Claire was walking through the hallway of the royal castle holding a clipboard with several papers on them as a man with tough exterior and casual clothes walks up behind her. “Hey there gorgeous what are you looking at?”, the man said to her with a side grin. “Oh, Lowell what are you doing here I thought you were on a mission?”, Claire responded as if she was used to these advances from him. Lowell responded, “I got back last night turns out that lead on that dungeon was a dead end.”, he responded. Claire continued, “That’s a shame but here’s something that might cheer you up the list of this year’s knight candidates has arrived.” “Man, it’s that time already, any promising candidates this year? Judging by the fact that you’re not gushing over the list I’d say that’s a no.”, the Lowell asked jokingly. “We have the typical candidates this year people who have been trained by their parents or knights for two years now. However, there are a few people who have definitely caught my attention.”, as she says that she hands a sheet of paper to Lowell. Lowell reads over the list as a smile grows over his face, “Is it really ok to let so many apply even though they’ve only had one year with their fairies?” Lowell asked. Claire responded, “That was a concern of ours as well, so we had scouts go investigate them and the ones you see on that list have been approved.” Lowell continued, “Looks like I was wrong this year’s candidates are very promising, and what about that kid the one with the black fairy how’s his training going.” Claire thought about it for a minute and said, “As of right now I’m unsure he made good progress I spent the first three months teaching him about the different types of magic but after that I left him to grow on his own.” Lowell looked puzzled, “Why didn’t you have him train with our knights surely that would’ve been better than letting him try to train on his own?”, he asked Claire. “Our knights are only able to use one type of magic meaning they have no experience using other types, I believe if Ren is to truly learn how to use multiple types of magic in combat, he needs to figure it out on his own without outside interference. Besides who said anything about him being on his own.”, she said with a smile.

  Elsewhere in a dark forest, a wolf-like monster with glowing blue fangs, black fur, and no eyes is seen fighting a giant purple spider with saliva that melts the ground it stands on. The wolf lunges at the spider trying to bite it but the spider jumped out of the way and the wolf’s fangs bite into a tree and almost in an instant the was frozen solid. As the wolf tries to free it’s fangs the spider jumps on top of it pinning it to the ground, the spider then wrapped the wolf in webs then shot poison into the cocoon melting the wolf into a gooey mess. The spider was about to eat the wolf when it suddenly heard a branch snap, the spider looked over to see a shadowed figure in a hood, the spider let out a screech and jumped straight towards the figure at incredible speed, as it landed at its mark dust scattered everywhere. As the dust cleared the spider looked and saw that all it grabbed was the person’s hood. It then felt a tap on its back side and as it turned around it saw person’s face. It was Ren with his black hair long and unkept, his clothes dirty with several cuts on it, and his face covered with dirt, smiling at the spider. He then said, “I win”, as Ren’s hands glowed red the spider suddenly went up in flames the spider cried out until it suddenly stopped and fell dead, Ren then put the fire out. Noir then came out of his pocket, “Spider again, dang it Ren why couldn’t we have gone in sooner and get the wolf.”, he complained. “Come on spider doesn’t taste that bad, and if you really want wolf that bad you still can.”, Ren says pointing over to the cocoon. Noir looks at the cocoon then back to the spider then starts flying over to the wolf.

  All of a sudden, a roar came out of nowhere as sounds of stomping grew louder and louder towards Ren and Noir, they stared in the direction of the noise when a giant boar came out and ran towards them immediately Noir fed Ren magic as Ren drew a circle with symbols in the dirt then focused magic into it forming a forcefield bouncing the boar off. As the forcefield disappeared he looked over at Noir and said, “Would you care for boar today.” Noir then smiled and glowed more black giving Ren more magic. Ren then put his hands to the ground as the boar turned towards them, but as the boar tried to start charging it found that it couldn’t, looking down it saw roots that roots have grown holding the boar in place. The boar furious then shot its tusks straight at Ren, without a second thought Ren focused magic into his hands catching both tusks. The tusks then glowed orange as they slowly turned into a pair of knives then threw both knives at the boar with blinding speed stabbing the boar right in the brain and killing it instantly.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Back at their campsite Ren prepared their boar slowly roasting it over a fire as Noir stared at it with an impatient look. “Man, I’m starving can’t you cook any faster you dumb pig.”, Noir said holding his stomach. Ren still tending to the boar replied, “I think this boar is still upset over the fact that we killed it now it’s being cooked slow on purpose.”, Ren said with a slight chuckle. All of a sudden Ren tensed up and looked off into the distance, “Who’s there?”, Ren asked. Claire and Celti slowly appeared from the trees, “Looks like you figured out how to use life magic to sense enemies coming, impressive as always.”, Claire said. “Oh, miss Claire it’s been a while please have a seat, we were just about to eat.”, Ren said pointing to a spot across from him and Noir. Claire walked over and sat down at the spot Ren offered her. Ren finished cooking the boar then cut off pieces for all four of them. “You two seem to be getting along well now in terms of teamwork.”, Celti said, “and it looks like you both got down proper use of magic.”, she continued. Noir spoke, “Yeah I think we’ve gotten the hang of the five magic types you taught us, but we still can’t use miscellaneous magic.” Claire thought about it for a minute and in between bites said, “That is strange however the a fairy and human using multiple types of magic is never heard of before, so we’ll just have to figure this stuff out as we go.” All four of them continued eating for Ren and Noir who spent months on their own having new company was a welcomed treat. As they finished eating Noir asked why Claire and Celti are here now when its been months since Ren and Noir saw them. “Let me get right to the point”, Claire said, “It’s almost time for this year’s knight candidate exam, originally, I was going to have you wait until next year like most people but after seeing how you’ve been improving, I think you might be ready. That is assuming you two think you are?” Ren and Noir talked in secret with each other for minute then turned bac to Claire and Celti. Noir spoke, “There’s something we need to do first if we can do this then we’ll be ready.”

  Back at the castle Ren and Noir walked into a familiar room with trees and foliage as Claire and Celti were up in the observation room. Claire then moved her hand over to a red button Celti then spoke, “What are you doing that’s not the same minotaur they fought last time.” Claire spoke, “It’s already guaranteed that they can beat that monster right now they need a real test that’ll show them that they can pass this exam.” Celti continued, “But surely, we have other minotaur’s that can give them that confidence does have to be that one, when we found it, that thing had killed the rest of its pact. Not to mention when we have people train with it the lucky ones come back with only a missing arm.”, she said objecting to Claire’s plan. “This isn’t just for giving them confidence it’s also the best way to shut up any argument remaining that Noir should just be a lab rat. We have to do this.”, as Claire said that she slammed the button down and in the room Ren and Noir are in a blood curdling roar erupted. Ren got in to a readied stance as Noir started feeding him magic. Through the trees emerged a minotaur twice the size of the one they fought last year, covered in dry blood, and possessing four arms each looking like they had enough strength to crush boulders, even among minotaurs this one was truly a monstrosity. The minotaur then roared directly at Ren who did not falter and still had his focused look. The minotaur then readied a swing at both of them but as its arms raised above its head it just fell to the ground. As it fell down a giant hole can be seen coming from its chest all the way to the back. Celti looked where Ren and Noir were and found that they weren’t there Claire then pointed to the opposite end with a look of bliss on her face, as Celti looked she saw both of them and Ren’s left hand was covered in blood. This minotaur who was arguably one of the strongest seen in this kingdom that the best rookies have trouble with, was just killed in an instant by Ren and Noir.