Chapter 327: Prickly

Chapter 327: Prickly

Pareth opened the door to two guests, who turned out to be Alith and Cinthia.

Alith strode inside. Hoy! You good, Sof? No ones seen you in days.

Sofia raised a hand but she couldnt talk, with her other other hand, she helped guide the bone threads out of her chest.

Give me a minute Pierced lungs arent great for the voice.

Do you need help? Cinthia asked, uncertain about what she was even looking at.

Sofia waved her off, pointing at the chairs followed by a thumbs up.

If you say so Cinthias voice trailed.

Alith nodded and jumped, landing right on top of a chair with a flip. Just Sofia doing Sofia things, dont sweat the details. Viewers going up?

Uh Sorrow has been there with the regulars for half an hour already, someone else just joined but its my first time seeing them, their nickname is [ResoundingEchoes].

Resounding Echoes. Could be anything. Maybe sound related, Cacophony?

Alith naturally suggested, Resounding Echoes, the god of Stubbed Toes!

Cinthia pained to suppress a cackle.

Hey, it might not be this, but I thought it sounded nice, Alith continued.

You might in fact not be far off, Cinthia said, From what I gather This one would be Pain, or Suffering. Or both at once, I guess, no one is saying a real name but that seems to be who this is.

No way, its really the god of stubbed toes The resounding echoes of ones scream when they hit the foot of a stone table? My genius astonishes me.

Finally Sofia finished unraveling the bone guide, and she could finally speak. I think I get why they would come to watch me

Yeah to no ones surprise, Sof. I dont know what you were doing, but it didnt look very pleasant. Also, in case you didnt notice, youre sitting in a pool of your own blood.

This is just a way I found to speed up learning new wild spells. Its a bit painful, yes, but its also very efficient. Look what I can do now! Sofia rose a finger and activated the magic in the now familiar pattern of [Call Elemental sprite].

Shit.

The spell failed and backlashed, adding another mouthful of blood to the puddle on the floor.

Wait, Sofia told her two friends worriedly observing her wipe her mouth with the back of her hand, Almost there, let me try again.

She spat blood twice more before at last, a small yellow dot of light took form on top of her raised finger. With a shit-eating grin and a bloody mouth, she presented her new magic.

Thats A tiny light? Seems like quite the downgrade compared to the stuff you could already do, Alith commented as she observed the sprite from her chair.

Its an elemental of light, Cinthia corrected her, go look through the spirit plane, youll see the difference.

That so? In just a second, Aliths body turned misty and ethereal then back to normal. Oh, it kind of looks like a ghost slime. I dont really get what its meant to do but its a nice ghost pet.

The mans frown deepened. I am afraid that is not an option you have. Clearing his throat, he summoned a scroll in an iron tube and unfurled it, with a steady voice, he read its contents, From the competitions second week onward, students may challenge teachers within their filter in a singular duel for their token, to be overseen by Sir Tartaros. Each student may only challenge any given teacher once, and must wager ten times the teachers token holdings in gold coins for the challenge to be valid. Once these conditions are fulfilled, the teacher must attend the duel within a week if possible. The competitions previous rules still apply.

C. Beryl Deathmarch.

Did you write that yourself? Alith asked bluntly, and was promptly ignored by the man, who only had disdainful eyes for Sofia.

This feels like the kind of thing that I should be warned about in advance, no?

I guess I was hauled up in my room for three days, but if this is real, it must be quite new, or Alith and Cinthia would know about it.

Cinthia looked uncomfortable in the presence of the openly hostile man, Sh- Should we go to the administration to check if this is real? she suggested, eyeing at the door. The man threw her a disdainful glance.

A small system window appeared at the edge of Sofias vision.

[Daddy Hatred] : HE SNEERED AT CINTHIA! THIS FILTHY GOBLIN TURD! YOU BETTER GO FUCK HIM UP! BREAK ALL HIS BONES AND HEAL THEM AND BREAK THEM AGAIN! BATHE IN HIS BLOOD! MAKE A BLOODY MASK OUT OF HIS DENTED SHIT-HEAD SKULL! ILL KILL HIM MYSELF IF YOU DONT!

[Invalid quest title: thoroughly humiliate the opponent in a fair duel without losing any health]

[Reward : [Evasion] skill evolution]

[Will you accept? Yes/No]

Hum. Alright, uh. If you ask so politely.

[Quest Accepted!]

[Time limit : one duel]

I cant kill him though. Or permanently injure him, for that matter. But everything else should be fine. Ill be looking forward to that skill evolution, Hatred.

Fine, Ill duel you, do you have the gold? Ten times the amount of tokens is no small fee.

The man threw a small golden ring at Sofia like it was trash. I see you have come to reason. Forty-five gold ingots.

So I have four hundred and fifty tokens? Never bothered to count them. Sofia quickly inspected the contents of the ring, which were exactly as announced, then she threw it back to him. I guess TLDR really has a monopoly on storage rings; its what they use all the way to Exidion. Old Lich must be filthy rich.

Whats your name and when do you want to fight?

Marquess Ferdinand ProudWall. We will hold this duel this evening. I shall demonstrate your inadequacy as a Brighthall teacher, he spewed with contempt before turning on his heels and leaving. Sofia had to explicitly order Pareth to not clobber the man on his way out as she could feel the hit coming.

ProudWall

Silence regained the small classroom.

Lovely individual, eh, Alith sarcastically said and snickered, Shouldve been born in France, hed fit right in with the nobles there. A conglomerate of prickly baboons.

Whats a baboon? Cinthia asked.

Wait, that word aint censored?