The trial of Aqua looked impressive from the very second we entered it, a wall of black liquid flowing everywhere around me, with my fellow contestants all around me.

“This trial is made of two challenges, the first testing your wit, while the second evaluates your combat prowess. You have a minute to pass through this wall, touching it will lead to immeasurable pain. Now, go ahead and test yourself.”

Tier 1 runes

Rune

Description

Condense

Aqua

Pour

Aqua

Ebb

Aqua

Tier 2 Runes

Rune

Description

Bubble

Aqua

Stream

Aqua

Drain

Aqua

My first Idea was to simply cast bubble on the stream, only to realize that a small one was quickly destroyed as soon as it touched the water.

Ebb stream was much more promising in that regard, stopping the falling water for a few seconds before it fell again, not enough time to pass through, at least not for me.

Condense stream focused the wall onto a single continuous blast of darkness, which I combined with ebb stream to pass the area, recasting them the moment it became necessary.

Passing this trial, the area revealed itself to be an Island in the middle of a black lake, a distant, barely visible shore implying that one to be the goal, or at least a better place than the one I was currently occupying.

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As I looked around, I saw a palm tree on the island with me, and a lot of sand, the first of which would be my best chance of passing this trial.

With drain, I pulled the inky substance out of the lake, casting pour on my other hand to get rid of it before it could get dangerous in some way.

Then, I used condense stream to create a concentrated beam of the liquid, and push it against the bottom of the tree, taking a few moments until it finally collapsed, the wood hitting the ground, where I plucked the leaves and bound them to the side, in an attempt to stabilize this absolutely hideous attempt at a boat, if I had any other powers available to me, I would have chopped it apart much faster, thus, I felt positively enraged by this limiting factor, before I realized that this was the way everyone else had to cast anyway.

It took me an eternity to get the log stabilized and into the water, where I then climbed on top of it and used the bubble stream and concentrate stream spells to get myself moving in the right direction.

To call it a chore would be an understatement, the artificial light made it impossible to pinpoint the time, and at some point, I saw something move between the waves, something much faster than I was, and as it breached the surface, I felt the ink it swam in splash against my skin, burning as it did so.

I accelerated as fast as possible, my beam directed towards its eyes for a few seconds, until it seriously began affecting my trajectory.

As its form was revealed to me, I knew it could not be from our world, and as I considered it, the sheer terror made me add the pour stream spell to the ones I was using, holding up six runes at once just for a bit of speed.

The upper body of a whale was accelerated by two sets of tentacles, a beast that would have fit right into the great beyond, probably stemming from ocean depths far below any semblance of air, and as it opened its mouth, I knew it was not a predator, merely an ugly abomination searching for krill and other similarly small animals.

Once I realized that, I decided against attacking it more than I already did, and instead focussing on gaining speed, while the titanic tentacles followed the beast back below the waves.

When I was exhausted from casting all the time, I finally reached the goal, rocky shores greeting me as I arrived, with a temple like structure in the center.

As I approach this structure, I suddenly found myself in a coliseum like arena, with students appearing between columns, some visibly panicking, others trying to leave in some way, and as I took a step forward, a message suddenly appeared.

Lease wait for everyone to arrive, give up or die on their way to the arena, before the great fight will commence.

You're ranking in this fight, and the time you arrived will decide your grade, and thus the likelihood of being accepted for any aqua based courses.

Slowly, the ranks filled, some visibly disturbed and, by the state of their robes, having fought in the previous round.

Then, the wall of text changed.

The next round will be one on one duels, Falling from the platform or receiving a fatal blow will disqualify the contestant from the third round.

Then, we were enveloped in bubbles and moved above the arena, where two bubbles would collide and randomly form a platform, across from me was a chubby boy who looked to be twelve years old, a tight bubble of water around him, a barrier that withstood my bubble stream quite easily.

He approached further, grinning as he pulled a knife from his boot and stated running, an attack I dodged by taking a step to my right, leaving his range. Immediately, I cast pour and condense beam, the slippery ground beneath him allowing for the beam to catapult him right off the area we fought on, the platform of barely three square meters becoming a bubble again and sinking, until it collided with someone inside a similarly big bubble, once again doubling the area we could fight on.

This opponent was more of a challenge, something I realized the first second of our fight, my stream drained and send back at me, forcing me to do the same, a beam of highly pressurized water shooting between us, as we tried to consider the best course of action. My opponent was either of the fifth refinement, or had increased his souls size, and which one it was would completely change how I could fight him, as far as I could see, he only used first and second tier runes, meaning he was either of the third refinement and had a tier two soul, or with a tier one soul somewhere above the fifth refinement.

We stood there for a while, feeling each other out, temporary equals, until I made the mistake of using bubble stream in an attempt to surprise him, giving every information he needed to judge me, and allowing for a direct attack on his part, a simple ebb stopping my spells while he tried to tackle me, my own counter being a step to the side again, a proven strategy, until he used the opportunity to stop accelerating, standing right in my face and trying to push me.

The second he touched me, I felt violated, and attacked with the power of my soul, its new tentacles directly touching his slightly larger than average spirit, while I pulled on anything aqua related in his body, the blood twisting under my touch, while his powers were directly drained the second he tried to cast.

To say I relished the scream as his arteries burst, and he began sweating blood was an understatement, when his form fell limp, I did my best to keep the blood focused before me as I spam cast concentrate on it, the arena doubling in size as the next opponent challenged me, the previous ones blood now the fuel for a concentrated blast, that slightly penetrated the water bubble protecting him, my new enemies attempt to drain it giving him direct problems, as his body tried to do just about anything with the excess nutrients, iron and sugar, while his other hand blasted the now clean water back at me, but not before the mistake of absorbing another persons blood caught up, leading to pretty immediate organ failures, as two times the recommended amount of everything filled a body not meant for optimized cannibalism, it was impressive to witness.

When I next felt my bubble connect, it was with six other platforms still existing, people fighting all around me, and an opponent that fought with methods I could not match directly.

He flooded the arena ground with a rune I did not know, before pulling me towards him. My soul sight told me that he was of the fourth refinement and second tier, and in anything water related my superior.

My soul was currently a restrained orb, burning in an attempt to unleash powers it had no access to. My enemies soul was an ocean, a collection of waves and whirlpools threatening to kill anyone that would dare to touch his soul, his magic regenerating faster than it could be expended, as the aqua all around us made him basically immortal.

As I observed this, my movement was a dance in his waves, stepping towards him or back, depending on what the flood required. Every time his waves touched me, it was like knifes burrowing into my skin, and yet I simply danced along, knowing he could kill me the moment he stopped considering me fun to fight against.

As I stood beside him, I cast ebb drain on the ground beneath his feet, and while his screams came from below, The bubble moved to the next contestant, only three bubbles except mine being left.