The Graduation Test

As he and his mother began to set the table for dinner his father asked him a question seriously, "Are you okay, August?"

Augustus responded to his father saying roughly the same thing he said the last three times his dad asked this question after arriving today, "Yes dad. I'm just glad that Cindy and Lucy are perfectly safe and sound. Despite how things seemed I wasn't really sure I could have protected them in the moment. Thankfully the three of us all got out of their live and safe. Not to mention Cuddles being just as brave as her dad today." He would give Cuddles a happy pat on the head.

Cornelius clarified realizing that his son hasn't caught on to what he's really been asking this entire time, "No Augustus.... I mean are you really okay with having to go to another world? Ever since what happened the last time we all decided to get on a spaceship as a family you've had a crippling fear of leaving this world. Hell there was even a time where you were afraid to get on airplanes feeling something similar might happen."

Augustus lowered his head a little bit ashamed in himself, "No dad...... I really don't want to.... But I got no choice, so I just got to suck it up and deal with it. But I am trying to think a little bit positively. Who knows it might somehow become the best thing that ever happened to me. Even as doubtful as that might seem."

Cornelius opened his mouth to say something but the words just couldn't come out so he closed it. But Lucinda placed her hand on her son's shoulder as she sat the final plate on the dinner table.

Lucinda reassured him, "I believe you will shock yourself with how brave you can become. When I saw what you did today on the news for a moment I saw that brave little boy that I raised come back first time. That look in your eyes as you move to protect your sister, was a look I haven't seen you make in a long time. Don't let the possibility of tragedy snuff out that flame of hope that you finally rekindled."

He leaned in and his horns touched hers for a moment, "Thanks mom..... I just hope that I can live up to the expectation. Everyone who talks about the First Awakened say that they are some of the most powerful and most heroic people in the galaxy. I'm not crazy enough to think that I am on that level or even close to it. But I hope I can reach it someday now that I'm counted amongst them."

Cinderella speaks up and pouts, "To hell with other people's expectations. Live your life how you want to Augie. The only thing that matters is that you live a life that you can look back upon and smile at."

Her husband raised up mug of beer in agreement, "Amen to that. Worrying about what other people think only stress you out. The only people whose thoughts you should worry about are the people who mean something to you. And as far as I know that just means everyone in this room right now."

Augustus smiles weakly but he does genuinely appreciate it, "Thanks guys. Not just for the kind words but before supporting me for this long. It means a lot...."

Cornelius blankly states, "That's what family is for. We support each other. Together.... Always and forever."

They all repeat the final phrase as it was the motto of their family, "Together. Always and forever."

Feeling a bit more relieved everyone finally got into their seats and began having a beautiful dinner. There was nothing fancy it was still delicious. And a dinner with one's family was more impactful than all the riches in the world. It was something Augustus cherished deeply, and something he will miss greatly.

By nightfall he found himself outside of the city limits after deciding he needed a space to train his new abilities. He decided to go to the place where his teacher who has spent the last century and a half training him in practically everything he knows when it comes to combat lives. He ended up at the barely maintained or used building known as Heromaker Training Academy. There his teacher made a promise that he could train students in every form of combat to eventually become some of the strongest in the land. But barely anyone actually was willing to pay the tuition to get in because no one really knows or cares for the teacher and his combat methods.

His teacher was a man who was called, Korrii Gang'Gang. He was a pure blood goblin from the planet of Pandakyra. Pandakyra was the third planet to be affected by the Player Plague nearly 300 years ago which meant that his master was a Player as the name of the curse implies.

His teacher is a master of all forms of combat due to three skills that he has called: All Combat Expert (Legendary-B), Legendary Teacher (Legendary-A), and Nurture the Future (Mythic-A). His teacher has said that he has more skills but they all happen to be either Normal or Rare rank and are not above Grade C.

Having read his master's skills before to understand why his teacher made the school, Augustus was already familiar with what they did. All Combat Expert made him an actual expert in all forms of combat and the higher it's grade the more powerful he would be in a fight no matter which form of combat he chose to use. With his rank being B he was essentially strong enough to kill 100,000 men by himself. Legendary Teacher made him an exceptional teacher who understood perfectly how to teach each individual student to make them learn and grow in the most optimal way possible making the student more successful a lot quicker. With a grade of A for the scale it meant that he could teach students things faster and have them learn it better than even what he could teach them. And Nurture the Future made it so that anyone that he teaches would end up becoming twice as powerful as what they would have without his education and the better they did at learning from him the more likely they were to grow even from there. The higher it's grade is the more powerful those who learn under him can become. And with a grade of A it could make any student that has learned from him 10 times more powerful than what their normal limitations would allow for.

