Lee stepped down from the stage after winning his match. He was handed a rag to wipe some blood off of hands hands for Tom. Mike would need help to get off the stage and was still incoherently apologizing and begging for the beating to stop. As it so happens, after this event Mike made sure to treat his fellow school mates a lot kinder. Lee had barely used any spells to win. He preferred to win this match with his fist.

“So who fights next?” Lee was still trying to get some of his opponents blood off his fist but seemed to be in a pretty good mood.

“Me! Seeing you fight got me pumped up I can't wait for these arrogant high born nobles to see what us commoners can do!” Amanda gave a smile to Lee and Derrick. They shook their head a little and looked away. When she turned to Mary and Tom they were giving her a silent look of disapproval. David was slumped over in a depressed state.

“Sorry for being a high born noble I guess. If you hate me so much I'll leave you alone.” David started to slowly meander away.

“Wait! I didn't mean you 3! I think you're all great. Don't be so sad David. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that.” When she saw David's miserable face that looked on the verge of tears she couldn't think of anything else to say to make him feel better. In a spur of the moment reaction she decided to put her arms around him and give him a soft friendly hug.

She couldn't see David's face change but it went from sad to shocked to red. Then perhaps he was showing a bit too much enjoyment at the moment then the others were comfortable seeing. “It's okay Amanda. I feel much better now. I know you didn't mean it like that.”

She let go with a smile on her face. “Thank you. I'm sorry, I'll be more careful with what I say from now on. I didn't know you were so sensitive. It surprised me.” Amanda walked away to prepare for her match. David hurried to catch up with her. He was saying something about how while he was sensitive he also wanted to remind her he had very manly qualities too.

“Wow, David really seems to like hugs huh? I never would have guessed.” Lee looked to the others. They gave him a look of utter disbelief. Was he really this dense?

“Idiot.” Derrick walked to join Amanda and David.

“Idiot.” Sky followed him.

“Biggest idiot!” Mary walked behind the others. Lee thought he heard some remark from Derrick to Mary. Something about 'good luck cracking that nut. It seems a little thick.' Lee couldn't catch it exactly. He did see Mary give Derrick a kick in the ass and tell him to shut up or she'll break his legs. Lee figured it wasn't all that important and he should focus on the matches.

When he finally got to the ring Amanda's opponent was already inside. As Amanda was getting warmed up beside her friends she caught a glimpse of the crowd. She started to blush at the thought of all these strangers watching her. She moved some hair from behind her ear to cover her face and walked into the ring.

The referee was one of the teachers from the school that the group had seen around but didn't know. He turned to the opponent. “Ready?”

“I'm ready.” It was a 3rd year who they saw around school and not one of the transfers. The referee than asked the same question to Amanda.

“R-ready!” She blushed even heavier at having to speak in front of all these strangers but she took her stand and tapped into her mana. The referee to the delight of the crowd screamed for them to begin. She could hear the cheers and it cause her to tense and loose control her mana slightly. Her opponent summoned a fire spell. Amanda was very good with fire already but in the last 6 months she had been learning water from Peter. Now was as good a time as any.

She let out a breath to tried and relax. She focused her mana and brought it out to mix with nature. She mixed them together and transformed the matter in the air into the water magic she could control and launched it at his fire ball. It was the same process every wizard uses. The difference is her spell had a cast speed twice as fast as her opponent. It caught everyone off guard.

The 2 spells met in midair and the fire was easily destroyed, the remaining water hit her opponent and knocked him off his feet. It was not a strong hit but it certainly helped set the pace. He couldn't hope to dodge or create another spell to stop it. The cast speed caught him by surprise. He had never seen a student do it so fast.

Cast speed was one of the things Lee was determined to work on with everyone. He was taught cast speed to a wizard is almost as vital as mana control itself. After all, what good is being a wizard if you are dead before you can even create your spell? They had all grown faster at this. Due to mana control Amanda now almost rivaled Lee's speed. Between her and Mary he honestly couldn't tell which was the quicker one. Mary would insist it was still her of course.

Her opponent stood up cautious and more weary. He was surprised just now but would not be caught off guard again. He decided to use earth to mount a bit of defense while he observed. Amanda would have none of that. She started to cast water spell after water spell at him. His earth wall did not have time to be fully built and he had no choice but to cast his own water spells to block.

