Trail

"Hmm, good job kiddo~ I didn't expect you could kill a troll, those are a pain in the ass unless you have the right attitude."

Having dealt with her own opponent, Lizzy arrived to find one very dead troll as Tom was getting treated by Anne.

"Seems like you scared the other one-off. What the hell did you do to this one?"

"I cut it up and Anne burned the wounds, it seemed to be the most effective way to do some damage it couldn't heal just immediately."

(Why the hell is this kid so sharp?)

While Lizzy was glad Tom and Anne had come out of the fight okay, she was starting to become increasingly concerned about her student. Ever since Lizzy took Tom under her wing, she had noticed the kid was oddly sharp in combat. Although he had no combat experience, Tom sometimes acted like someone who had been killing monsters for years on end.

"How did you figure that would work?"

"... I've been burned and cut countless times when I worked at a pub. While burning or cutting myself hurt it didn't come close to the time when I burned a fresh wound one time."

While Tom acted logically and showed he was easily capable of surprisingly quick thinking it still seemed strange to Lizzy that he made such a connection while fighting for his life.

If anything, he was way too calm when fighting. Meanwhile, Tom was busy thinking about exactly the same thing, once again he had killed a living being without even batting an eye about it.

(The way things are going I'm already capable of killing a random person on the street without even flinching… Or not? Is it because I'm fighting monsters?)

Realizing he could spend forever pondering the seeming lack of his own humanity, Tom did what any sensible person would and just buried the issue, deciding to focus on his [status] instead.

"[Status]."

Tom Laplace

Race: Human

Age: 19

Vitality: 94/192 (UP)

Strength: 66/66 (UP)

Dexterity: 129/129

Agility: 55/55

Intelligence: 165/165 (UP)

Luck: 18

Mana: 1.014/25.921 (UP)

Skills:

[Cooking 4/10] [Housework 4/10] [Memorization 2/10] [Pain resistance 4/10] [Etiquette 1/10] [Mana control 3/10] (UP) [Fine motor control 3/10] (UP) [Strengthening 2/10] [Combat awareness 3/10] (UP)

Magic affinity:

"Did you get any new [skills]?"

Seeing her student losing focus of his surroundings, Lizzy buried her suspicions of Tom, deciding instead to just continue nurturing his growth.

"Nope, but my combat awareness and mana control went up. Thanks for healing me again Anne."

"No problem, it is my job after all."

Placing a hand on top of Anne's head as she said her usual line, Tom showed her a rare smile.

"Even though I still want to thank you."

At that moment Tom realized why he was able to kill enemies with such ease.

(If someone wants to hurt me or the people I care about, I have no capacity to show mercy, no matter who or what it is… It seems I'm more broken than I first thought, although this might actually be an advantage.)

While Tom was aware he wasn't normal by any means, he decided that it was how he was going to do things going forward.

While coming to that conclusion proved to be a welcome change for Tom, he had no idea how much such a realization would come to change his life as something else started paying attention to him.

Over the next few days, time seemed to start blurring together for Tom as he continued hunting monsters with Lizzy and Anne, moving back and forward between the abandoned watchtower and deep into the wilderness where monsters which could make the pack of trolls who had attacked Tom and the others seem like nothing more than easy practice. In the blink of an eye, Tom's first time in the wilderness came to an end and he was heading back to the academy with Anne and Lizzy.

"Okay~ Good job kiddo, we're doing the same thing in a few weeks. Until that It'll be more normal training, meet me at noon tomorrow."

The next thing Tom knew he found himself face down in his bed, he was so exhausted the mere thought of removing his heavy boots and travel gear seemed a hassle, but he nevertheless managed to kick off his boots and weasel out of gear before he passed out. After a night of dreamless sleep, Tom awoke at the sound of the first bell as his old habits kicked in and he started to get dressed for morning practice, making it somewhere near halfway before he remembered Lizzy's words from yesterday.

(Oh, right she said noon…)

With that realization Tom walked over to his bed again, simply collapsing face-first into his pillow to get a few more hours of rest. Waking up a few hours later, Tom got himself some late breakfast at the cafeteria before heading to the practice fields.

"Good day Tom, it has been a while."

But arriving at the practice fields Tom ran into a person he had sort of forgotten all about doing his excursion with Lizzy and Anne.

"It sure has, miss Elizabeth. Please excuse me, I have-"

"Where have you been all this time? I was so afraid you had quit the academy."

With his attempt at escape easily brushed aside by Elizabeth, Tom took a second to scrutinize her perfect smile before sighing heavily.

"I've been training with instructor Lizzy, we went hunting some monsters. Now please excuse me."

Walking past as he gave his answer, Tom left Elizabeth behind as he started walking to a deserted part of the practice field, leaving a slightly peeved young lady behind.

"He could at least act like he was happy seeing me..."

Finding a good patch of dirt, Tom sat down to wait for Lizzy, as he did the surrounding sounds of other students practising their spells and the shout of instructors seemed to be drowned out by some kind of oppressive silence. Although he didn't know why, Tom started feeling strangely restless, getting back onto his feet he was about to leave when he finally spotted Lizzy making her way towards him.

