Chapter 1: End of a Dream

Chapter 1: End of a Dream Arthur Ventrike stares out of his window across the plains of the vast Ventrike County. His figure, the complete opposite to the lively world outside. His reflection shows a skinny young man with pale skin, messy brown hair, and hollow black eyes shadowed by dark circles.

It seems as if he had lost his will to live.

As the maids pass by his room, their voices carry a hint of past bitterness.

"Is the cripple still sitting there, doing nothing? I used to hear everyone say he was going to be the next Swordmaster. Guess all that talk was for nothing."

Arthur pretends not to hear them, although their words cut deep. His dreams have been shattered, and he has been rendered a cripple. Any sudden movement causes him to cough up blood, so he forces himself to stay still and continue concentrating

After a month of living with this new reality, he feels the weight of the world pressing down on him.

***

As the sun rises, Arthur grits his teeth and prepares to face another day. He enjoys the warmth and comfort of his bed for a moment longer before a knock on the door ends it.

"Young master, have you awoken? I've brought your attire for the day,"

"Yes, Sebastian, I'll be right with you!"

Arthur replies, scrambling out of bed.

"Good morning, young master. Your breakfast is ready—fried eggs, steamed fish, and roasted pork,"

Sebastian announces as Arthur finishes washing.

"Thank you, Sebastian. Just leave it and my attire on the table, please."

"Very well, young master."

Arthur's gaze lingers on the elaborate attire laid out for him.

"Hold on, Sebastian. Why is my attire so... decorated today?"

Sebastian looks surprised. "You'll find out once you get to Wolkan, young master."

After breakfast and dressing in his attire, Arthur grabs his sword and heads for Wolkan Royal Academy. Wolkan Academy, one of the most prestigious in the world, was founded 800 years ago by Luke Wolkan, a 9th-circle Great Sage and one of the only seven to ever reach that stage in history. Wizards are ranked from 1st circle to the fabled 10th circle Transcendental Wizard. There are three types of magic: Elemental Magic, Black Magic, and Holy Magic. In normal cases, a wizard only has affinity for one element but in rare cases, wizards can have an affinity for multiple. Swordsmen also have ranks from Apprentice to Grandmaster; Grandmasters are said to be as powerful as Great Sages.

Arthur, a Knight-ranked Swordsman, has achieved the 5th stage in just 7 years that would normally take one 42 years to reach. Because of this, he is regarded as one of the most talented swordsmen in his generation and the most likely to reach the stage of Grandmaster, a feat that only three humans had ever accomplished .

He uses his portal, a privilege granted by the headmaster as part of his scholarship, to instantly transport himself from his manor to the academy.

As Arthur arrives, he notices the academy is adorned with decorations.

Oh, that's right! Today marks the 800th anniversary of the academy. No wonder why Sebastian made him wear these clothes.

"Good morning, Arthur!!!"

Arthur winces as Isabella Manavane spots him. He was hoping to avoid her.

"Good morning, Isabella. You look well. Do you know what festivities are planned for today? I seem to have misplaced the schedule,"

Isabella, a talented 3rd circle-tri-elemental wizard with long blue hair and sky-blue eyes, smiles brightly. She's the daughter of Marquis Yuler Manavane, a close friend of Arthur's father. Despite her lineage, she loves to annoy me.

"Of course, Arthur! I brought an extra schedule just for you!" she says, her enthusiasm tangible.

"Thankfully, there are no classes today due to the anniversary. The first event is a hunt at 10:00 AM, where participants will compete to score the most points by hunting rare or dangerous animals."

"Sounds boring," Arthur mutters.

"The next event, at 12:00 PM, is a food contest where participants eat as much as they can in ten minutes. There will also be special dishes from other kingdoms to try."

"That sounds interesting. I'm definitely trying some of that. I've always wanted to taste food from the Kingdom of Auroria."

Isabella continues, oblivious to his impatience. "After that, there are no major events until 3:00 PM, when there's a bracket-style tournament open to all years. I think it's unfair to the younger students, but you should do well and might even win."

"Ha,"

Arthur responds dryly. "Thanks for the encouragement. But I'm not going to waste my time if there isn't a reward." As I begin walking away.

"I heard the winner can choose anything they want from the Headmaster's vault," Isabella says.

Arthur stops in his tracks and turns around with a smirk.

"That does sound tempting. You might just see me participating in it then."

"I hope to see you there. I need to hurry to sign up for the hunting competition. It was nice talking to you. See you later!"

She calls, quickly turning away from me, and running off to the registration booth.

Arthur finally enjoys some peace and quiet. Most of the activities sound dull, but the tournament intrigues him. He has six hours until it starts—plenty of time to train.

Despite being as talented as he is, Arthur trains hard everyday no matter the weather or condition he's in, in order to meet the expectations of his patrons.