Amanda speed up more forcing her opponent to keep pace. He was being pushed back by her onslaught. A more experienced wizard may know how to deal with such an attack. This one was not experienced. Amanda simply speed up more and more. The opponent started to get tired with this pace but Amanda didn't seem the least bit fazed.

“What is with this girl? Is her mana stamina endless?” Soon an attack went through his guard and hit him in the chest. This broke his defense and knocked him in the air and outside the ring. 4 other spells hit him while he fell that were already launched before he was hit with the first one.

“Winner – Amanda Clover.” The crowd gave a loud applause. Another first year winner. That other boy won but it was mostly by hitting his opponent and non-magical means. Surely some kind of fluke. Here was a real talent they could cheer on. As she walked off stage she heard the crowd's murmurs.

“Looks like our school has a pretty amazing first year talent.” “Someone told me she is actually a commoner.” “Wow, a commoner? Imagine how far she may go in a few years.” “I sort of like cheering for the under dog, go all the way young lady!” “Her hair is covering part of her face but if you look closely she is pretty cute.” “Her body isn't half bad either, she might be able to get a fan club if she just showed off her face some more.”

Amanda's face went more red and her pace quickened. She jumped off the stage and into her crowd of friends like a lone fish in the sea looking for it's school to blend it. She let out a big sigh and sat in a chair around them. She checked to see if the crowd could see her right now but when she saw the bodies of her friends were blocking them out she relaxed and put her hair back behind her ear.

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“Are the crowds always going to be this big? Please tell me if we get to the other tournaments there will be smaller and more exclusive crowds.”

“They will only be getting bigger. You'll just need to get use to it.” Mary was always the type who didn't beat around the bush. She also didn't like how shy Amanda was around other people. She saw it as a weakness she should look to over come. Mary of course was not the least bit shy and nor did she lack any confidence in herself. At least most of the time... The matches moved on.

Tom was the next one in the group to be up. His opponent would be one of the transfers brought here from the Cloud house. There were about 10 of them all together and most people thought the team of this school would be made up of the best in this group. All of them watched this match very closely. They were unsure of how strong this one was compared to the original students here but they assumed it would go a long way to showing them what they would be up against.

Tom and his opponent entered the ring. Lee noticed that Tom had become a lot more agile with his training. He had thought it would absolutely be the best move but there was still a shadow of a doubt in his mind. This match would be the test of that. The referee asked if each fighter was ready. Tom agreed he was and the young women who he was facing also agreed. The referee told them to begin.

Tom immediately retreated. He wanted his opponent to make the first move so he could test out just how far his agility would take him. Since he didn't attack his opponent took the pace. She created fire in her hand and shot it at Tom. Tom easily dodged to one side against such a slow attack. Lee was surprised by just how agile Tom had become. A number of other spells were cast at him and he simply dived to the right or left as needed.

He quickly sprung back to his feet when he dived use the rolling motion and the momentum built to pop right back up. In other cases when the spell could be avoided by just a few quick step a burst of quickness he could do that easily as well. He could go from stand still to a few feet over and nearly an instant. Any spell against him would have to be incredibly accurate or fast to even have a chance of hitting him. In which case just plain old blocking with his own magic would be the last line of defense.

His opponent was started to get frustrated by all this dodging. “Are you just going to run around all day like a defeated dog or do you plan to attack?”

Tom smiled at the comment and then ran towards her. He was closing the distance quickly. The young women let fire fill her hand but in this case didn't release it. She held it and transformed into into something like the crude shape of a sword. It wasn't meant to cut but to be short range offensive magic.

“You'll regret making me use this! This is the secret technique of my dragonfly house!” Tom had seen a few moves like this before though none of them used fire. It gave it an unpredictable reach and width. She swung at him over and over again. Tom deftly backed away and managed to dodge every single swing. A few were a bit too close for comfort. He felt a mild burning on his left arm and left leg. It seems the indefinite shape was more trouble than he first thought.

It was only because his agility had come so far and he had gotten so use to dodging that he was able to build up water magic in his palms. Usually to move so much would make it too hard for a wizard to focus and create a spell. Tom had been training just for such a situations. This time he stood his ground against here.

