When the other kids saw Ace on stage acting so cockily, they couldn't help but feel as though their pride was being provoked.

They may've been young, but each of them was intelligent to realise that the sooner you went up, the more difficult it would be for you to win in the long run. For Ace, who, despite not being a mage, was still one of the favourites, to go up first…

It was clear he was looking down on them.

Ace didn't know what his classmates were thinking, and even if he did, he wouldn't care. Part of the reason he went up first was definitely because of Aiden's instigation, but more than that, after watching their respective tests, Ace had begun to feel itchy. These were the very best of the best of his generation. He wanted to know exactly how strong they were and how they compared to him.

"I know he's strong, but to go up first… What exactly is this boy thinking?" Kimika asked as she and the other members of staff gathered around Mathias and Aiden.

"It's smart if you think about it," Lazerim replied as he looked towards Ace. "Since Ace went on stage first, it's the others who have to challenge him. So even if he loses, he can still challenge again later on."

"Kong, you know him best. How do you think he'll do?" Lauriella asked.

"That depends on Ace," Kong replied. "As long as he goes all out, there's no way he can lose."

"I know he's someone you recruited, but you could at least pretend not to be so biased," Kimika replied with an eye roll at her junior brother's words.

"This king's not being biased," Wukong shrugged. "That brat really is a little monster in human form."

Kimika and Lazerim, who didn't know much about Ace, eyes widened when they heard Wukong's response. This youngest brother of theirs was the biggest talent any of them had ever seen, so for him to say what he did about Ace, they couldn't help but look at Ace in a new light.

"Looks like we won't have to wait much longer to see who comes out on top," Mathias said slowly. "It's about to begin,"

Surprisingly, the first challenger to go up was Kannal. Seeing as he was not only the youngest but also the weakest, most expected him to stay out of this altogether, but he didn't care. As he mounted the stage, Kannal's eyes were filled with resolve as he stared at Ace.

"I know I can't win," Kannal readily admitted. "But I want to see just how big the difference between us is."

Ace watched his opponent unsheathe his sword with a smile. Kannal may not be able to see it, but Ace could. Ace could see a hint of Hysode's shadow when he looked at her little brother, and it had nothing to do with their physical resemblance. Instead, it was that same resolve. Though Kannal's was still immature, Ace had no doubts in his mind, he would grow to be a fine warrior in the future.

Unfortunately, that day was extremely far away. Kannal wielded his small Liuyedao in a similar style to both Hysode and Venerin, but unlike theirs, which was virtually flawless in Ace's eyes, Kannal's was full of holes.

Ace could go easy on the young swordsman in an attempt to spare his feelings, but he respected Kannal too much for that.

As soon as he entered his range, Ace seemed to transform into a blur in Kannal's eyes. Then, before he knew what happened, he felt a stinging pain in his right hand only to find that his sword had been slapped out of his palm and the tip of his opponent's glaive was pointed at his neck.

Kannal looked at his palm, then at his sword. Many expected him to react poorly after suffering such a devastating loss, but Kannal seemed intent on impressing everyone at every turn.

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"I still have a lot to learn," He sighed to himself softly before looking back up at Ace with clear eyes. "Thank you."

Ace merely smiled, but before he could respond, both boys were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of Kimika.

The elegant blonde merely nodded politely at Ace before turning to Kannal. "Do you know who I am?"

"Of course!" Kannal hurriedly replied whilst bowing politely. "Kannal greets Madam Silverlight."

"No need for all that," Kimika said dismissively as she gently raised the boy's shoulders. "My husband told me that you were extremely talented, but he never mentioned anything about your willpower or character. I have to say, I, along with all the instructors, have been thoroughly impressed.

That brings me to my next question. Kannal Meiron, how would you like to become my discip-"

"Kannal greets master!" Kannal said as he excitedly dropped to his knees before his now master could even finish her sentence.

"Haha, I already told you there's no need to act so politely with me," Kimika said with a gentle smile. "After the tournament ends, we can talk properly."

"Yes, master," Kannal said as he excitedly got up.

Ace could only smile helplessly as he watched his former opponent hurry to pick his fallen sword off and scurry off stage. Even though he won, it still ended up being the Kannal show. Still, Ace felt genuinely happy for him.

The other kids all watched enviously. Two of them had been picked to be personal disciples now. All they could do was pray it would be them next.

As their eyes fell back on Ace, many of them looked at him with a burning fire. If they performed well enough against him, they'd stand a better chance at being taken as a disciple.

Though they all had the same idea, the fastest to react was a young girl who looked to be slightly older than Ace. She had short dark-brown hair styled in a bob cut and was surprisingly wide-framed for a female.

Ace remembered from her test that her name was Faye Linwol. A nine-year-old mid-rank two warrior and a mid-rank one earth mage with a spiritual essence 23x times above average.

She held a black spiked club over her shoulder as she walked on stage whilst softly chanting something that Ace didn't quite understand, not that he needed to understand it to know she was preparing a spell.

Suddenly, Faye jumped several meters in the air as she shouted, "[Earth Tremor]!"

Despite knowing what she was doing, he still ended up being caught off guard by the spell as the ground started trembling under his feet.

"No pleasantries before you try to slap my head off with that thing?" Ace asked as he saw her jump over the quaking floor, her club arcing through the air and aiming straight for the side of his head.

"There are no pleasantries on the battlefield!" Faye roared with a fiendish grin.

Though he'd barely stabilized his body after the ground stopped shaking, his grin was no less fiendish as his glaive shot through the air like a bullet to meet her club head-on.

Because Ace didn't know how many more battles he would fight after this, he didn't become one with the glaive as it was draining mentally; he wasn't even using his haki. As a result, both he and Faye took three steps back before regaining their footing, but as he finally stopped, his eyes suddenly widened.

"[Earth Spike!]" Faye said with a smirk as a rocky spike suddenly shot out from the ground beneath her target's feet.

Ace wasn't the only one shocked by her display. Everyone knew that chanting was usually a prerequisite before casting a spell. Furthermore, the average mage would only be able to insta-cast a spell two ranks below them, so for Faye, a rank one mage, to be able to insta-cast a rank one spell was nothing short of phenomenal.

Lazerim, the only earth mage of the instructors, looked like a kid on Christmas when he saw that.

Faye had no idea what anyone else was thinking about, the only thing on her mind was taking advantage of Ace's shock. She knew that no matter how good a warrior Ace was, there was no way her sudden spell wouldn't catch him off guard.

Unfortunately, though she had succeeded in catching him off guard, she could only watch as his body suddenly disappeared from her field of view. It was only when she felt the cold, sharp steel of his glaive pressed against her neck did she realise she had actually lost.

"Phew, that was close." Ace sighed in relief. "You almost had me with that one."

"You…

You used a movement technique?" Faye asked in shock.

Her surprise was understandable. Virtually all movement techniques were only useable in conjunction with battle qi; at least all of the ones she had heard of were.

"I did," Ace said casually, as he calmly removed his glaive from her neck.

Faye turned to get a good look at the boy who defeated her.

"I admit I lost this time," She snorted unwillingly. "But I'll crush you next time!"

An amused smile appeared on his face as he replied, "I look forward to it."

Faye had just jumped off stage when Lazerim approached her. He didn't even get the chance to speak before Faye knelt down on one knee and respectfully/excitedly exclaimed, "Faye greets master Lazerim."

Mathias and his juniors watched with amused smiles as their third brother was caught completely off guard as his would-be disciple beat him to the punch.

Lazerim could only shake his head helplessly as he told his brazen disciple to wait till after the competition to speak properly.