Cecil and his entourage began touring around the campus grounds. With all the students and teachers wandering about, it literally brought life to the place. It was practically bustling with activity just like in the outer district of Angla City. They visited all of the academy's important buildings, went to the training grounds, and even took a short peek inside of the academy's isolated forest.
Once they got a better understanding of where everything was inside of the campus grounds, the group decided to head to the academy district to go sight-seeing like many of the other students were currently doing. From the looks of things, the academy's staff didn't restrict the students if they wanted to leave the campus grounds and go to the district.
The two areas were separated by a large gate and Cecil honestly thought that they wouldn't be able to go out until all their classes ended. Instructor Jin did say that classes were over, so they could technically leave if they wanted to and return to their dorms or go wherever, but he saw some upperclassmen also leave the campus grounds.
He didn't know if they were like his group and no longer had any classes, or it was just this way in the academy. The teachers and staff didn't restrict the students if they wanted to leave even though they may still have classes.
While Cecil and his group were walking about through the academy district, many turned their gazes to their group, but no one dared to approach them seeing the two princesses happily chatting away with the first year's number one ranker. No one wanted to face the consequences of disturbing their peace after all.
Ainz was keeping pace with Cecil, but he couldn't strike up a conversation since Cecil was busily fiddling around with his MID even though Lucia told him time after time not to since he might break it. He was honestly just too curious to see how it worked, so Lucia just gave up telling him off because the boy just wouldn't listen.
After a long period of silence and seeing that the girls were having a merry time, Ainz couldn't hold back anymore and spoke up to his rather preoccupied friend, "...Hey Cecil. Stop playing around with that already. Look at how enthusiastic everyone else is!"
Cecil looked up and saw that the 3 girls were going from food stand to food stand and store to store buying up anything that interested them. Seeing them do this, he immediately turned alarmed.
"Huh? O-Oh no! Ainz we should run. Like, right now!" Cecil exclaimed urgently as he put away his MID.
"Huh?"
Cecil hurriedly turned around and tried to get away from the girls, but before he could take a step forward, an iron-like grip suddenly descended on his shoulder.
"Hey, where do you think you're going, Cel?" Lucia asked darkly.
'How the heck did you get here so fast, Lulu?!'
"...bathroom."
"Haha... yeah right, hold this!"
After giving him a sly smirk, Lucia immediately thrust all her shopping into Cecil's arms. On the other side, Ainz was cornered and forced to hold onto both Fina's and Eli's stuff.
"...why didn't you tell me sooner, Ainz?" Cecil lamented sadly.
"How was I supposed to know?!"
Cecil just smiled and directed a pitying gaze at him.
"Oi...what's with that look? You're also on the same boat!"
They were indeed on the same boat, but Ainz's inexperience just showed that this was the first time he went shopping with other girls. In a way, it was kind of sad, but also very fortunate of him. It wasn't until it was late in the afternoon that the girls were finally satisfied with their trip and decided to head back to the dorms. Naturally, Cecil and Ainz were dragged into the girl's dormitory since the two were the girls' baggage men and had been carrying all their stuff the entire time.
Ainz was visibly tired while Cecil was lifting everything up and balancing them on just one hand and treating their predicament as a chance to train. His friend really couldn't understand what was going on in his mind. Here he was dying for a break, but his friend was nonchalantly working out.
'Ugh, I guess there's a reason why he's rank 2...but how much money does that fox brat even have on her? She's bought more stuff than the two princesses!'
It took a while to get to the girls' dorm because Ainz constantly needed a break, but they eventually arrived and after settling Lucia and Fina's stuff down, Ainz still had to go to apartment no. 04 to deliver Elizabeth's stuff. Fina was curious and followed along with them.
Meanwhile, back in Lucia and Fina's apartment, Cecil and Lucia were left inside. They were currently arranging all of the things Lucia bought, but Cecil noticed that it was mostly foodstuffs. After arranging everything, the two of them immediately started preparing dinner together. 10 minutes into them cooking, Cecil noticed that everyone else wasn't back yet so he turned towards Lucia and said, "You're really caring, Lulu."
"Hm? What do you mean? And for your information, I'm always caring! If I wasn't, I wouldn't have learned how to cook for you!"
Cecil chuckled and paused for a bit before saying, "They looked like they didn't want us to mind their statuses."
Lucia grinned and gave him a sidelong glance before continuing, "Why should we care where they're from? They wanted to be friends with us, so why should we treat them differently? Remember, you were the one who taught me this!"
The two already knew full well of Eli and Fina's identities, but they didn't bring it up at any point in time during their interactions. They thought that it wasn't necessary for them to mind their statuses since they were the same as them, students of Arks Royal Academy. Whether they were royalty or not, Cecil and Lucia both didn't want to mind that since the two princesses were the ones who wanted to be friends with them and didn't bring up their statuses in the first place.
Cecil smiled since Lucia had the same thoughts as him, he slid the cut up vegetables and mashed spices he had finished prepping to Lucia and moved on to prepare the meat that they would be cooking later after Lucia finished with the stew she was making.
"...let's just stay oblivious then. It's not like it's going to be detrimental for them. They seem happy with the way we act around them, anyway."
"That's what I've been planning to do since the start! Cel, pass me the salt and did you finish mashing the chili yet?"
"Here and the chili is right there."
The two were harmoniously cooperating in the kitchen and this scene was taken in by 4 people who came into the dorm.
