The Black Necromancer

Leon hummed as he watched Elena's battle through James' eyes. She was quite good for a Peak D rank. The Demon warrior she had just killed was a Low C rank, yet he was helpless against her attacks!

"She should be close to level 100. When she gets there, she will eventually look for me for a Class Change Crystal. Unless she chooses to go back home. Then she will have to tell Rodius why she went back home instead of coming to me." Leon said thoughtfully. He had already made plans for all this.

He left his mansion and soon arrived at an open training ground that was to the west side of Fort White. It was large and expansive, like an arena. There were ascending seats that allowed people to watch the match that was going on inside the arena.

Under the hot afternoon sun, Leon found Nero and Raegan in the middle of the arena. He actively hid his presence as he approached to avoid distracting them from their training.

Raegan was unleashing a flurry of attack at Nero, while Nero blocked and counterattacked at intervals to point out Raegan's openings that could easily be exploited by an enemy.

Leon nodded at that. Nero was actively taking the time to train Raegan and raise the latter's skills. While the Obsidian Skeleton had been born as a B rank, and with a high Race level, his skills were all still at Beginner grade, which was nothing. He possessed no finesse with his spear, and could only use his raw stats if he wanted to overcome an enemy.

Leon turned to the stands and saw Kaladin and Daren seated there, observing the match. Kaladin was speaking with the younger mage, no doubt explaining things to him. He was talking about how Daren could exploit Raegan's openings as a mage, and how he could defeat the latter. Daren nodded his head eagerly as he absorbed the knowledge that he was being imparted with.

As the two Obsidian Skeletons were relatively clean slates with a wide surface where new knowledge could be inscribed, they absorbed knowledge very quickly, and their skills grew at a pace that was even more exaggerated than Leon.

This was because their ranks did not match with their skills, so their skills were able to grow at a quick pace in order to catch up with their ranks. It had only been less than a day, yet the both of them already had above level 50 Beginner skills!

"Switch!" Nero called up to Kaladin as he rounded up the training session with Raegan. As the two of them left the ring, Kaladin and Daren entered.

"Remember what I have taught you. You will test them out against me before you spar with Raegan. Do not shame the me or the Master." Kaladin's voice was stern.

"Yes, senior." Daren bowed slightly while holding his staff in front of him.

"Start!"

Daren's eyes flashed with blue light as he spun his staff. The skull on the top blazed with blue fire as he instantly launched several blue fireballs. The fireballs blasted forward and slammed into an invisible magic barrier that Kaladin had conjured around himself. Smoke and dust rose into the air as several more fireballs sailed forward.

Daren smoothly initiated a combo by turning the earth underneath Kaladin into mud to sink him in, then hardening it and firing another wave of fireballs.

Sharp blades of wind materialized around Kaladin before firing into the dust cloud.

"Ha!" Daren grunted and slammed the butt of his staff onto the ground, causing two small domes to rise around Kaladin and seal him inside.

BOOM!

Within the dome around Kaladin, an explosion rang out, causing cracks to form across its surface. Daren clenched his fists and spikes grew on the inside of the dome, stabbing Kaladin on the inside.

In a final bid to complete the combo, the earthen dome exploded, causing a shower of dust, rock and smoke.

"That was impressive." Kaladin's voice rang out from within the cloud of smoke. A gust of wind appeared out of nowhere and cleared the surroundings, showing Kaladin standing unharmed as a pale blue barrier protected him from the attacks. Not that they could harm him in the first place.

"However, for a B rank, they are lacking in explosive power. What you are using to make up for these deficiencies is a lot of mana, which will not work to your advantage in a battle against multiple B ranks." Kaladin continued to point out several flaws in Daren's style while the other mage dutifully listened and took all these into consideration.

"Now, you and Raegan will fight." Kaladin said as he waved his hand. The damage done to the arena was repaired, and he stepped onto the stands to sit beside Nero while Raegan came down.

"It seems we will finally be able to pit our strengths against each other, brother." Raegan said with a hint of excitement in his voice as he strode forward. His spear was at the ready in his right hand while his left hand was holding a medium sized kite shield. The shield was light enough for him to retain an acceptable level of agility, while still being able to block certain attacks.

"Indeed. Shall we?" Daren replied and held his staff in front of him.

"Fight!" Kaladin ordered.

Immediately, Raegan rushed forward, holding his spear to the side of him. The tip of the spear blazed with a black fire as he appeared just a short distance from Daren. However, instead of rushing forward, he suddenly dodged to the side in time to avoid the rock spike that darted out of the ground.

"Not so easy to get close, brother!" Daren tapped the butt of his staff on the ground a couple more times before the ground began to rumble. Two human sized golems rose from the ground with dark blue fire burning in their eyes. It only took a moment for them to comprehend Daren's orders and attack Raegan.