The Tales of Draconic Warlock

After our names were called, both Malia and I walked to the center of the training hall. We would fight here, while other students would be seated around us, and watch the match.

As we reached the center, Malia spoke, "Good luck".

Huh?

Why did she speak to me suddenly?

She always used to be cold and aloof. Though that attitude is not good, I didn't hate becase she never treated anyone badly. She just didn't care about others and concentrated fully on herself.

She was right to ignore others but she had to have a few friends. She never tried to and when someone tried to make friends with her, they failed.

I say that she was right because most of these students here would die before they reach Tier-4 or would settle at Tier-4 at maximum. They are not destined for higher ranks.

One would say that they are already at Tier-1 and a few are at peak Tier-1 almost reaching Tier-2. So it should be easy to reach Tier-5 o even above ranks but that was not the case.

It was said after every three promotions, the difficulty to cross only increases in a major way. Many would falter after reaching Tier-3.

In the entire world, the percentage of successful awakenings is no more than 20-30% every year.

Over half of them stop at Tier-2 or Tier-3 and stay there till their end. It doesn't mean that the other half crosses Tier-3. Many of these remaining awakeners would die before they could reach their limit.

It can be either they overestimated themselves or some envious idiots caused their deaths.

Whatever the reason might be, as we go high, many of these classmates would be forgotten. If they were the heirs of the noble house or to some wealthy commerce guild, then there is a reason to keep in touch but for whatever reason, no one here in this class inherits a title or huge wealth.

Speaking of heirs, I heard that there is one in class 1-B, who is a viscount's son and said to inherit the title after his father.

I heard about this matter because Dorian seemed to have clashes with that one many times when the academy started but for some reason, they stopped suddenly after the first few months.

No one seems to know why.

That guy was said to be the worst of the kind. Being the heir of a viscount, he used his status many times to crush others. There were no children of higher noble rank than viscount in that class, so he became the class tyrant.

It caused a lot of displeasure among the class. I heard that even the children of nobles were against him and said to have supported Dorian behind the scenes.

So there was no way that storm receded so quickly on its own. Someone should have intervened.

Who, I have no idea but I can say that whoever that is, they were not the staff of the academy. The staff don't get in the middle of the student conflicts unless it blows out of proportion.

Something happened but I couldn't find out what.

The disappearance of the issue means a student helped, someone who has a higher rank. The student could be from a count's house or above and the student should be the heir.

I don't think there was anyone in the first year and I have no details about the students from second-year and above.

Though I have no details, there was someone I know who is a count's son who should be against me.

If he has learned about what happened at the Winter City, he could be trying to use Dorian against me. The problem was I didn't have any evidence for that.

From what I tell, they never met.

I have a feeling that I was right. So I kept watch on all three, and when they eventually slip up, I would know what they were planning.

---

"Start", Angela gave the start signal to my duel with Malia.

As soon as the start signal was given Malia started her attacks. I easily dodged of course but she kept attacking trying to not give me any chance to attack.

This is a good idea when your opponent can strike you down in a single strike but has weak defence. If you can land your attacks before he has a chance to attack, it would end in your win, but the problem was that the opponent was me.

Two minutes, the battle ended. Unlike my battle with Dorian or others, I gave sufficient chances for her to attack me and she did but my defence was much higher. So it didn't cause any problems for me.

I also didn't attack as I did Dorian. I landed my attacks on her legs, making her fall. There would not be any damage to her physical, probably a bit to her ego.

"I lost", Malia muttered as she pulled herself up and left.

Though she lost, she was not sad about that. She seemed happy and why it was, I have no idea and to be frank I don't care about the reason.

I returned to my seat and so did she.

After that, the exam continued as before.

---

After the exam, I returned to my quarters. The day was not without its gains. I have seen a few new skills, that they should have learned in the holidays.

Having a rich family background is also a strength. It can be used to buy various skills, that can fill the holes in one's strength easily.

Though it would be a hassle to have too many skills, at least in the beginner stages they would protect you. You can discard them after you reach a certain rank.

Not everyone is like me who has clone skills to improve their skill levels. There should be but I don't think the number should have crossed double digits.

I am not an idiot who thinks that he is the chosen one.

Clone skills are not unique but I think not every clone-type skill would feedback the skill to the original host. Most of them should work as distractions.

I am just one of the lucky few and I decided to make the best use of my luck.

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