Dawn training had become a routine of failure.
Enya knelt in the sand, picking up a small piece of glass—the only thing her lightning spell had managed to create. It caught the gold dawnlight, smooth and clear. Around her, the others looked equally defeated.
Mira blew sand from her mouth, looking like she'd wrestled with a dust devil and lost. Every movement sent more sand cascading from her hair.
Rohen resembled a clay golem, thick mud coating his arms and chest where his earth-water spell had turned against him. "At least yours makes something pretty. Mine just makes me look like I fell in a swamp."
"Everyone, please stay calm," Tomas said, clutching his wand. His voice strained with the effort of keeping them together while afraid to even attempt his own fire-earth spell.
"What can we do?" Enya stood, still holding the glass piece. "Go back to the books? I've been buried in theory for days. Nothing's working."
"Even the advanced stuff we learned didn't help," she continued, her voice carrying the weight of recent disappointment.
"The tournament is in a few weeks," Rohen said, giving up on the mud. "We'll face real magic that could destroy us while we're here harming ourselves and making pretty rocks. I can already hear them laughing.
Vel's gaze moved between his classmates, taking in each defeat. He sat apart from the group, his practice sword planted point-down in the sand.
"That's it." Mira threw herself backward onto the sand, arms spread wide. "I'm giving up. Good luck with the tournament." She stared up at the lightening sky. "Not that we can compete with the elite anyway."
The blade ground deeper with each twist.
Aqu-alea-voltis mino-retum. A simple incantation that would change everything for Enya.
He could end their suffering in minutes. Show them the proper incantation, explain the three-channel theory, watch their faces light up with hope instead of defeat. Just like that.
But then the questions would come.
How do you know this advanced theory, Vel? Where did you learn about chaos magic that even our instructor doesn't understand? Why do you have knowledge that doesn't exist in any textbook?
Vel's grip tightened on the sword hilt. He'd been sticking to his principles since revealing his understanding of Stormbringer, expecting some breakthrough his classmates could claim as their own.
He remembered that hollow feeling from his past life—copying someone else's solution versus working through the problem himself. The answer might be the same, but the understanding, the confidence that came from struggle—that was irreplaceable.
But watching Mira give up, seeing Enya clutch that glass shard like a symbol of her failure, hearing the defeat in their voices...
How long can I hold onto principles while my friends destroy themselves?
The class stagnated in defeat until footsteps approached across the sand. Lyvenna entered the training ground, her expression unreadable.
"Class," she announced, stopping before the scattered group. "I have good news and bad news."
Mira didn't even lift her head from the sand. Enya still clutched her glass shard. Only Tomas managed to look up with any real attention.
"The good news is, unstable students are allowed one team to enter the Academic Trials—the objective-based tournament."
YOU ARE READING
GameDev Reincarnated into His Own Creation
FantasyWhen renowned game developer Giri meets his untimely end, he awakens as twelve-year-old Vel in the magical realm of Aeonalus-his own creation. Five hundred years have passed since he crafted the world, and Vel finds himself in the village of Oakhave...
