Re: Elf Prince—A Degenerate's Second Chance-Chapter 43. Final Test

43. Final Test

All this went as far back a a week when he had just finished his morning training drills, he had gotten considerably stronger in his training forms. He had done so well that he deserved a pat on the back and of course his uncles was not one for such praises so he gave himself the well deserved pat.

Eryndor had been able to utilize more of his magic better, his comprehension of flame magic was something his uncle Thalvarin would never joke and because of this fact Eryndor became too familiar with the element. His comprehension of the element surpassing a number of youths within his age frame.

Eryndor finished his training and immediately went to clean up, that day was one of the few days he would take to cool off not because he felt he had deserved it but because of an unfortunate thing that gained in the past. He had pushed himself too far when he was fatigued causing him to overheat and almost die.

Eryndor stayed in his room and contemplated another one of his swift defeats from his uncle. Not long after he was called by his uncle for something urgent.

There he stood in the living room standing gracefully his huge bulking hands folded before him, he did not turn to face Eryndor even after he stopped behind him. Thalvarin waited for a while before he finally spoke, "Eryndor you have been training under me for long enough, you will never be ready for the next phase."

Eryndor felt a cold pit in his stomach, he did not know how to react well with this new piece of information. He might not have been a genius but he was somewhere near average, or he expected to be. He never really did anything to offend the cinder king, so what prompted this sudden change.

"I don’t understand, did I do something wrong? No I must have done something wrong, please tell me what it was." Eryndor almost sounded desperate as if he was about to have the thing he loved most in the world taken away.

The cinder king looked at him over his shoulder with proud eyes and gave his young student a proud smile. "Quite the opposite."

Eryndor raised an eyebrow in confusion. "But you said—"

The cinder king raised his huge hand and clamped it down on Eryndor’s shoulder, the weight almost caused him to stumble and fall. "You are progressing quite well, if you want me to teach you further then you will have to take part in this quest."

Eryndor was between confusion and interest, "Quest, what quest?"

The cinder king replied after a while. "This is where almost all of my students turn tail and run, this will be your final test."

Now Eryndor was fully confused, how was he supposed to react to that? "I don’t understand you, final test for what?"

The reply he got was slow and strong. "This is your final test to see if you are worthy of becoming my protégé. So what do you say sparky?"

Eryndor failed to hold his surprise as his jaw fell wide open, was this for real? What did it even mean. In the popular webtoons and movies he had read in his previous life this was like passing on a mantle to a worthy student.

"Do you mean you want be to be your successor, the next cinder king? To be clear I did hear that right?" He found those words hard to believe, he wondered if this was another one of uncle’s pranks but from the glance his uncle shot him he guessed it was real.

Thalvarin replied him, "You learn more from a real battle than from training with me. Real experience is gold to an adventurer. You do plan to be an adventurer don’t you?"

Eryndor raised an eyebrow and shit his uncle a questioning look, he never recalled ever mentioning wanting to be an adventurer to his uncle. "I guess but how did you know?"

Thalvarin chuckled as he pressed his huge frame on the door and said. "It’s only natural, if you truly want to widen your horizon and have a life of adventure, clear dungeons slay stronger beasts, become like me. Besides you have the eye for adventure."

Eryndor felt more offended than honoured, was he really that transparent. He hated that he was being read like an open book whereas he could barely get to understand his own teacher. He took a moment to get his thoughts together before he spoke, "What did you mean by saying I would be your protégé, I never said I had any dreams to follow in your footsteps. I don’t want to be another cinder king, I want to be a master of every magic element."

Thalvarin had always found his nephew’s dream to be amusing but his time they did not seem quite so, he could see a strange energy almost feeling primal coming from his eyes. A strange power burning within them telling him he would pursue his dream till the end.

"Are you willing to die for your dream?" Thalvarin said as he walked past him to the chair and sank into it.

Eryndor stormed in his uncle’s direction fuming with rage. "Of course I am."

Thalvarin chuckled and gave the young prince a dark glare that caused him to freeze and look at him in horror. "We all think that at first boy, don’t make such assumptions if you have failed to comprehend the vast world."

Eryndor paused to think on what those words could perhaps mean, to him it sounded very much like the words wise sages from webtoons would say to make the main character of said webtoon feel less. It was a word of revelation, "What a load of bullcrap. I don’t fucking care about you, you wanted to master the flame so don’t compare us you shitty uncle. You want me to prove my worth, tell me the test and I’ll crush it."

Thalvarin fell into a long silence and his face darkened, for the next few minutes they both stayed there in silence. Eryndor was at the edge of his patience, he hated having to wait for anything and clearly his deranged uncle did not care one bit. After another set of minutes Thalvarin raised his head and gave him a look that caused him to feel jumpy.

On Thalvarin’s face was a pasty smile of a deranged man, his eyes flashed a crimson light, his elf ears twitched visibly and his rows of white appeared in a mad gleam. "Are you prepared to bet your life on it?"

Then the left eye spoke for the first time in days:

["Be careful kid. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

He’s dangerous"]

Eryndor felt a drop of sweat trickled down the side of his face he could not help but feel he had just been threatened.