However even with this being public knowledge most people didn't know him and didn't trust his skills. Because of that his academy is considered mediocre and most of the people who actually decide to pay the relatively small amount of money to attend are few and far between.

Augustus started learning here about a decade after the traumatic incident on the space ship. He was the third student to ever learn from the academy. Over his time that he has attended this place even to this day there is only ever been a total of 50 people that have chosen to learn from here.

Augustus himself was a special case as the master does have the skill to appraise other people's innate talents and affinities with one of his weaker skills. When Augustus was appraised his potential was registered as a 1 across the board for everything which is the lowest his master's skill can appraise someone and he had no affinities for anything. Despite that his teacher did not see it as Augustus being so weak that he was unable to help but instead saw it as a potential to help Augustus become more of a jack of all trades. That's why Augustus is so skilled at essentially every weapon that he's ever touched and why he is able to use magic, ki, psionics, and spiritual powers.

The last time his master appraised his abilities a year ago, Augustus had an overall 50 in everything and he had a minor affinity for everything. A 50 was still considered weak even by his master's standards as it can go all the way up to 1000.

At the time it made him feel like he barely made any progress until his master pointed out that by being able to manipulate magic, ki, psionics, and spiritual power and having an affinity for all of it even a minor one meant that he could use them to buff himself considerably to keep up with other people. And he has learned multiple buffing abilities that improve almost every aspect of him over the years.

In the fight earlier that day, he even assumes that what he did when fighting the monster was subconsciously activate all of the buffs that he knew in a fit of anger. Watching the footage he saw aspects of different spells and abilities that he has taking effect. To him this meant that his master was right and that he could reach extreme levels of power by combining all of the different abilities and spells that he's learned over the last 150 years. Even if they were all pretty weak, together they were pretty strong.

His thoughts and memories are interrupted as he finally reaches the front door to the academy and to his surprise it opens for him. All of the students that he has gotten to know over the years are standing there waiting for him, and his teacher is in front of them opening the doors for Augustus to enter.

This causes Augustus to stop and be confused by what's going on. His teacher smiles up at him and then uses his innate Goblin racial ability to power up and even grow from the 4ft tall rather average built middle-aged man to a near six and a half foot tall super jacked warrior.

His master was dressed in graduation robes that he only wore when those at his academy pass the final test and are considered graduates. Professor Korrii adjusted his glasses and slicked back his shoulder length blue hair. The purple skin goblin man stared him down with bright blue eyes that seemed to pierce into Augustus' soul.

"Finally you are here. I knew after what I saw happen today you'd be here to try and test out some of your new skills or to gain wisdom from someone like me. As you can see everyone is gathered and you know what that means," blurted out Professor Korrii.

After seeing his teachers attire and looking at the fellow students he realized that what was going on was a graduation exam. And not just for anyone but one for specifically Augustus.

Augustus remarked in confusion, "Teacher! Please tell me that you're joking! I'm not ready for the graduation exam!"

Professor Korrii responded with enthusiasm and great vigor, "That's where you are wrong August. Seeing you on the news today and how you defeated that monster to become the First Awakened of this world I am very certain of your readiness even if you aren't...... But I understand if you need a bit of time to adjust to some of your new capabilities. Especially from what I saw when the cameras caught a look at your character sheet. Hahaha!!! Only fit for a student of mine! Now..... To the practice field!"

It wasn't more so a request more than an order that Augustus had to forcefully comply with. Before he could even say anything several of the students came out with smiles to walk him or rather drag him to the practice field. The practice field itself was roughly three times larger than your standard football field and it was a wide open space where the teacher would use magic to manipulate metal robots to simulate combat or to use as targets and various other things.

Upon reaching it he saw nearly a thousand of these machines in the practice field where there are usually roughly 50. The only time there's ever that many is for the graduation test. However there were some off to the side. Clearly meant to be test dummies to help Augustus get a clear sense of his new skills and power. Augustus also took note that there were several instruments brought out and set up which is customary for the graduation test as the other students will perform the graduation test song which is essentially an ambient melody that plays to inspire the person taking the test to fight harder.

The professor after getting everything ready moved many of the dummies that were in place for the graduation test far to the back out of the way. He called over 10 testing dummies that would be used to help Augustus get an idea of what his current skill set is like with his new capabilities from becoming the First Awakened of this planet.

"Now August..... I want you to start with the first offensive spell I ever taught you. Simply aim at one of the targets and let's see how it is compared to the most recent time I had you do this same demonstration a week ago," instructed the professor as he looked over to Augustus making it clear that this was happening even if he wasn't ready for it.

