The world is divided into three great continents — Sage, Hage, and Ozmus.The Sage Continent lies to the west, Hage occupies the center, and Ozmus stretches far to the east. Vast oceans separate these lands; Sage and Hage rest relatively close to one another, while Ozmus drifts farther across the eastern seas.
In the southern reaches of Ozmus lies the Ruby Kingdom.
Flester's hair whipped in the wind as he stood before Emberhold's gigantic gates, exhaustion weighing heavy on his battered frame. It had taken him a solid week to get here—crossing rough terrain, running into his classmates, and barely making it through his last fight unscathed. Now, sore and bruised, he realized the best thing he could do was find the infirmary before even thinking about challenging the Flame Champion.
"Are you hurt?" He heard a voice of a male, it was a guard on duty in the entrance gates of the city.
"Ya, got injured on the way." Flester answered back rubbing the back of his head. "You are from?"
"Frosthold."
"I see." The guard said with a muffled laugh, then when his eyes met the eyes of the other guard, both of them burst into full-blown laughter like shameless kids after bullying a much weaker one.
"What's so funny in that?" Flester asked with a frown which only increased their laughter "Why are you looking at us like that, as if any of you Frosthold mages could beat us." He laughed more.
"The only actual mages Frosthold produces are from the noble family, everyone else are literally useless." He continued mocking Flester until he had heard enough.
With a burst of speed, he appeared in front of the guard and without hesitation punched him hard sending him crashing into the huge entrance. The guard groaned getting up and spat out blood.
"You think you can beat me?" He asked Flester who did not care to answer, instead both of them rushed at each other, and just when Flester was about to receive a punch to his face, he disappeared reappearing behind the guard, and as his hand glowed with flame, he thrust it into his back and again sent him flying.
He turned back just in time to catch a flying kick from the other guard and effortlessly threw him on top of the first guard.
"Wanna taste more of a useless mage?" Flester mocked them back, and jumped just before a disastrous punch tore apart the ground below him.
"You're not supposed to fight over here?" The man, with a brown staff and a cap said. "I am the captain of these guards here." He said as Flester landed, few feet away from him.
"I have seen how they both had disrespected both you and your city, I apologise for their behaviour." His tone seemed genuine and Flester could not help but nod his head.
"I see, forgive me for my rudeness and attacking a guard." Flester apologised back and with a bow walked past the head guard.
GLARES. EVERYWHERE.
Every single Emberhold citizen were glaring at him, a Frosthold mage. "I surely did not expect this much hatred for Frosthold city." Flester thought to himself.
Several muscular people willingly bumped into him, and pushed him, all so that Flester would start a fight.
"They are trying to start a fight...Better not act."
"Guess someone only takes on the weak." A women, in her fifties judging by her voice commented, all knew on whom, and a few chuckles were also heard.
"Just got lucky against our weak guards."
More insults about him and the Frosthold came flying by from all directions.
Flester had enough, if he stayed at this place any longer, he would surely lose his temper. He was not used to sitting simply while someone mocked him.
"Light step." He muttered, and vanished, not leaving a trace. "Did we lose him?" A person asked, none of them could keep up with the legendary speed of the light step, created by Flester.
"Too slow." Flester commented. He knew very well he was strong, and could also be considered as a prodigy, but what about everyone else? From his memories of the academy, even the day before the graduation, almost everyone seemed clumsy with their attacks and techniques.
Too many openings, slow reflexes and inability to scan the field, purely dependent on luck and a few basic moves they had mastered.
Maltin was also strong, he could see it during their fight, even though Flester did not try much, Maltin made very less errors compared to his other classmates and was very quick with his attacks.
"It's not their mistake." Flester whispered to himself remembering his academy teacher, and how he would only teach, and clarify doubts mostly for Fey. The other kids never had a chance to have proper mentor resulting in lack of knowledge, in both magic and the outside world in general.
Flester had studied and practiced from a young age, learning countless techniques from books and creating his own through theoretical knowledge.
"If only we had a proper mentor." He whispered.
"Excuse me, can you help me find the infirmary?" Flester asked a passer-by.
"It is in the centre of the city. Almost all cities have infirmaries in the centre of their cities."
"Thank you very much."
"It's okay, young boy." Flester bowed down and then walked away walking to the centre of the city.
"It's really smart keeping the infirmary in the centre." Flester thought. "It is far more easier that way."
In a few minutes, Flester was in front of the infirmary, he had long lost pain in his wounds but he still wanted to be cured and be at his best for his upcoming fights. Opening the door, he stepped into the infirmary and was greeted by the sharp scent of herbs and smoke — a mix of healing salves, burnt incense, and faint traces of blood lingering in the air.
"You can follow me, mister." Flester's sleeve was pulled by an older lady, she looked about in her mid-twenties and wore a nurse attire so tight showing off her curves, it left little for imagination.
"Ummm, where are you taking me, miss nurse?"
"You are here to get treated right?" Flester nodded, and she continued pulling his arm to another part of the infirmary dragging him into a room.
"I would like you to lay down in this bed, and let me scan you for injuries." Her sweet voice made Flester not question much and simply lay down in the bed as instructed. A white light emitted by her hand floated a few centimetres above Flester's body as the magical technique scanned all his injuries.
