Aethernea : Soulbound [Book 1]

Episode 111 - Rroda blood

Previously:

The day of the practical exams is finally here and Kiel is inside a large arena created by the Replica Dungeon. Nelaira tricks Deora into attacking the Rroda brothers, and Deora ends up pursuing Kiel with a barrage of fireballs. Kiel runs away, dodging the fireballs, however, Deora manages to hit him with an explosive airball. Kiel loses his consciousness and remembers how he got trapped inside the burning house as a child. After waking up he gets into a life and death situation that makes him overcome his fear of fire and launch a counter attack on Deora. He manages to poison Deora, knocking him out of the competition. Seeing Kiel win his fight, Rhur finished Nelaira off in a fit of rage. Kiel manages to recover through applying a healing ointment. Kiel and Rhur team up to attack Zor. After realizing they are no match for Zor, Rhur turns on Kiel, sneak attacking him.

* * *

Kiel accelerated left and right all over the stadium until he reached his half-melted sword that had been lying on the ground. Kiel's body flashed by, picking up the sword in the process.

Seeing how Kiel still bothered to pick up that ruined piece of metal, Rhur couldn't help but chuckle huskily. "Brother, if you need a weapon I can lend you my sword. Lest people say that I am bullying you."

"I can't take advantage of you, brother. If you lent me your sword you wouldn't have anything to defend yourself with. If I won in such a manner, my victory would hold no meaning." Kiel politely declined. He continued flying all over the arena, while simultaneously casting multiple spells on his sword.

"Oh, don't worry about me, little brother. I'm not even using my sword. Giving it to you would hardly have any impact." Rhur continued.

"Which is why there is no meaning in giving it to me. I can manage all the same with or without it." Kiel shot him down and heated up the blade of his sword until it turned orange. As he accelerated around the field, the molten sword left countless swirling ribbons of smoke in his wake, adding a dramatic charm to his actions.

He had heated up the metal to more easily change its shape through Morph. The more rigid the material, the harder it was to mold it with Morph. Dense yet soft and flexible materials were the easiest to Morph.

When Rhur noticed Kiel trying to morph his sword back into shape, he felt obliged to spout some more flowery words dipped in a heavy dose of venom: "Brother, I wasn't aware you had skills in blacksmithing! Is that what you've been doing the past few years in the village? Why didn't you apply for the crafting exam instead? It would have suited your capabilities better."

Kiel's cold face had no change in expression as he replied: "Brother, you are praising me too much. This little skill of mine can't compare to your varied talents. Your skillset is so large that it is difficult for me to remember all that you are good at, besides fighting and flirting. Could you please remind me, what other areas are you proficient in again?"

"Ah, don't waste time trying to remember it, little brother, lest you get a headache. You are better off spending your mental faculties on improving a single skillset until it is at least presentable."

While the two were trash talking back and forth, Rhur's attacking and Kiel's flying about didn't pause in the slightest. In fact, the tempo of their battle was steadily increasing.

Besides running both his legs and his mouth, Kiel was also working on his sword, slowly familiarizing himself with the feeling of morphing metal. Distracted by all the multitasking he was required to do, he completely failed to notice that he had forgotten to cast a temperature isolation spell on his own body. Heat in his surroundings didn't register inside his mind at all.