(... For once she's late. Well, I'm also late, technically speaking…)

Taking a few steps towards Lizzy, Tom suddenly noticed his instructor react strangely, having fought against a lot of monsters with her Tom understood that she suddenly had become alert, this made Tom also realize that there was something going on.

There was something wrong with the air and surrounding space, Tom felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

(... What the hell is going on here?)

There was something utterly wrong with the current situation, and while Tom wasn't sure what it was, he wasn't going to stand around and wait to find out what it was. Moving mana through his body, Tom primed his body and broke into a sprint in the shortest direction to leave the practice field as fast as possible, but then it happened.

From a clear sky, a bolt of lightning struck down right in front of Tom, but instead of disappearing in a split second like a normal lightning bolt it somehow remained, stretching into the sky like a single bar in a birdcage. Soon this strangely permanent lightning bolt was joined by countless others to trap Tom within the practice field.

[ISOLATION COMPLETE.]

"That can't be good…"

Hearing a strange voice inside his head, sounding like a combination of every single person he had ever met speaking at the same time. Tom would think he was going insane if not for the reactions of nearby students and instructors that also witnessed his sudden imprisonment, thus drastically decreasing the chance that Tom was hallucinating…. Or at least he wasn't the only one currently hallucinating. Briefly examining the bolts of lighting which stood at about a half meters apart the mana and heat which radiated out from them convinced Tom that going near them was a really bad idea, moreover it seemed like there was also another barrier in place which blocked out sound from the outside.

[COMMENCING FINAL EVALUATION...]

Not that Tom had time to think about the properties of the cage he now found himself inside as all the hairs on his body suddenly stood on end, it was like some sort of strange mist suddenly moved through his body.

[EVALUATION COMPLETE, COMMENCING SUMMONING.]

As the strange voice rang out inside Tom's head again he finally spotted Lizzy on the other side of the barrier, it looked like she was shouting something as other instructors attempted to break down the barrier with little effect. While Lizzy desperately attempted to tell Tom something, another lightning bolt struck, this time in the centre of the barrier, like the others this one didn't dissipate either, but instead of just remaining stationary it suddenly turned spherical before expanding to about the size of a shed, as it did, lighting and sparks stuck the ground around it, charring the ground and leaving strange patterns of half molten sand on the practice field.

[SUMMONING COMPLETE.]

All of a sudden, the spherical lighting dissipated, in the place it had been occupying something had appeared.

"Oi oi oi! You can't be fucking serious…"

Half resigned to his fate, Tom started sizing up his opponent in this sudden cage match. Standing at a height of about 5 metres with heavy-looking dull yellow and brown scales on thick, towering limbs, the monster glared at Tom with a series of 4 small eyes situated right over its gaping maw filled with countless rows of teeth normally used to crush rocks into gravel along with its gigantic forked trail which could easily crush a building.

Tom was well aware of what kind of monster had suddenly appeared in the training field of the mage academy, it was a foe his mother often had included in the stories of her time as an adventurer because of its infamy.

"A ground dragon huh, first time seeing one for myself…"

(It really is as reducusly huge as mom described it…)

Feeling his mind starting to wander as his mouth opened up wide in a mix of disbelief and awe, Tom forced himself to return to reality, but sadly the dragon still remained as he did.

(Enough escaping from reality, what the fuck is going on here!?)

[COMMENCING TRAIL]

As if responding to Tom's inner monologue, the strange voice once more sounded out inside his head, at the same time, the ground dragon started moving towards him. Taking just a single step, the ground dragon made the earth shake under it before it parted its yaws and released a truly ear-shattering roar, it seemed that the dragon had identified Tom as a trespasser of its territory. As the dragon roared, the mana in the surrounding air seemed to be drawn in towards it, crystalizing together with the dragons own mana to form a pair of 2-metre tall horns made out of transparent crystal on its head as it started turning away from Tom, whipping its tail towards him.

In response to the dragon's roar, Tom let out a roar of his own as mana started surging throughout his body as he broke into a sprint towards the dragon.

(If I'm going to die I might as well go down fighting!)

Figuring that he might as well make an attempt at fighting or even surviving this sudden cage fight he found himself subjected to, Tom created a repeating spell stretching out from his left hand, creating a lance while sliding under the ground dragons massive tail which had been mere split seconds away from turning him into red paste. Moving mana into his legs Tom regained a running posture as he closed in on the dragon. Injecting another burst of mana into his legs Tom jumped, landing on the dragon's massive, scaled back.

(If I was a spinal cord, where would I hide?... There.)

Although Tom still had some resignations about his brutal tendencies, he nevertheless made full use of them as he sped up the mana circulations to his [catalyst] before plunging the spell towards the dragon's spinal cord as it desperately attempted to shake him off. Having struck the target perfectly, Tom expected the hard part of his sudden encounter to be over.

This proved to be a mistake.