Augustus after accepting that this was happening let out a sigh and took a moment to compose himself. Once he got everything in his mind studied and focused his stance changed.

Augustus cast Minor Pyro Manipation. It was the most basic of basic fires and was the first spell that he ever truly learned. Though it could be used for other things it can be used for combat. However it's output is so pathetic that the best it can do is start a campfire or give someone first-degree burns. It required such a tiny amount of mana that it barely cost Augustus anything to cast. He shaped it into the form of a dagger no bigger than your standard kitchen knife. Though the spell allowed for him to manipulate the flame in up to a 5-ft cube of space at most having it in this specific size and shape made it easier for him to aim and fire properly.

Then he selected the target that was the closest to him and sent it flying at it. As the dagger impacted and the flames ignited and spread across the target to his surprise it cause an explosion equivalent to a fragmentation grenade getting set off. This startled both him and a good majority of the students watching.

Professor Korrii smiled with pride and stated, "Amazing isn't it? The difference in power that you now have. When I had you do this scene test a week ago to see your progress you are able to leave a noticeable singe on the targets torso enough that it would most likely give some pretty nasty first degree burns on any person you might hit with it. But now you've blown up my test dummy with the same spell. Go ahead and test out some of your other capabilities with the rest."

Realizing that coming here he was hoping to get some practice into gauge his new capabilities anyway; this situation ended up being perfect. With the graduation test and some of these dummies to practice on before it he can really get a idea of just how far he came along.

Augustus took up a fighting stance and activated one of his ki abilities known as Lion's Heart. Though using ki came at the cost of some of his life energy and ultimately chips away at his lifespan in tiny minuscule intervals it still will ultimately kill him at an early age one day. With that in mind he did not use this ability lightly and as it activated he felt his heart ignite into flame with inside him and it gave off a glow that could be seen through his skin. His blood turned to molten magma and his eyes had trails of smoke coming from the corners of them.

He then rushed forward and his professor manipulated one of the test dummies to charge at him in response. As Augustus reached the dummy he swung his fist. Usually the punch would create a enough heat to do slightly more damage than his Minor Pyro Manipulation spell could do to a person, but was generally around the same level of power. To his surprise it didn't just generate enough heat to leave some cages and small burns, but enough to melt through the training dummy. Creating a clear hole from entry to exit out the other side of the dummies torso.

As he pulled his arm back out of the training dummy and seeing just how much stronger he is now with this basic ability a smile started to slowly form on his face. He thought now would be a good time to test out something else.

Augustus used his psionics to activate the ability psychic fire manipulation which functioned on a very similar level to Minor Pyro Manipulation but it was not magical in nature and it was still slightly weaker. However it was able to do more for him while Lion's Heart was active, as Lion's Heart boosts all attacks that he can deal that are not magical in nature. Like it did with his punches.

When he realized this years ago he knew that it could be a kind of trunk card that he could pull at the time when in a sticky situation. But since his magic, ki, psionics, and spiritual abilities have all been buffed thanks to his new skills; that means that the effect of this combo of abilities should be even more effective.

Augustus look to his teacher with a expression that asked for more enemies, and his teacher made two of them dash at him this time instead of just one. As they charge forward he shaped the nearby fire coming from the dummy that he punched a hole through into a sword made of flame that then floated in the air next to him. He then grabbed the fire sword and as the dummies got within reach of it he swung in rapid succession at both of them. He watched as the heat made the initial incision and the actual flames helped burn everything within its path. As a result he cleanly carved both dummies into large pieces.

Just like earlier when he fought the monster and initially buffed himself that morning there was a aftereffect where the heat still caused some destruction in the area around him, but it was much smaller this time. Most likely because all of the buffs that were active this morning were not active now. A visible burn across the grass in the field where he stood could be seen being generated by the heat from the swings stretching out a further 15ft from where the actual flaming blade was swung and hit.

Augustus looked back to his teacher and said, "I want to test my speed now sir. Could you have the rest come at me at once?"

Professor Korrii gave a wide wicked grin of satisfaction hearing that his student that has been with him the longest and has taken the most time to teach finally had that fire in him that he had been trying to stoke and ignite for a long time. Looking at Augustus he could see that the flame in his heart was not just the literal one he could see in that moment but also the metaphorical one that had been lacking in him. Without saying a word he just simply moved his hand, and the rest of the training dummies that were meant for practice charged forward at Augustus.

Augustus then focused his breathing and centered his mind once again. This time he wanted to prove something to himself. He wanted to prove that he was not weak and that he could really become something special. He knew that he had a lot of people supporting him hell his teacher had spent 150 years of time teaching and training him as his pupil. He needed to prove to himself that he was worthy of all that time invested and all that support given.

