles on something and starts walking towards Marinah.
"Wait here dimwit.. I'll go explain the misunderstanding to her."
It's strange. I've only known Elias for half a day, and he's insulted me twice. I haven't even gotten mad at him for this, and it reminds me of how Harry would treat me.
'Interacting with normal people is a lot trickier than I remember..'