Ivern lets out a strained breath as his opponent surges in and crashes into his guard.
"Lucky hit," he grunts, jaw tightening as pain shoots down his arm.
His shield rises late, caught behind the strike already landing. The impact tears through his arm, knocking his stance open before he can recover.
Before Ivern can pivot back into guard position, the opponent surges forward again. A knee drives into his ribs. A hard shove snaps into his chest.
Ivern hits the ground.
"Enough," the instructor cuts in.
The opponent steps back.
Disappointment cuts across the instructor's face for a brief moment. "You lost at the final exchange." A pause. "Not timing."
Ivern's gaze stays sharp, unwilling to let it end.
"Output." He coughs, blood staining his lips. He wipes it away with the back of his hand, rolls his shoulder, and carries on.
The instructor takes a deep breath and sighs
"Listen Ivern, your mana pool sits below class average. That gap decides outcomes at your level." The words lingered long after the sparring was over.
The training hall emptied. Wooden weapons clattered back into their racks. Boots echoed through the stone corridors, fading as the first years drifted towards their next class.
Ivern watched as the rain pressed against the academy's window, streaking the glass in slow black lines. Inside, stone halls carried evening cold into the classroom. First years filled the benches in uneven rows, uniforms still stiff, sleeves still uncreased by use. The history lecturer stood at the front with a chalkboard behind him.
Chalk scraped across the board in a sharp line, dust hanging in the air. The instructor cleared his throat. "Listen up." His hand lifted toward the writing. "What you see here are the houses."
"House of Blood." House of Dragon." A faint pause of disgust settles across the instructor's face at the mention of House of Dragon. A line cut between them. "Opposite sides on the map. Positioned directly across from each other." The instructor's hand lowers.
"Commmonblood are able to wield the four elemental groups. Ice, fire, earth, air. These form the standard system. Elemental users can layer magic onto weapons and armor."
Now listen carefully. As this will dictate your future. His finger shifted lower. It's the tier system of power:
TIER 1 Half-blood
TIER 2 turned vampire
TIER 3 true vampire
TIER 4 ancient vampire
Each tier determines how much of the sealed blood are permitted to consume
Tier 1:
Physically stronger than baseline humans. Control of ambient blood within a five meter range. Limited shaping. Sharp constructs. Shielding forms."
Tier 2:
Doubles tiers 1 strength. Ambient blood control extends to a ten meter radius. Users gain limited internal access to a target's blood, enough to restrict flow, slow movement, and interfere with physical function.
Tie- The instructor pauses, then gives a short scoff. "As if any of you will make it this far," he mutters under his breath
"Moving on… classification is based on military strength. Your placement depends on whether or not you lead a squad or fall under command"
"The ranks scale at five, ten, fifty, one hundred."
His hand moved sideways.
"The final rank is major general. Currently 5 Major Generals each control roughly ten thousand normies and minor generals."
The chalk moved again.
"Departments of war, Finance, Internal affairs and last but not least the great Monarch at the top."
He tapped the board.
"Commonblood occupy land. Uneven distribution. Size depends on function and inheritance."
A final line.
The chalk stopped against the board. The instructor turned, eyes sweeping across the room. "Any questions," he said, waiting for movement among the students.
Ivern shifted in his seat. His grip tightening against the edge of the desk. "Your mana pool is below average." The instructors voice still lingered in the back of his mind
Ivern leans back. "That doesn't add up," he says under his breath."
"What are you talking about?" His classmate leans in slightly.
Ivern glances to his right. "Nobody was talking to you."
" You're still thinking about what the combat instructor said about your mana pool," he mutters
Ivern rolls his eyes
"You're not behind like that," the classmate says. "You're improving every session. Mana pool expands with rank training. Some people only unlock higher tiers after promotion."
Ivern scoffs lightly.
"Promotion," he repeats, like the word is optional in reality.
He leans forward again, resting forearms on the desk. Calm returns, but it feels forced into place.
"I'll just scale past it," he says. Quiet. Certain. "Tier one, tier two, whatever they want to label it. Same system. Same output."
The classmate extends a hand for a handshake. What's your name?
Ivern glances at the hand. A short pause. Then he takes it, firm shake.
"Ivern. You?"
Meanwhile on the other side of the world
Malvera steps to the right bending ever so slightly as she drives a fist to her sparring partners ribs
"Good hit" he grunts as he falls to his knees, "how are you still getting better"
She lets out a faint smile as she lets out a helping hand out
"I'm feeling really good today we shou-" The instructor intrudes fearing for the classes morale
The instructor's face softens. " I think this is enough for today, you're growing at an exponential rate"
Malvera lifted her gaze toward the sky. eyes closed as she feels the sunlight gloss over her face and the feeling of overwhelming excitement and anticipation dawns on her.
Her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of bell
The instructor booms out "Alright the class is over if you have any questions you know where to find me"
Footsteps fade through the barracks. Malvera stays behind. She wipes down the weapons slowly. The steel cooling under her hands. silently dragging the arena back into order, clearing away the last signs of training. Silence settles deeper with each pass. She sighs, already dreading the thought of history class
She raced through the halls, her eyes darting to every clock she passed.
As she barrels down to class looking at the clocks she's running past realizing just how late she is, she finally makes it to class and she flings open the door as it creaks wide open
"Malv-"
I'm so sorry, Professor. I know I'm late," Malvera gasps, her apology rushing out before the instructor has a chance to finish.
"Cut her some slack, Professor. You know how she gets after combat class." A couple of students break into quiet laughter. Chairs scrape. Attention spreads through the room in quick shifts. Eyes flick toward Malvera.
"Get to your seat now, young lady," the old woman says, eyes fixed on Malvera as the room quiets.
"Settle in," the instructor says, letting out a faint sigh. "We're finally starting class."
"Picking up where we left off," the instructor says. A brief pause follows, as if the word itself weighs unpleasantly in her mouth. "The fundamental difference between us and those Crimsons lies in origin."
Malvera eyelids lower slightly, her attention drifting off as the lecture carries on
"Those unruly Crimsons experimented on human and non-human blood." Her expression is tightening. They called it research. They kept subjects alive through torture over long periods, days turning into weeks, weeks into months.
On the other hand," the instructor's voice shifts lighter, the tension in the room softening
"The house Dragon remains intertwined with the Holy Dragons, connected by blood and soul."
"You will need steady control over your emotions to form a bond with a dragon," the instructor says, calmly "That connection only becomes possible at Tier 3."
Malvera stops drifting completely.
Her fist tightens under the desk. A sharp spark of excitement hits her chest. Her gaze lifts, fixed forward, like the room collapses into a single point. The moment Tier 3 is mentioned, everything else blurs away.
"I'm getting there no matter what" she murmured with a slight tone of vengeance.
Before anyone could speak, a thunderous crash erupted outside the academy. The sound rippled through the halls..
Harrowing screams poured through the halls. As dread settled over the academy. Their cries twisted throughout the corridor, spreading fear among the students.
"What was tha-" A sudden pain pierced through Malvera's stomach cutting her words short. She looked down slowly, her vision fading as the world around slipped out of focus
her eyes lingering at the blood, frozen beneath the weight of realization
"Wow, that's a lot of blood," she whispered.
Malvera feels a sharp pain on her stomach, as she looks down slowly losing vision she sees blood she tells herself "that doesn't look so good"