Knowing the time constraints that he still had with Lion's Heart he activated another spell known as Electric Slide which temporarily would boost his speed to just under the speed of sound for 30 seconds. Red lightning started arcing around him as the spell activated and he could feel as the enemies that were charging at him all seem to slow down drastically. He took the flaming sword in his hand and then channeled into it magical flame as well by casting Infuse Flame causing the sword to go from a red color to a pure white fire. This was simply to buff it s output even more stacking as much firepower into it as he could. With his speed being enhanced in this way he hoped to achieve something that he could be proud of.

He then started to move, and with his first step towards his targets his eyes seem to change his vision. In an instant he could see the millions of ways that he could defeat each of these training dummies in precise, effective, and efficient ways. They had a glow around them that was green in color which he had seen a few times when he allowed his eyes to really gauge his targets in the past. This meant that he was seeing the magic that was moving them.

He realized that this must be an effect of his natural racial capabilities being applied alongside his new unique eyes given from the Eyes of the Cinder King ability he got. With this information Augustus smiled and started to pick up his speed as his feet carried him along towards his targets.

To everyone else's eyes he was just a blur of lightning streaking forward and then in an instant as he leaped up in the air and that momentum slowed just for a second they could see him with the lightning arcing around him. Then he vanished from sight becoming a streak of lightning again that appeared in front of them holding the flaming sword and smiling.

They watched as all of the dummies instantly are melted down to liquid metal that is then scattered for roughly 50ft. Everything within a 50ft radius of where Augustus was seen before appearing again in front of them ignited into flames as he swung his sword. At the speed he was moving when the swings landed it was just enough for him to temporarily break the sound barrier and give off a sonic boom of force.

They stood in all and admiration of his skills and abilities. The professor applauded him seeing how far he had come and the confidence that now radiated across his face. He no longer saw the scared little boy that he had known all this time. Instead he saw the man that he had one day hoped would emerge finally for the first time in front of him.

Augustus looked at himself and let all of his abilities that were either barely hanging on or he no longer needed wash away for a moment. As he reverted back to his normal self he slowly sat down in the grass to catch his breath.

As he got his breathing under control and let the adrenaline and excitement leave him he felt a hand that was familiar place itself on his head. He looked up and he saw his teacher was now 4ft tall again and patting him on the head.

"Professor," Augustus said in a questioning way.

The professor looked at him with a kind warm smile, "Looks like the real last night I wanted you to learn all these years has finally sunken in. It took some time but I can see you finally learned it. In life it'll be rare that you'll have the chance to truly rely on others to see you through something. Because of that you need to be able to rely on yourself and your own capabilities. But most importantly you need to have faith in yourself. Because the moment you start to doubt yourself and what you can achieve you will truly lose the battle. Even in a situation where it may seem unwinnable there's always a way to turn the tide in your favor so long as you do not succumb to self-doubt and fear."

Augustus looked at him reflecting on the words as he had heard them from time to time over the last century and a half. Only now did he truly understand that this entire time the only thing stopping him from achieving his desire to let go of his fear of what happened and actually grow as a person was himself. The fear from the trauma he gained that day on the spaceship holding him back from truly becoming the person he wanted to be. He gave the professor a nod and started to smile. He began thinking about how he could have reached this level of strength a long time ago if he actually got out of his own way and had just a little bit of faith.

However that thought was interrupted by his teacher, "Now get up August..... Or have you forgotten that it's time for you to take the graduation test?"

He could see all of his fellow students smiling at him excited to see how well he does for the test. Many of them quickly rushed over to the instruments that they would need to play and the others got ready to start their singing. They would watch and perform to motivate and encourage him. They wanted to see him succeed as he was considered the master's greatest pupil. Despite his notable weaknesses he had learned from the master the longest and had gained a wide variety of skills making him overall the most experienced at them all.

Seeing how his fellow students genuinely supported him and hoped for his success, Augustus stood up holding his head up high for once. His professor then reminded him how the grade for the test is considered, "You should know all too well how the test works, but the last one was about three decades ago. So here's a refresher.... In order to pass you simply need to defeat 200 of the dummies. However the more them that you can defeat before they ultimately overwhelm you will count towards a reward that you can be given based on your performance. The better that you do the better the reward."

The reward that his teacher was talking about was a part of one of his teachers rare skills called Reward the Showman. The skill was pretty weak however it's main function was to create an item based off of how well the person the teacher would observe does in a test like this. The better the person does the better the item that is created by the skill as a reward for them. He remembers the last time he checked his teacher said the grade of the skill was the highest out of all of them that his teacher had which was his teachers only Grade S skill.

