LightReader

Chapter 9 - First challenge

"The sixth known class is the obscurity Sovereign. They have taken the human form completely. Though some of their special features, like horns, tails, eyes and other such features still remain. They are the commander of their legions. Only one has been killed till now. Can you guess who was the one to defeat it?" She asked, throwing a question at the students.

"Storm Ashborn!" A student at the front row exclaimed.

"Correct. It was non other then the hero, Calamity Gunslinger, Storm Ashborn." Anna smiled. She knew this answer would come instantly. Who doesn't know the hero, who is the only one to kill one of the enemy commanders. And being an alumnus of the academy, he was worshipped by the students.

"So, he's already revered as a hero." Austin knew Storm. He was one of the most important NPC's. He had even done a mission with him. His aura imbued bullets were like missiles, packing quite the punch. His most powerful shot was like a nuke, capable of flattening a whole city.

"The obscurity sovereigns also have no known weakness. When hero Storm killed it, it evaporated into nothing from his ultimate shot. As a result, nothing could be found without a body to investigate." Anna said.

The students gasped in shock. They didn't know that the beast was killed in such a way. Their respect and worship for Storm went further up, knowing about his prowess now.

Anna smiled at their reactions and continued speaking. "There is one more class of beast that has been seen very recently in the frontlines. The information is still not verified, but I guess I can tell you all."

All the student's ears perked up. Their eyes were shining with anticipation.

"They are being called Umbral Harbinger. They bring the darkest skies with their arrival. No one has seen them clearly, but it is believed they are far stronger and higher in hierarchy then the Obscurity sovereigns."

A wave of shock spread among the students. The mysticism around this new eclipse beast was fascinating and making them excited.

"Why has the umbral harbinger appeared this early?" Austin was surprised. He knew about this beast class. It appears far later. This was the beast he was about to slay with the NPC's, when then the game was discontinued.

It was one of the final bosses and no one even knew about its existence until a professional player gets a mission to investigate the castle dungeon in the dark lands. And it had happened when the main characters were out of the academy and were well know heroes.

"The events are shifting their preset time and moving ahead. Is this probably a butterfly effect?"

GONG! GONG! GONG!

"This is it for today then. I'll s-see you all in the n-next class then." Anna was back to her nervous and shy demeanor when she stopped explaining. The bell had rung and the class was over. She hurriedly picked her book stack and moved out as fast as possible.

Murmurs started among the students. They started discussing about this new beast intensively. They started throwing out theories and their own assumptions, as if they had seen the beast with their own eyes in the battlefield.

"Woah! Umbral Harbinger. Just the name is giving me goosebumps. What would it be like facing it in real." Aeron was astounded.

"You'll probably shit your pants."  Austin chuckled but didn't express his inner thoughts.

"Next is the practicals right?" Austin asked. Aeron nodded to affirm. "Let's go then."

They stood up and moved out of their seats. When they started climbing down the stairs, one of the students moved to the front and started speaking aloud, grabbing everyone's attention. Aeron and Austin had to stop in their tracks too as all of them turned their heads towards him.

"Attention! Everyone. I'm Mor Blackfur. You would have guessed already, that I belong to the Blackfur family. My rank was 301 in the entrance tests. So, I'm the top entrant for the C class." He said with a wide grin plastered on his face.

Mor was a bearkin, hailing from one of the prestigious families of the beastkin. Being 15 years of age, he was already six feet tall. He had a bulky body covered with black furs giving justice to his family name. His sharp canines were showing out of his elongated jaw while he was grinning.

"The hierarchy of the class should be set early. So, I propose that we decide on the leader, who will represent class C. since I'm the top entrant, I should be the leader without a doubt. But I want to give you all a chance, so that no one can complain later."

"We have the practicals next. Whoever wants to challenge me, can do so then, in front of the professor. I'll take anybody on. You won't be able to deny your defeat later. Haha!"

"So, tell me, who wants to challenge me?" He spread his arms out, standing proud scanning the whole class with a smirk on his face.

"He's acting as if he topped for the S class." Austin smirked seeing him flaunt in front of everyone.

"What about you, brave boy?" Mor said pointing at Austin.

"Me?" Austin was surprised. "Why the hell is he targeting me?"

"Yes. You were acting quite brave and jumping around senior Carson, challenging him to a duel. I've got to say, you do have courage. What do you say? Wanna decide on the leader with a duel?" He looked at Austin fiercely.

"Haha! No. No. I'm not that brave. You are perfect for the leader spot. I support you." Austin gave a thumps up to Mor. He didn't want to get himself involved in these childish games. He can be the leader as much as he wants.

"Let's go Aeron." Austin called him out and the two of them started moving out.

"Hahaha! So, you're a coward after all. Orphans are like that though. But what can be done, unfortunately, you couldn't grow a spine since your mother didn't feed you her milk. Hahahaha!!" Mor laughed aloud, mocking and provoking him.

Austin froze on the spot, stopping on his tracks immediately. His clenched his fists hard. An uncontrollable fury was rising inside him. Taking about his parents and mocking them, was touching his reverse scale.

"Great! Congratulations bastard. You've provoked me successfully. Let's do it then. Your pathetic excuse of a duel." Austin said over his shoulders, speaking in a cold voice through gritted teeth.

More Chapters