“I hope I managed to get a good seed,” Heso said nervously.

“How did your admission go?” Adion asked.

“I think it went well,” Heso said, “I managed to get into silver class, after all. I know it’s not much for someone like you, but for a low Bronze without much fighting experience like me, it was more than I could hope for.”

“Mm,” Adion nodded, turning from Heso to look over the heads of the people in front of them to see how much of the line remained.

Adion had gone back to his dorm room after spending the day with Sell the day before. He didn’t meet any new roommates and just went straight to sleep after some aura training. But as he was heading out to the tournament this morning, he met Heso who was also about to head out, and they had decided to walk to the arena together.

Adion was going to meet up with his siblings to watch the tournament, but he needed to collect his fighting schedule first. As a student of the diamond class, he wouldn’t start fighting until much later, leaving him a lot of free time to watch some of the fights of the students in the lower classes.

“Do you think you’ll get a good seed?” Heso asked.

“Probably,” Adion nodded. He had heard from Dean Lukas that he would only fight once, hopefully discouraging other students from challenging him.

“Lucky,” Heso said, “Is it really fair that some students won’t have to fight as much as others? How am I supposed to beat a seeded student if it’s my fifth fight for the day while it’s their first one?”

“Well,” Adion said, “Would it be better for you to fight someone a lot stronger on your first fight and be ranked at the bottom of your class?”

“I suppose that’s true,” Heso nodded, “That would feel bad. I heard it’s not rare at all for the students ranked at the bottom for each class to drop down a class after the challenges tomorrow.”

“Is that true?” A red-haired man in front of them turned around and asked.

“That’s what I’ve heard,” Heso nodded. He then smiled and introduced himself, “I’m Heso Jimmen, by the way. And this is Adion Remori.”

“Ah, I’m Bid Hedrell,” The young man responded, “Do you know more about the challenges? I’m a bit worried about them.”

“Well,” Heso said, “I only know what we’ve been told.”

“And what is that?” Bid asked, “I missed the introduction, so I am not sure about the details.”

“You missed the introduction? That’s rough,” Heso said compassionately. “Well, today, you will have to fight the other students in your class one on one. You might fight up to 10 matches if you win enough before the rankings are settled, so make sure to always save some energy.”

“I know,” Bid nodded, “I’ve asked around and heard as much. But I’m not sure about the challenges.”

“Well,” Heso said, “Tomorrow is the second day of the tournament, and then, starting from the bottom ranks in the stone class, everyone will have a chance to issue a challenge. You don’t challenge a specific person but a certain amount of ranks above you, and it is determined who you will fight randomly. So you can’t target someone whose element makes it easy for you to beat.

“Everyone can keep issuing challenges until they lose a fight. But you have to think about it carefully, if you lose a fight after issuing a challenge, you will receive a large penalty, losing out on a lot of credits.”

“How large?” Bid asked.

“I’m not sure,” Heso answered. “Do you know, Adion?”

“My brother says it differs a little each year. And it differs from class to class. But I know that when my brother entered the Academy, and someone lost a challenge in the gold class, the penalty was not receiving credits for three months. That is a loss of 600 credits for someone in the gold class.”

“So much?” Bid asked, surprised.

“Otherwise, everyone would issue challenges, and that would take forever,” Adion said.

“Then I better not do something like that,” Bid said, “I’ll focus on trying to get the best results today.”

“If you don’t challenge anyone, you won’t be able to advance a class though,” Heso pointed out.

“That’s true,” Bid said hesitantly, “I’ll stay and watch the silver class fight. If I think I stand a chance, I might issue a challenge.”

“That’s good,” Heso nodded.

They soon reached the front of the line, where they showed their Academy badges and received their fighting schedule.

Just like I thought. But this has to be pretty rare, no? I’m pretty sure seeded students aren’t normally placed like this.

Adion only had a single fight scheduled for the day, and that was the final match of the tournament. That meant he would, at worst, be placed at rank 2 after the first day was over.

I’m sure people will complain about this. I just hope they don’t come to me for any trouble.

“Haaah,” Heso sighed from beside him, “As I expected, I’m not seeded. How about you, Adion?”

“I’m seeded, so I’ll be able to relax for a while,” Adion said, without showing his very empty fighting schedule.

“Congratulations,” Heso said with a smile, “I’ll stay behind to cheer you on.”