He heads to the training grounds and starts with stamina exercises, running laps until exhaustion. After an hour, he switches to strength training: 500 push-ups, 500 sit-ups, 500 pull-ups, and pushing a heavy boulder he finds.

The sun is high in the sky. Is it already noon? Time has flown by. Arthur cools off by jumping into a nearby river, washing away the sweat.

His stomach growls, so he runs to the food court. Unfortunately, the dishes from the Empire of Auroria are gone, but the other foreign cuisines are delicious.

After finishing his meal, Arthur heads back to the tournament registration booth.

As Arthur walks the booth the clerk, without even giving him a glance

"Good afternoon. What's your name and which event would you like to sign up for?" the clerk asks.

Arthur stands in front of him with a polite smile. "My name is Arthur Ventrike, and I'd like to sign up for the tournament."

The clerk paused, his gaze narrowing as he looked me up and down.

"Arthur Ventrike? What's a second-year like you doing signing up for the Academy-wide tournament meant for the 5th and 6th years? You must be out of your mind thinking you could beat your upperclassmen just because you're a little talented."

Arthur's patience wears thin. How dare this clerk speak to him like this?

He forces himself to stay calm.

"Thank you for your concern. I'll do my best."

Surprised by his response, the clerk pauses.

"Uhh... alright. Here's your ticket. You'll be fighting in the 2nd bracket."

I snatch the ticket out of his hand and walk to the arena while staring at my ticket.

The first round was between two four year students, an Expert Ranked Swordsman and a 4th circle wizard. It wasn't that interesting and the swordsman barely managed to win.

The second round is my turn and my opponent is a 5th year, 4th circle elemental flame mage named Edward Tane

Edward was chatting with his clique while pointing at me and laughing. It was obvious what was going on in that head of his, many people who are envious of my talent don't believe that it's possible to reach the Knight Stage at the age of 15. Pathetic Idiots.

As the fight was about to start, Edward's clique left and when the announcer announced my name, the crowd cheered loudly for me but when the announcer said his name, there was significantly less cheering, causing him to turn red and stare intensely at me.

"Three, two, one, BEGIN!"

Edward begins chanting aloud in the mystic language.

"IGNIS DUPLICI"

"CIRCULUS IGNIS"

Edward threw two exploding fireballs at me before summon a ring of fire around him as he began preparing for large scale spell

This is going to be a piece of cake, there's no need for me to use my Aura

I swiftly dodged the fireballs.

"Body Enhancement!"

Temporarily increasing my Speed and Agility, I unsheathe my sword and dash toward him. Approaching the ring of fire I jump over it, his eyes locked onto mine with a face of disbelief.

The crowd went wild

Then it quieted down as due to the height of the ring of fire, no one could see what was happening inside.

Then just a second later, the fire dispersed and revealed Edward with his hands up and me holding a sword to his neck.

Then the crowd cheered once more.

I let him go and sheathed my sword walking away as he was on his knees staring intensely at the ground

Probably in disbelief wondering how he lost to a 2nd year but that isn't my problem.

As the tournament continued, I won and won again. Reaching the finals I knew that it wouldn't be as easy as the previous matches since my opponent would be Adam Norwind, the 2nd prince of Norwind Kingdom, a 5th year and 5th circle, dual elemental darkness and ice mage. But that thought finished just as it started; Adam forfeit the match.

I hurriedly looked around the arena for him but to no avail.

Why did he forfeit the match?

Leaving the arena, I had a bitter taste in my mouth, having an unsatisfying victory. But then Dean Trebin approached me with his normal gloomy face.

"Good day Arthur Ventrike, and congratulations on your victory in the tournament. Please come with me to the headmaster's office to discuss your prize."

I follow him in silence, neither of us exchanging words the entire way.

When I arrive at the headmaster's office, I marvel at her collection of books before snapping back to reality to greet her.

"Greetings Headmaster Sky Darkfallen, it is an honor to meet you."

"Oh please, I should be the one saying that to you, and this flattery of yours will not get you an extra reward."

"Tch"

She slowly got up from her chair, reaching into her robes and pulling out the Headmaster's Insignia, which was made by Luke Wolkan hundreds of years prior. She walks to one of the bookshelves and holds the insignia up to it.

For a moment, nothing happens but then the bookshelf sinks into the floor and a secret portal is revealed.

"Now follow me child, and don't stray off."

After entering the portal, I found myself in a pitch black space until the room was suddenly illuminated.

"Ignis"

Headmaster Sky chants as she summons a small but bright fireball in her hand. Sёarᴄh the Nôvelƒire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

With the room now illuminated I could see its contents. The room was made entirely out of stone bricks and there were about 20 giant stone statues that I inferred to be golems that would act as guards to repel any intruders.