As Augustus gave a nod and prepared for the test to begin he got a pop up that displayed as a massive screen for everyone to see. Augustus got a quest from the God of Games himself. This shocked everyone who saw it as this was the first time any of them has seen a special quest up here or even heard of such a thing. Even the professor hasn't had a special quest directly from the God of Games himself; despite having a few special quests over the years.

This quest read as follows:

Special Quest: Graduation Test

Required for completion- Pass the graduation test.

Reward for completion- An item of one tier of quality higher generated by Korrii Gang'Gang's Reward the Showman skill.

Exotic Quest: The Hero I Trained

Required for completion- Pass the graduation test by defeating all training dummies.

Reward for completion- 10,000 gold, an item of 3 tiers of quality higher generated by Korrii Gang'Gang's Reward the Showman skill, a new random skill between Epic to Mythic rank, and Korrii Gang'Gang will have the grades of all of his skills raised by two categories for being the teacher who trained you.

Seeing the quest appear and reading it Augustus felt pressured. But seeing that if he could complete the exotic quest he could not only gain a lot of nice benefits himself, but also in a way give back to the teacher who trained him all these time he started to feel motivated.

He looked to his teacher and gave a nod and a look that said to go ahead and start the test. With that the professor gave a quick prayer for his success and wished him luck before using his magic to start the graduation test.

As the first of the 1000 training dummies started to move Augustus cast Electric Slide on himself once more and activated Lion's Heart. He then used Infuse Flame on his fists and feet.

With that he charged forward meeting them head on and striking them with his bare hands. He knew in order for them to be counted as dead he would need to land a blow that his master would consider fatal. So he started targeting the heads and torsos of his enemies. With his Eyes of the Cinder King showing him the most effective and efficient ways to do so in the shortest amount of time he began following the paths that would lead him to ultimately completing the exotic quest.

Just before he could throw the first punch he cast another spell to buff himself even more. This time it was an augmentation spell called, Boost Muscles. This spell caused him to have his muscles nearly double in size, but despite how bulky he might seem it also boosted his overall agility and stamina as well as his strength and sturdiness. Allowing for his punches and kicks to have much more force behind them than they initially did.

He knew the duration for the spell was 10 minutes and would last longer than Lion's Heart or Electric Slide. Yet in combination with them it would make him noticeably quicker and stronger. Thus making it worth using in this moment.

It definitely paid off as the first hit landed and the force of it was very similar to the punch he threw that morning against the monster. It punched a sizable hole not only through that training dummy but through several others that were behind it within a roughly 50ft distance. The heat from it left a clear path of burning grass in its wake. But this wasn't enough for him as he needed his attacks to be stronger in order to do what he could to complete the exotic quest.

Realizing he needed to put more into it he cast Infuse Light on himself which functioned almost the exact same way as Infuse Flame did. Except instead of using fire it used concentrated and highly focused light similar to the beams fired from laser weapons.

With that he attacked with more focus and determination in order to succeed. With each strike he made multiple enemies would be hit by simply as an after effect of his attack. He knew that what was causing this was most likely the fact that there was so much power being used that it was generating a destructive wave of that similar type of energy. He hoped to use this to his advantage.

Over the next 10 seconds Augustus rapidly destroyed 150 of the training dummies almost effortlessly. As he listened to the music his fellow students were making to cheer him on at the speed he was moving it sounded more like an angelic chant rather than a fast-paced epic battle song. In a way it was even more motivating to him in that pace as it seemed like something divine was cheering him on, and given that his quest was from a god that was more literal in a way to him.

It seemed to get his blood pumping more to truly show off what he can do when he finally let go of a lot of the things that were seemingly weighing him down. He started running in a circle doing about a hundred laps in 5 seconds to build up more speed and momentum. Then he propelled himself forward in a leap with his this forward towards the largest group of concentrated enemies.

Upon colliding with them he just melted straight through them in a line. Going roughly 200ft back as he slowly lost speed and momentum and gradually fell towards the ground again. He was able to take that momentum and much of what he's learned from his teacher to safely roll before he impacted with the ground and regain his footing. Seeing that every target that he hit in that line as he went flying forward lay on the ground defeated, he wasted no time attacking all of the enemies around him.

As his speed was slowly about to end he looked around and saw that he had already defeated around about 400 enemies and roughly 25 seconds. He knew when his speed ended he would need just a couple seconds to cast the spell one more time. But given how many enemies still remain that might not be so easy to pull off.

He needed to give himself the time to cast the spell before he could be potentially swarmed as well as some breathing space. As easy as it would be to try and just run a far enough distance away; that would also potentially make it look like he's running from the fight and might lead to him getting disqualified for fleeing. Instead he wanted to use a emergency area of effect ability he had and see how well it does with the range and area of effect boost that he got.