“Thanks,” Adion said, “I’ll make sure to cheer you on too, then.”

“I appreciate it,” Heso smiled, “Well, I’ll let you go to see your brother. I will go get ready.”

“Alright,” Adion nodded, leaving Heso to find his brother and sister.

They said they would be waiting for me at the same place they waited for me when showing me around.

It didn’t take long before Adion saw his brother and sister in the distance. They weren’t alone, however. A tall bald man was standing there, talking with his brother.

“Adion!” Ailera greeted him with a smile as she spotted him walking over.

“Good morning,” Adion said with a smile.

“Adion,” Aiden said, “This is Temev Falar. He’s the Head of Eternal Fire.”

“Nice to meet you,” Adion said to Temev, “I’m Adion Remori, Aiden’s younger brother.”

“Mm,” Temev nodded with a smile, “It’s nice to meet you too. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“How is your schedule?” Aiden asked Adion.

Adion didn’t say anything and just handed him the paper for him to look for himself.

“Haha,” Aiden laughed, “It’s actually like you said. This will cause quite the commotion.”

“Only one fight? Wait. You’re actually seeded straight to the finals?” Temev asked as he looked at the schedule over Aiden’s shoulder.

“He has a Gift, as you know,” Aiden said, “The Dean didn’t see anyone coming close to beating him because of that.”

“Still,” Temev muttered.

“Dean Lukas seemed worried about casualties,” Adion explained, “Even if I promised not to kill anyone, he didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“It must be quite an amazing Gift,” Temev said with a smile, “I’m looking forward to seeing it in action.”

“Well, no point in standing here,” Aiden said, “Will you join us in watching the tournament, Temev?”

“No,” Temev shook his head, “I’m going to get something to eat before meeting up with some others. But you guys enjoy yourselves.”

“Alright,” Aiden said, “I’ll see you after the tournament.”

“Sounds good,” Temev nodded, “Good luck in your fight, Adion. I heard from Aiden that you weren’t interested in joining a House yet, but make sure to at least hear my offer before deciding on joining any other House.”

“Alright,” Adion nodded.

Temev then left the area, and Adion started walking to the arena with his siblings.

“Are you still thinking about creating your own House?” Ailera asked.

“I’m not sure anymore,” Adion said, “When I asked about it at the administration building, there seemed to be quite the process. I would have to have 20 students willing to join before even applying, and I won’t have enough credits for a while.”

“I told you it wouldn’t be easy,” Aiden said, “And it will take up a lot of your time. It will be much better if you just join Eternal Fire.”

I’m not sure about that. I think I’d rather just stay away from Houses for now. I should focus on my classes and training with Sell for the time being.

“Anyway,” Ailera said, “Do you know anyone competing in the iron class?”

“I don’t think so,” Adion said, “I don’t really know anyone yet. And the ones I know are basically all in the diamond class.”

“Well, it can still be interesting to watch.” Aiden said, “And if you get bored, you can always bet some credits to make it more interesting.”

“You can make bets?” Adion asked.

“Of course,” Aiden nodded, “I put a lot of credits on you placing 1st, so don’t let me down.”

“You did? Can I also bet that I’ll win?” Adion asked.

“You can,” Aiden nodded, “But do you have any credits to bet yet?”

“Not really,” Adion sighed.

“I’ll give you some of my winnings,” Aiden said, putting a hand on Adion’s shoulder, “You’re the one winning it for me, after all.”

“Unfortunately, a lot of people know you have an amazing Gift,” Ailera said, “So it’s not very favorable odds.”

“You really should have kept it a secret,” Aiden agreed, “We could have become rich.”

That really is a shame. But even if I tried to keep my Gift a secret, a lot of people would have known because of Sora.

“We can bet that Sell comes in 2nd,” Adion said, “There is no way she doesn’t.”

“The odds aren’t very good for that either,” Ailera said, “She is a high Bronze princess, after all.”

“Damn,” Adion said.

“Don’t worry about it too much,” Aiden said, “You will earn more credits than you can spend just by being rank 1. A little betting wouldn’t change your credits much.”

“I guess,” Adion nodded.

They soon arrived at the stands, where they got a nice view of all the different fights going on down below. The stone class had already finished all their fights earlier, and currently, the students from the iron class were fighting to determine their rankings.

The floor of the arena had been walled off into 16 different sections, so there were always a few fights going on that the audience could watch. Adion immediately saw a student get a sword to the throat, but it was stopped by a judge overlooking the fight before the sword could cut through.