Her swing came from directly in front and in a downward direction. He used the water spell in his left hand and shot it against her fire sword. It was a fairly massive water spell he'd built up. The sword vanished and her hands were now wrapped around empty air. With the water spell in his right hand he pointed to her stomach and released it. The forced brought her to the ground but not out of the ring. She was holding her ribs and appeared to be in great pain.

She slowly tried to stand up but only made it to one knee. She refused to give up but it was clear she could no longer continue. The referee was forced to stop the fight and declare Tom the winner. As it turned out the girl was never able to get to her feet without assistance. She was helped off and healing magic was applied. Lee saw to the minor burns on Tom and used his magic to heal him.

“So what do you think Tom? Will they be a problem?” Derrick was by his side and checking on the healing of his injuries.

“Well, they certainly aren't weak. I never felt like I would lose to be honest but it wasn't easy. I suppose the question is if she is one of the weakest or strongest in the group. If the others are a few levels stronger than her then they could potentially be trouble.

Next was Derrick's turn. His match was also against one of the transfer students. He would need to be on his guard. He wasn't quite as strong as Tom but he had a few strategies he wanted to try out before it got to the fight with the Star house. Hopefully this transfer student would be a good test subject. He walked to the ring a bit to giddy to try out some of his ideas.

Amanda shook her head at the expression. “I hate when he starts scheming and gets that look. He reminds me of some typical mad scientist bent on taking over the world.” Lee gave a laugh at this comment.

“You say that like it's a bad thing. As long he's a mad scientists on our side and that works for me.” Lee also was curious to see what ideas Derrick would think up to be honest. He had been giving Lee a few good ideas on attack patterns lately bur probably saved some of his favorites for himself.

Mary looked at how the two of them spoke. She felt Lee, Amanda and Derrick had some kind of special relationship she as a noble could never be a part of. There was a closeness and understanding between them about how their lives, before coming here, had been lived. She didn't mind Derrick but for some reason it annoyed her a little how casually and friendly Lee was with Amanda. Why couldn't she and him be like that?

“Something on your mind Mary?” Tom saw the look on her face.

“It's nothing. I just think it's odd how Lee is so close and able to talk so easily with everyone else but me in this group.... especially Amanda it seems.”

“I see. You don't need to worry. I'm pretty sure they're just friends. As for why they can talk so easily. I would guess that is cause Amanda has never been stand offish or insulting towards Lee. It probably makes him feel more comfortable in opening up. Maybe if you were a bit more kind and less desperate to show everyone else how you don't like him he might start being able to talk to you the same way.”

Tom expected Mary to give her usual comments about how she was a member of the proud Cloud house and didn't really care for his opinion. Instead for the first time Tom saw Mary look and act a bit more softly. “You say it like it's so easy. It isn't that I don't want to. It's just...”

Tom could have guessed. The responsibilities of the Cloud house. The fear of looking vulnerable. What her family may say if she brought home a commoner for a boyfriend. These matters are not always easy. “It's okay, just go at you're own pace. But remember you need to start to put forth more effort sooner rather than later. I don't think Lee is going to be so dense forever and when people learn about his talents a lot more ladies will probably show an interest. Don't wait too long.”

Mary for the first time didn't protest at someone mentioning her interest in River. She simply walked away lost in her thoughts. When she came out of them Derrick and his opponent were already on stage and the referee yelled for the match to start.

“Sorry commoner boy. You're got a bad draw. I saw your friend there defeated one of the other transfer students. She frankly was the weakest of the bunch. If you're smart you'll just resign right here and now you first year commoner trash.” He expected any amount of the usual reactions from his words.

Commoners who he had faced gave him harsh empty threats back. Sometimes they charged in anger only to be beaten in a few moments. Some went silent with fear, realizing their opponent planned to show no mercy. But Derrick did something he never saw his commoner opponent's do before. He smiled.

“What the hell are you smiling about commoner trash?”

“Well, I was honestly concerned you see. Here I was coming on stage with all kinds of ideas about how to really make a total fool out of my opponent. I would have felt bad and held back if you had a kind heart and open mind. Now that I see you are an arrogant brat that spouts nonsense like a fountain does water I'm over joyed. I can feel free to test my ideas on you without my pesky conscious in the way.” The smile grew even larger.

“You're right Amanda” Lee motioned toward Derrick. “I'm really starting to not like when he smiles like that.”