As we go further into this dungeon of sorts, heeding her words, I make sure to step only where the headmaster has stepped to not activate any traps and as we approach the end of the hallway I see a room filled with bright light that I assumed to be light reflected off of the gold in the vault.

Curious and enchanted by the light, I begin to slowly drift away from the headmaster and approach the entrance of the room. Then, Headmaster Darkfallen grabs me by the collar and pulls me back; right before two giant stone statues, bigger than the ones in the previous room, began moving and using their swords to block me.

Looking back on it now, that might have killed me if Headmaster Darkfallen had not pulled me back and saved me.

Headmaster Darkfallen puts an insignia onto the pedestal, and then she presses the stones in the correct combination order.

Five, Four, One, Six, Three, Two.

Immediately, the room starts shaking with the stone statues pulling back their swords and reverting back to their original position.

"You have ten minutes, you can choose anything you want in there, but you can only take one so choose wisely."

I started sprinting at full speed using Speed Enhancement to get there as fast as possible.

There's no time to waste, this is the greatest opportunity of my life!

As I got closer to the room I was filled with even greater excitement.

The room was huge and filled with gold from one side to the other. Aside from that, there were tens of podiums, each holding up legendary items of extreme power that any swordsman or mage would dream to have. There were even relics from the Mythical Era used by Great Sages and Grandmasters.

But there's no time to lose, as I only have 9 minutes left.

As I looked around, deciding what I should pick, they were all great options but some that really stood out were:

The Holy Sword - A longsword blessed by the Goddess and used by the first Grandmaster during the First Holy War against the Demons.

Meteor Staff - A magic staff used by the Great Sage of Fire, created from a branch of the world tree and the core of a fire dragon.

Eye of The Storm - An amulet used by the Great Sage of Lightning, said to be created from the eye of the God of Lightning.

Dragon-Slaying Sword - A Great-sword made from the bones of dragons.

And lastly, one that stood out for the wrong reasons, a sphere made from a material that looked like stone with a weird design but otherwise looked extremely fragile, as if it would break apart if I accidentally dropped it. But for some reason, I was weirdly attracted to it so I decided to trust my instincts.

God-I hope I don't regret this.

As I walked out of the room my time was up. I exited the Treasure room with just a second to spare.

Headmaster Darkfallen looked at me with curiosity and excitement.

"Well, which item did you choose?"

"Oh, I just picked up this random sphere because it looked cool."

I tried saying in a relaxed way, but my voice filled with visible regret. I look up and see the headmaster's face of dissatisfaction probably thinking to herself "Why did this boy choose that ball of all things?"

Looking away and coughing she says,

"You know if anyone other than yourself had won I would not have given them this opportunity and would definitely not have given them a second chance to choose something. But I'm giving you another opportunity, go in there and choose something else! Something that satisfies me."

"Yes, ma'am!"

After all the events going on today it became extremely late. As a result of this, no one operated the portal between the academy and Ventrike County, so the Headmaster offered to let me stay at one of the student dorms; which I accepted.

When I got to my dorm room, there was a glass of water.

Must've been placed there by the housekeepers, I might as well drink it. I was feeling a bit parched anyway.

After I finished the drink, I placed the weird sphere on the table, and fell on the bed. I felt a bit different than usual, but I figured it was probably because of the energy I spent in the Treasure Room, staring at the Eye of the Storm Amulet around my neck.

As I began to doze off, I believed that I would soon fall asleep but I couldn't. The more time passed, the more my heart began to hurt. When I tried to move, the pain kept getting worse. I couldn't believe it, I was dying right before my own eyes. I couldn't let that happen.

Gathering my strength, I used Resilient Body Enhancement to help my body withstand the pain, then I got up and immediately headed for the door as fast as possible, the feeling of my muscles tearing with every step, and crashed through the door, into the hallway. Hoping that someone would hear me, I screamed as loud as possible and fell unconscious shortly afterwards as Resilient Body wore off and I came face to face with the totality of the pain.

When I awoke, it was painful to move so I just waited for someone to come in. Eventually, the physician did come in and briefed me on the whole situation.

It had been three days since the incident. It seemed that apparently the glass of water I drank contained the remnants of an extremely rare and poisonous unknown plant. In normal cases those who experienced these symptoms and weren't a Swordmaster you would instantly die. But according to the physician's words, I was lucky and managed to survive.

I was told that many of my bones and muscles were torn or broken and that I may never be able to recover from this, let alone continue my life as a swordsman. They did manage to find the perpetrator of the crime. He told me it was Edward Tane, the 5th year student I fought during my first battle in the tournament. And my father, Count Loran Ventrike was a part of the investigation, and after finding out who the perpetrator was, he killed him on the spot and the royal court is deciding his punishment right now.