He use the last couple seconds of speed that he had to focus his mind and he let out a wave of psychic lightning that he manipulated from the magical lightning around him outward in all directions. This was called Volt Bomb and it's normal range is supposed to be 50ft around Augustus at best, but thanks to the buff he got from his new skill it's now tripled to 150ft. Alongside the increased area of effect of course was the increase in damage output. Watching as the electricity hit all the dummies within range, he was shocked to see that the electricity was so deadly it disintegrated parts of the dummies as the electricity came into contact with them. Leaving many of them horribly injured or outright destroyed.

The ability took out roughly 75 of them in one go and definitely bought enough time and space. As the enemies charged at him he cast Electric Slide again and got back to the rapidly massacring them with his fists and feet.

By the time 30 more seconds had passed only 10 dummies stand before him remaining. They still relentlessly charged at him with the intent to attack him all at once. Wondering if his master might have pulled some punches in controlling them; he is quickly reassured that that is not the case. These last 10 seem to have a good understanding of his fighting skills and capabilities. They are dodging many of his strikes and attacks a lot more than the ones before them.

Feeling his magic is starting to run low, he decides that it would be better to try and end things with a final decisive attack that could affect all of them at once. Rather than trying to take them down one by one and hope that he can land a hit on them before they knock him out.

For it to work he needs them to get close together, and the only way to really do that is to let his guard down. So he simply drops his fighting stance and stands there as if he's done. This seems to catch his teachers attention in a way that infuriates him.

"I told you never let your guard down in front of the enemy," shouted the professor in the background.

All of the dummies been charged at him at once. As it look like he was about to get struck from all sides by them, a smile quickly appeared across his face. Once he had realized all of them were within a 5ft cube of space, he cast Minor Geo Manipulation.

At the end of the day they were made of metal which is something he could manipulate with this magic. And as he did, he froze them all where they were and then with a simple hand motion each of their body parts or pulled off and separated. With another hand motion swinging his hand outward through the air all of their pieces were sent flying across the field.

Augustus turn to the professor with a smile seeing as he tricked even his teacher into thinking he really let his guard down. He assumes he was only able to do so because no one in the past ever thought of simply using earth magic to rip all of the dummies that come near them into pieces.

He asked the professor, "So..... Did I pass?"

Professor Korrii stood there perplexed for a moment as he realized that was the first time anyone actually thought to use earth magic on his training dummies. Then the older man began to laugh. He had a good old chuckle that only the student that had been with him the longest truly fought to pull a stunt like this for victory. Then he gave a firm nod, "I would be a fool to say that you didn't after that display. Not only that you defeated all of them. You're the first to pass with flying colors like that."

Augustus walked up to his teacher of many years and stood proud before the man. His teacher looked up at him and then crew big again to show him respect. He then held out a badge which was a sign that he had received training from the academy and graduated. It was engraved with his name on it. Seeing it Augustus felt joy as he never knew if the state would come.

"Augustus Miles Volcanus. I hereby present you with your badge for graduation and declare you a fully trained hero. I am very proud of you my truest pupil and oldest friend," the old man gave him the badge and placed his hands on his shoulders giving him a warm smile of pride in the student that he trained.

Upon receiving his badge both the special quest and the exotic quest were cleared. As a result he got a notification on his character sheet that 10,000 gold was now in his inventory and a random awakened skill card was as well.

Seeing the moment was interrupted by the quest completion and the pop up, the professor realized that he might as well go ahead and give him his reward for putting on the most spectacular show. Professor Korrii used his Reward the Showman skill and to his surprise the light that it normally generates was a much different color than it's ever been before.

The color of the light that had shined as the reward was randomly generated by his skill was a brilliant bright red color. As the light slowly faded and the item was revealed they saw floating in the air above the professor's hand was a beautiful ring. It was a golden band that was designed to look like two dragons interlocking tails and their hands and feet lock in place a large beautiful pristine ruby. With the heads of the dragons looking upward using their teeth to hold in the gorgeous diamond that was smaller inside than the ruby but just as well cut.

A status screen and window appeared explaining what the item was. It said:

Blade of the Emperor of Armageddon (Divine Relic)

This blade is a divine relic created by the Dark One as 1 of 9 of his supreme swords made to kill even Gods when at their full power. It was made using Etherium and enchanted with the destructive power of a billion supernovas. This blade was made to be comparable in power to the first Phoenix King and Queen ever created by the Dark One himself also. However in its current state it is dormant only capable of using a tiny fragment of its full power. To realwaken it you must either bring it in front of a dragon of a fire elemental type or you must get it within a close proximity of the Dark One himself.