“That was close,” Adion said, “How did he manage to stop the sword?”

“The judges are all metal mages,” Aiden said, “No one is allowed to fight with their own weapons but have to fight with a weapon that has been infused with the Will of the metal mages. The judges have also taken a special kind of Focus Pill that allows them to react before anything too serious happens.”

“But accidents still happen every year,” Ailera said, “So remember to be careful even if you’re strong.”

“That’s right,” Aiden nodded, “Even with all the precautions, you can’t account for everything.”

“I’ll be careful,” Adion said. He would also have to take care not to carelessly injure someone so much that it couldn’t be fixed with healing pills. Even if it was an accident and in an official fight, students who maimed or killed another student received punishment. It wasn’t meant to be a fight to the death, after all.

I’ll probably be fine. As long as the judge ends the fight in time, I won’t have to do more than touch my opponent with my sword.

Adion didn’t think he knew anyone in iron class, but after looking through the different ongoing fights, he noticed someone he recognized.

“Oh, that guy is my roommate,” Adion said, pointing out where Sokken was currently fighting.

So he was placed in iron class? He must be doing fairly well if he is still fighting.

“Looks like he is going up against a seeded student,” Aiden commented.

“Yeah, I’d be surprised if this isn’t his first fight,” Adion said. While Sokken’s clothes were dirty with plenty of tears, his short and black-haired opponent looked clean and energetic.

“Hopefully, he saved some of his energy,” Aiden said.

As soon as the judge started the fight, Sokken pulled out two daggers and ran to his opponent at full speed. His opponent conjured a ball of fire and shot it toward Sokken, making Adion doubt if he could dodge it in time.

But to both his and the black-haired youth's surprise, Sokken simply held up his arms over his face and took the fire head-on.

“That must have hurt,” Ailera said with a grimace.

Sokken continued running and his opponent took a few steps back while conjuring an even bigger ball of fire. Just before Sokken reached him, the man shot the fire at him. But this time, Sokken didn’t stand still. Anticipating the attack, he dived down onto the dirt, dodging it.

He didn’t stop, though, and almost seemed to flow all the way to his opponent. Just before reaching him, he jumped up and attacked. His opponent seemed surprised and couldn’t get his sword ready to strike at that angle, so Sokken easily knocked his sword out of the way with one of his daggers and punched the black-haired in an upper-cut.

The judge stopped the fight there, announcing Sokken as the winner.

“Why stop there?” Adion asked.

“It was obvious your roommate could have killed him if he used his dagger,” Aiden said, “Since the Academy wants to avoid deaths, a strike like that results in a win.”

“That makes sense,” Adion nodded.

“But he is very good at fighting,” AIilera said, “He didn’t even use his mana.”

“He probably used some of it on the ground,” Adion said.

“Oh? Now that you mention it, he didn’t move naturally, did he,” Ailera nodded.

“So he’s an earth mage?” Aiden asked.

“Should be,” Adion nodded.

“Seems like he hasn’t let that discourage him from fighting,” Aiden said, “Even though his opponent wasn’t very good, he finished him without spending much of his energy.”

“Yeah,” Adion nodded, “But if he goes up against a better mage, that won’t work. He would be finished before reaching his opponent.”

“Yeah,” Aiden nodded, “But it might be enough for 1st-years in iron class.”

And that seemed to be the case. Sokken didn’t only win that fight, but the next one as well. And the next one. And the one after that.

“He actually won,” Adion said, looking at Sokken breathing heavily on the ground as the audience cheered. Even if it was still only the iron class, the finals were always exciting.

“Very talented indeed,” Aiden nodded, “He might get a few good offers from the Houses despite being in the iron class. Even I would be scared to fight him up close.”

“Mm,” Adion nodded in agreement. He was confident in his fighting abilities, but that was mostly against big beasts. If he had to fight another sapi, and not be able to use his magic, he would have a tough time beating Sokken and his daggers.

“Are you getting excited to fight, Adion?” Ailera asked.

“A little,” Adion smiled.

He knew his fight wouldn’t be very exciting. Most likely, he would just freeze his opponent in space and run up to them unhindered. But he had to admit his blood was starting to pump with more vigor as he thought about his upcoming fight.

I should take it seriously. Maybe someone will surprise me and put up a good fight.