"Don't get too excited okay?" She said before the white light went out. "With whom did you even fight?" The nurse asked, as she looked on to the injuries in his body.
"You have many cuts, bruises and you have many Manabursts too."
"Manaburst? is it a wound" Flester asked and recieved a smack to his head.
"It's not a wound—it's Manaburst. When you use lots of magic, more than your body can handle, you suffer Manaburst. Now, until it heals, you can't fight to your fullest-hell, even fighting normally would be hard for you."
"Ohhh... How long does it usually take to heal?"
"You have suffered it on both of your arms, it will take a week of proper rest to cool it down, and even then using more than a certain amount of magic will course unimaginable pain through your body?" She finished explaining and looked at Flester's terrified and pale face.
"What's wrong? Young boy?" Flester looked at her. "Nothing, nothing at all, Lady nurse."
She raised an eyebrow. "Lady Nurse? That's a new one."
"Well," he said, half-smiling, "you've got the authority of a lady and the patience of a saint. Seemed fitting."
She shook her head, trying not to smile. "You talk too much for someone still in recovery." "Guess I heal faster when you're around." She sighed.
"When I first saw you with that annoyed face, I thought I would be treating a rather troublesome guy, but it's good to see you are quite normal."
"That's bad, you should never try to judge a person just when you met them." Flester said with a glare.
"Maybe you should have not kept that annoying expression on your face, and have half your clothes in no condition to wear, its literally full of holes now." She said receiving another glare from the young boy.
"I don't think you should be the one to talk about the way I dress." Flester stared down at her dress which seemed inseparable to her clothes. She blushed, many had said to her in the past, and every time a blush appeared on her face.
"It has become so bad even a teenager is commenting on it." She muttered to herself before taking a huge breath.
"Back to buisness, seeing your injuries, I guess it would be around... ummm, bruises, cuts, manabursts. That will be 1 Gold Crest." The nurse said.
[THE MOST COMMON CURRENCY IS A SILVER SHARD. A 100 SILVER SHARD IS EQUAL TO 1 GOLD CREST. AND A 100 GOLD CREST IS EQUAL TO ONE PLATINUM CROWN, COMMONLY USED BY NOBLES, ROYAL FAMILY AND RICH PEOPLES. THE MOST COMMON WAYS TO EARN MONEY FOR TRAVELLERS AND CHALLENGERS ARE BY SELLING THE MAGICAL ORBS AFTER KILLING THE MAGIC BEASTS.]
"Well, do you have enough money for that.?" She asked and Flester sighed. "I do have 10 magical orbs, so I can afford it."
Flester said and the nurse only nodded. "One magical orb is sold for 5 Gold crests, pretty sure you can afford it."
She lifted his sleeve up and began healing his arms. The white light emitting from her palms made his magic to relax and began to close the cuts and heal him.
Unable to resist the feeling of getting healed by magical energy, he could not help but let a small moan escape his lips which caused the nurse to chuckle.
"That's a nice Orb emblem you have." She said when the mark in his forearm appeared. "Thanks. Had to make it ourselves."
"I know, I know, now stay silent and let me do my job of healing you."
After the whole healing was over and Flester had sold 3 of his 10 magical orbs to earn 15 gold crest, and paid 1 Gold crest to the nurse and left.
"What now? I just entered Emberhold, and I'm supposed to rest for a day for my Manaburst even after the nurse healed me." He thought.
"Normally after I finish my healing, all problems including the Manaburst should disappear but it seems you exerted a very large sum of magic and even I could not heal it completely." Flester remembered her words after the treatement.
She had also said she had reduced the Manaburst to half a day, meaning by the next day he would be able to fight again.
"After that maybe I can fight the champion and earn the Flame symbol then master my second stage."
"Hello mister."
He turned back to see a man older than him call out to him.
"What is it?" Flester asked the man who smiled back at him. "I'm from the Emberhold Lions Club, you have heard of it, right?"
'Ya, its a popular club originated from the Emberhold city." Flester answered back and the other man beamed at him with a smile.
"Clubs operates like professional teams, officially recognized by the Federation. We accept missions from the central board and take part in seasonal tournaments where clubs fight for fame and glory. Clubs are mostly joined by adventurers and you can't join a club if you are not a citizen of the country of the club. We give our club mages good amount of money in exchange of them bringing us glory."
Flester looked at the cheerful man with a deadpan expression. "I already knew it, you don't need to say it to me."
"So, will you participate in the Emberhold Lions adventurer's trials?"
"Emberhold Lions adventurer's trials?" Flester looked at him with a puzzled expression. "What is that?" Flester asked him.
"A test where we see the ability of every person before choosing whom we like into the club." A young male voice came from behind him, before turning he noticed the man before him now wore a serious and alert expression.
Flester turned back to see a man with bright, spiky red hair tied back into a small ponytail, and his eyes were black.
"Lord kael." The guy from the Emberhold Lions said.
"Kael? you are Kael Agni? The Flame Champion?" Flester asked unable to believe himself. "Yes, I indeed am, and I also happen to be the captain of the Emberhold Lions." Kael said. "So you formed this club?"
"No, the Emberhold Lions existed even before my birth, I was elected by the people of Emberhold to be the captain after I stood for the captain spot."
"I see."
"So... Flester, are you going to participate in the trials...or not?"