Enchantments:

- This is a +10 katana.

- This blade in it's unawaken state still deals in additional 25d10 fire damage on a successful hit.

- All fire damage you deal regardless of what type or how it is dealt deals an additional 25 dice unless the damage by this sword. However spells and abilities that apply additional fire damage to the sword will still receive this buff.

- You heal from fire damage while bound to this sword.

- While not using the sword for combat it will change forms into that of a ring that you can wear without anyone knowing that it is really a sword.

- This blade can be called back to you at will with a thought no matter where you are in the multiverse.

- This weapon has a crit range of 15-20 on the dice. On a crit it will deal 10 times the normal damage instead of your normal multiplier. However if you are a descendant of the Dark One the multiplier for this sword will become 20 times the normal damage. If you are the Dark One himself this blade will deal 100 times the normal damage.

- While bound to this blade all spells that you know can be cast 3 more times per day.

Both Augustus and the professor stood in all of the weapon but for two completely different reasons. Augustus after reading it thought that it was an amazing item to receive, and one that would definitely be something he keeps with him for a long long time. However Professor Korrii specifically locked in on who made and used this weapon and was filled with overwhelming fear.

It was a blade that belonged to the Dark One a being who is known for doing quite a lot but is mostly known for three things. His trips to hell where he would go to war with all of demon kind in Hell by himself for a couple thousand years just some mass murdering and slaughtering over and over and over again of all of the Demons that he could find. He was unrelenting in doing this to the point where he would kill demons that had reconstituted their forms in a way similar to respawning in a video game and would be waiting there for them just so he can kill them again and again. The demons themselves fear him so much that they gave him the nickname the Dark One, which has long since become the name that everyone calls him by. His original name is only known to a select few.

The Dark One was also known for his utter decimation of any God or Gods that he considered an enemy. He's killed so many Gods that he has also gained the nickname the Godslayer of the Gods.

The last thing that the Dark One was known for is being the living embodiment of Destruction, Fire, Magic, and Light. He was a literal concept given physical form and unable to be killed. Even if his physical form may experience death you can't kill a concept. He will either willingly reincarnate or instantaneously make himself a new body depending on the situation. As the living embodiment of magic itself all magic that exists is him and comes from him. He is the very reason why Dragonkind is the most powerful with Mages as a strong second to them of all of the races in existence because both races are direct bloodline descendants of him.

The professor thought that Augustus would already know this, but he was unaware as Augustus took the sword while in its ring form with a smile on his face. Augustus had no clue who the Dark One was but he assumed given the power of the sword it must be a pretty strong deity with a close tie to destruction given the name of the sword and its description. Upon sliding the ring on his right hands ring finger it adjusted its size to fit his hand perfectly.

After putting it on it began to bind itself to him. Once being bound to him was completed, a light started to shine from the ruby and the diamond.

Soon a notification appeared saying that the binding was completed and that the sword would now function perfectly. With the sword now Augustus felt like he really could become the version of himself he always dreamed of. Someone powerful and strong capable of defending and protecting those he cared about. With a smile on his face he gave a bow to his teacher.

"Thank you, Professor. Thanks to your hard work and dedication and trust in me I have finally started to truly understand what it means to be a hero. I came to this academy in the hopes to change my life for the better and under your tutelage and wisdom I have finally started down the path that I dreamed of so long ago. From every part of my heart..... I thank you....," Augustus exclaimed with utmost gratitude and appreciation.

The professor looked at him and for a moment his mind was back on who was standing in front of him; even though the thought of the sword and it's creator was still in his mind. Professor Korrii simply replied, "I am happy to see that you have finally come this far. All I can do now is wait and see where the path you wish to walk with you. And I pray that you will remember my teachings and my wisdom so that you remain the man that I know deep down you are. But... that's enough sentimentality... Now it's time to celebrate!"

As they began to celebrate all of the other students rushed inside to the dining hall. Upon arriving in the dining hall Augustus look to see the mighty banquet that was prepared with all of the love of his comrades. It was truly an amazing feast.

As they all started to grab plates and fill them with delicious food Augustus couldn't help but smile. About an hour later half of his fellow classmates that could drink alcohol were drunk. The other half was falling asleep after eating so much delicious food. And the younger students were all getting ready to go home for the night as it was getting late.

As he was finishing up a cup of refreshing sweet tea, since he did not drink alcohol, one of his fellow classmates approached him. She was an orc with a tall athletic build for one of her race. She stood around 7ft tall and her muscles were larger than his, but she still had a defined feminine look and shape to her. Which was normal for women of her race. She had lovely light blue skin and long curly white hair. Her eyes were an even brighter shade of blue which almost distracted you from her cute pointed ears.

