Smoke rose from a small crater. The ground was cracked and smoldering. Laying several feet away, shattered into pieces was the remnants of a target dummy.
"Excellent work Lady Petra. I daresay you will have an excellent showing at the Exhibition."
"Not Lady Petra. I am just Rena, professor."
"Apologies Miss Rena. Either way, you have a fine set of skills with four magical Compatibilities no less. I am surprised you chose to fight this year! Of course you are not representing any of the departments, but to put your name in the general contestant pool was not something I expected." The professor continued while analyzing the damage.
"Yes, well. I have something to prove to myself." She answered plainly, stepping over to another target.
Rena took a moment to think about how she wanted to attack this one. Her specialty had become Metal Magic and of her Compatibilities, Water Magic had fallen far behind. Of course, since it was Elemental Magic, while Metal and Ice were the superior Transcendent Magic. Light Magic was a class of its own. Basically, all her other skills were stronger than Water, inherently so.
With a heavy sigh, she pointed on hand lazily at the target. "[Ferrum: Iron Needles]"
Dozens of small metal needles formed in the middle of the air and shot towards the target, turning it into a pincushion. Rena squeezed her fist, forcing the needles deeper until they forced the target to explode to pieces.
"Yet another excellent showing Miss Rena. However..."
"What's the problem?"
"I don't believe that spell will be allowed for usage in the tournament. Purposefully attempting to kill your opponents is forbidden in the rules, you know."
"Unfortunate. And here I was hoping to use that trick against my dear cousin..." She said a little louder than intended, prompting a look of horror to appear on the professor's face.
"Relax, I was only joking." She relented, though only partially telling the truth.
After she finished assisting in cleaning up the training room, the door to the room open and in walked two young women. Her friends Lyrah and Natali.
"What?" the black-haired girl protested. "I cant be certain! I'm still working on these new visions. It's been four years since..."
Lyrah put her hands over her mouth as she realized what she was about to say. Rena smiled sadly and simply brought them both in for a hug again. She had been told about her friend's situation. That for some reason she could only have visions involving Lucius.
Since his death, Lyrah has reported visions of other things, though they are never as clear as her old ones were. Which, according to her, was saying quite a lot since even the ones with Lucius in them were reported to be quite difficult to understand.
"Any way. Let's get a move on. You need a shower after all that training and we should get dinner together. Let's go to the cafeteria? I am none to keen on getting out on the town at the moment." Lyrah offered.
The other two nodded in agreement and they went off to the academy's massive cafeteria. They ordered simple meals of a cream-based stew and bread. It was simple in flavor, but packed full of meats and vegetables. All the nutrients they could need were given in a single meal.
For some reason, Lyrah was extremely fond of cream- and milk-based treats and foods. Sometimes it made Rena chuckle because Lucius was like that too. Though he was part beastman with a feline heritage, so it was a lot more funny.
"You know, Lyrah... we know who your mother is... but who is your dad?"
"Hmm a good question." Lyrah answered thoughtfully while tapping her spoon on her cheek.
"So you don't know?"
"I did not say that." Explore hidden tales at m,v l'-NovelFire
"So, you do know."
"I didn't say that either."
"Which one is it!" Rena nearly shouted, starting to get exasperated.
"One of those two..." Lyrah giggled. "Look. Every question deserves an answer, and your question will receive answers. Eventually. So just trust me that you will find out whether I know or not at the right time."