"What the!-"

Sensing the dragon shift underneath him, Tom realized that his attack had no effect right as the dragon's tail appeared at the edge of his peripheral vision. Reacting on instinct as there was little time for anything else, Tom shielded his body best he could with his left arm before his vision shifted and blurred before everything went black.

(... Fuck… Me.)

Next thing Tom knew he was face first in the dirt, vision black and blurred while the rest of his body screamed out in pain. Attempting to get back on his feet, Tom made the first mistake of putting weight on his left arm which was now very broken. Rolling around onto his back, Tom got his bearings before getting back on his feet, finding the ground dragon closing in on him rapidly. Worse yet, Tom had nowhere to run as he had the edge of the lighting cage to his back. Catching a quick sight of both Lizzy and Elizabeth outside the cage, their aghast expressions easily summarising Tom's current state. While he wanted very much to complain and scream out in pain or even try to run away, at that moment none of those thoughts ran through his head. Finding his left arm useless, Tom took the [catalyst] with his right hand as his brain went into overdrive.

(My spell didn't work, then should I try the wide-angle attack? Nope, that's not going to work… I need something else, something more effective and fast. Fuck, my pain resistance can't keep up with this level of injury.)

"Tom, run! Run away!"

"He can't hear you. Now get back, when Tom dies that dragon is most likely going to be hanging around."

Watching her favourite disciple get back on his feet even though he was doomed to die very soon, Lizzy was busy preparing for when he had passed away.

"Instructor, he is going to die, you have to do something!"

Meanwhile, Elizabeth didn't seem to have heard anything Lizzy had said to her as she was panicking, or more along the lines of straight-up freaking out. Although Elizabeth had so far seen Tom as a convenient tool, and she had even been annoyed enough at his continued refusal to have him harassed, it now seemed that she had only done that because she actually had started caring for Tom. The way he never lied to her and wore his emotions with painful honesty was something Elizabeth had rarely seen within the constant power struggle of high society.

"There's nothing to be done, now back of lady, it's my job to fight to the death to protect you, and that's fucking hard to do when you stand in the way!"

Overall tired of being polite around the little lords and ladies and now watching her favourite disciple die at the god's whims, Lizzy had no energy left to be polite as she shoved Elizabeth away before forming her pair of ice claws while the other instructors formed up behind her.

Moving mana throughout his body, Tom remained expressionless as the ground dragon closed in on him, as its steps shook the earth, he started lightly jumping in place. Without realizing it, Tom had just succeeded in employing strengthening without depleting most of his mana first, but he was still far from done.

(There's no way I'm just going to sit here and get myself killed!)

Pouring mana into his [catalyst] as he swung it around, Tom imagined his normal lance.

(Mana goes out and concentrates into a single point, then back into the [catalyst]... It needs to be faster.)

Catching his [catalyst], Tom clenched it in his fist as the mana running into it turned violent in response to Tom's inner thoughts.

(Faster… Faster than that!)

As the mana left Tom's [catalyst] and concentrated into a single point about a meter in front of his fist before returning to the [catalyst] it now started moving faster and faster, swirling with enough power and intensity that the mana started becoming faintly visible to the naked eye.

As the ground dragon closed in it seemed to be done using its tail, this time it seemed that it wanted to screwer Tom on its horns as it lowered its head like a bull.

(Faster! FASTER! SWIRL AND CONDENSE!)

By the time the ground dragon's horn came within a meter of its intended target Tom's spell was now very much visible to the naked eye, blue and black energy seemed to swirl violently around his [catalyst], pouring out of it and concentrating into a single point before flowing back into the [catalyst], compressing, rotating and speeding up as it did.

"NO FUCKING WAY I'M GOING TO DIE TO A FUCKING LIZARD!"

Breaking into an immediate sprint as the ground cracked underneath him, Tom's entire body screamed out in pain as he tore his muscles and strained his tendons to their absolute limit. In the blink of an eye, Tom was right in front of the dragon's head that it had lowered into its charge like a raging bull. Coming to a stop, Tom slid a few meters on the ground before moving most of his remaining mana into his legs as he jumped, twisting his body mid-air as he avoided the dragon's horns as his spell struck true.

Coming into contact with the dragon's sturdy scales, Tom's spell seemed to tear them apart like wet tissue paper in a blender, breaking the ground dragon's impressive armour up into chunks which were dragged along the flow of mana as those chunks continued to disintegrate. Of course, it wasn't just the dragon's scales that broke apart in that manner, as it ate through the dragon's scales, Tom's spell showered him in its blood as if he was carving into the dragon's soft tissue with a chainsaw, spraying blood, sinew and grey matter all over the place like a running blender without a lid on.

Not able to break his momentum, Tom smashed into the dragon's head as his spell dug into it at the same time, recoiling off of the trough scales he was thrown to the side.

The last thing Tom saw was the ground closing in rapidly, then everything went dark.

[TRAIL CONCLUDED, GENERATING FINAL SCORE, STAND BY…

GRADE: B-

TRAIL PASSED, GENERATING BLESSING(S), 'SAINT' #555936 ANOINTED.]