Chapter 58: The Crucible
I looked at the terrified young man in front of me, recognizing him from the meditation chamber. He was the one who had tried to speak to me multiple times before one of the senior disciples had silenced him.
His face was still bruised, though there seemed to be some fresh marks I hadn't noticed earlier. The expression on his face made me feel a bit guilty - clearly, Elder Molric's forceful summoning technique had left quite an impression.
When the elder had mentioned combat training, I'd expected practice dummies or maybe some kind of automated training system. Using another initiate as a living target hadn't crossed my mind.
Though in retrospect, that had been rather naive of me.
This was the Order of the Last Light after all - an academy that kept failed students' crystallized remains as decoration. Of course they wouldn't bother with training dummies when they had perfectly good initiates to use instead, it was probably considered inefficient to practice on anything that couldn't scream.
"Master," Azure said, "at least it's not the elder himself offering to spar. That would likely end with you decorating the walls."
I had to agree. Given Elder Molric's... enthusiastic approach to everything, a spar with him would probably result in me becoming a permanent part of the academy's architecture.
Looking at the still-shaken initiate, I decided to try and salvage the situation. No point in making enemies through the elder's... unique approach to teaching.
"I'm Tomas," I said, keeping my voice friendly. "Sorry about..." I gestured vaguely at the space where Elder Molric's technique had activated.