She wore a slightly revealing dress for the party tonight, but one that was still good enough to wear around children so it didn't reveal too much of anything. The color of it was white like her hair, and across her neck was a noticeable amulet with a pretty sapphire the size of a quarter hanging from it.

She tugged on his sleeve for a moment and motioned for him to follow her as she wanted to discuss something privately. Realizing that you wanted to have a private conversation he got up and politely excused himself from the rest of the group that he was still sitting and eating with. Following her she ended up outside back in the practice field where nobody would dare come to interrupt their conversation.

Her names was Ysasilma Valt Namossa Hildara gra Snowblood, or when translated to English Ysasilma of the Endless Blizzard of Clan Snowblood. She was 203 which was still younger than him by a bit given that he was 219.

As the two of them stood outside she opened her character sheet and showed it to him. Looking it over it said that her class was called Vagabond and it said that she even already unlocked her subclass for it called Wicked Water Style. With his knowledge of how she has been trained he knows that she fights more akin to a mixture of a samurai and a monk. He knew that the Wicked Water Style was a combat technique that she was learning from their teacher as it was the most closely aligned to her natural capabilities when it came to manipulating water and ice as part of her specific orc bloodline.

Taking a look at the character sheet again he noticed that it said she was level 10 where he was level 15. Looking over her character sheets and more he saw that she had a lot of Health and Mana. Her Armor Class which is supposed to be her natural defenses or overall defense was decently high even in her dress.

She explained, "So halfway during the dinner, I got a notification from the God of Games asking me if I wanted to go to the special planet that I know you're going to be forced to go to. I thought things over for most of the rest of the dinner so far, and I ended up deciding to agree since I had a day to think about it. I guess the thing I wanted to talk to you about is..... Would you like to team up while we're on that planet, so we're both not just stranded and alone on a new world?"

Looking her over he could see that she was nervous and potentially worried she made the wrong choice. But he knew how strong she was, and her a long time he thought she was even stronger than he was. He placed his hand on her shoulder and gave a firm nod.

"Sure. I enjoy watching you pummel your opponents. Better to have you on my side than to potentially be on the receiving end of your fists," Augustus agreed jokingly.

Seeing him easily except her as a future teammate she smiled warmly, "Wonderful.... I'll make sure to try my best to keep up with you."

He laughed and then he asked her, "So what was the unique skill that you got upon receiving the curse?"

She informed him, "It is called Rejuvenating Waters. It's rank is Epic and of course it's a grade of D. It essentially heals me for every second that I remain submerged at least halfway in water. The amount of healing that it does to me is doubled if I'm fully submerged. Currently it only provides a weak amount of healing at the moment. But I'm pretty decent at water magic so I think I can cheat the system in a way by using my water magic to completely surround me in a ball of the stuff. If it works that means I'll be able to essentially heal myself whenever I need to, so long as I have a couple seconds to stop and heal."

"Not bad. I would say that at least yours perfectly suits your skill set," he gives a kind smile to her and the two of them start making their way around the academy and towards the front entrance.

As they walked she started asking questions about his current personal life, "I am sure you know by this point pretty much everyone on the planet saw the footage of how you awakened. I bet your girlfriend was terrifying seeing you in that situation. The few times that I met her she seemed to worry about you quite a lot."

Augustus for a moment fell silent remembering that when he goes home tonight it will just be him and Cuddles. The shame of having lost his girlfriend of a decade it was something that he had been trying to repress his emotions about given everything that's happened today.

Noticing that he didn't say anything Ysasilma looks to him worried, "What's wrong....? Did something happen between you two....? Oh God don't tell me that she ended up getting attacked by that monster in the footage today?!"

"No no. Nothing like that.... We just broke up is all....... and it's all my fault for being unwilling to change," he quickly tried to clarify realizing that he might have gave the impression something worse happened than what actually did.

She felt genuinely sorry for him having to deal with a breakup and then being forced to fight for his life and now be thrust into the spotlight. She try to comfort him some, "Well at least you are alive. My grandma always told me that some people are only in your life for a season, and when they leave it's okay to miss what you had with them. But eventually you'll find someone or something too fill that hole. Since we're going to be working together you can talk to me about anything. I really mean it. I don't want you to feel overburdened."

As they came around to the front Augustus tried to thank her for her attempt at comforting him, "Thanks but I don't-"

He is then interrupted by the shout coming from a car nearby of someone who seems furious with him, "There you are old man!!!! I've been looking for you all day!!!! Do you know how worried I was?!!!"