"...Lucia can cook?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yup! And the food she makes is delicious and unique!" Fina replied gently with a smile on her face.
"YO! You two, what are we having for dinner this time?" Ainz asked loudly, making his presence known to the two.
"Quit being so loud, idiot. Just wait patiently! Oh, who's this?"
Lucia noticed that they had an additional person with them. It was a large tigerkin girl with white fur and blue stripes. She had blue eyes and had a slim, but athletic figure and she seemed the energetic type. This was basically confirmed the moment the girl opened her mouth and introduced herself.
"I'm Veli! I think I already introduced myself in class earlier, right? I'm Elizabeth's roommate! But this is unexpected, I didn't expect that our number 1 was so down to Alterna! You even know how to cook! That's so cool!" the girl exclaimed with clear admiration in her eyes.
Lucia immediately recognized the new girl. She was the class's 10th rank student, Velicia Darkclaw. She smiled at her before saying, "Well, Veli, nice to meet you! Go ahead and sit down, wait a bit for me and Cel to finish dinner. I'm sure you'll like it! You as well, Eli! I hope you guys don't mind if the food is a bit...unique."
"Hehe, thanks!"
"Thank you...and sorry for intruding."
"No problem~ the more the merrier~"
Everyone went to sit down somewhere in the room. Fina, however, quickly came over to observe the two cooking. Elizabeth also came over and was very much surprised at seeing Lucia's practiced movement. Just like Veli, she honestly didn't think Lucia was so...normal, considering that she was the academy freshman's number 1 ranker.
Dinner was soon served and everyone ate to their heart's content. They didn't linger too long since the class had to gather first thing tomorrow morning at the academy's stadium so they all went back to their dorms after they finished eating and hanging out for a bit.
The next day, Lucia alongside Fina and Eli, arrived first at the entrance of the stadium. They looked around and saw that they were the first ones to arrive. Not long after, Cecil and Ainz came and all the other classmates trickled in, but it wasn't until it was almost 9 AM, the deadline Instructor Jin told them to gather by, that the rest of the class arrived.
The entire class was wearing their combat uniforms. Each gender's combat uniform was somewhat the same. It was a rather tight-fitting, hard-padded battle suit that was made from sky wyvern leather and skin along with a few other materials. The battle suit was enchanted with magic, so it adjusted to fit each students' bodies once they wore them.
The fact that the battle suits were rather tightly fit around their bodies made it really hard for the boys. They didn't know where to place their gazes when looking at the girls in their class, especially for these 14-15 year old boys who were still going through puberty. Their faces blushed red every time they turned their gazes towards the girls. Not even the most stoic-looking ones among them could help themselves from blushing with Cecil probably being the only exception.
While the rest of the boys were stealing glances at the girls and acting up a little bit and causing a minor stir, he was just gazing blankly into the sky. Everyone waited and waited, but didn't see Instructor Jin anywhere. However, right when the clock struck 9 on the dot, the instructor arrived falling from the sky like a meteor.
'So it was him I was sensing up there,' Cecil thought. 'That's a prettty cool way to arrive though.'
Cecil had to give props to the instructor for the awesome way he arrived. Instructor Jin was actually waiting for them in the sky and arrived with a 'superhero' landing when the time was exactly 9 AM. His entrance immediately caught everyone, except Cecil, by surprise.
"Hohoho! Looks like everyone is here," Instructor Jin grinned with satisfaction. "Come on, let's head in! The other classes should also be here by now!"
it wasn't just their class who were called here. The other 7 first year classes had already gathered in the various entrances of the stadium and were about to make their way inside just like them. Each class had their own seating areas , but since they were rather close to each other, they were able to somewhat exchange gestures with one another.
No one spoke up or anything because after the homeroom teachers left them at their seats, they then made their way to the middle of the stadium's arena and waited. Not long after, a magic circle appeared close to where they were standing and a spacial tunnel formed. The headmaster of the academy soon walked out of the spacial tunnel and this attracted the numerous gazes of the students.
"Woah! Space magic!" Ainz exclaimed in awe after seeing the spacial tunnel that the headmaster had walked out of.
All the first year students in every class were excited to see the headmaster. The headmaster looked around while smiling at everyone before turning to the 8 homeroom teachers and saying something to them. After he passed on his message, he floated up into the stands and quickly took his seat. It appeared that he was going to be an observer, but it wasn't just the headmaster.
A moment later, various other teachers and instructors began walking or just suddenly appearing in the stadium seats. This event was the first years' magic and combat assessment which took place every time the academy took in a new batch of students. It was customary for all the academy's teaching staff to be present to watch the students strut their stuff.
After seeing that no more teachers or instructors were appearing, Instructor Jin stepped forward and said in a loud voice, echoing voice, "Today's magic and combat assessment will now begin! Every class will send 2 students each at a time and they will be tested here on the arena!"
The classes immediately erupted into an excited bout of discussion. Instructor Jin looked around and grinned, "Quiet down!"
After the stadium quieted down, only then did he continue. "Now, listen carefully. The assessment will have two phases! The first phase will be a raw magical assessment! In this segment, each student will only have 2 chances to cast the strongest magic spell at their disposal!"
"The scores will be publicly displayed on that magic screen up there!" Instructor Jin pointed above him and a large rectangular box slowly came down from the ceiling of the stadium. It stopped about 40 meters from the ground and silently floated there.
"For those who can get a good score, we'll be providing first place a mid-tier mana seed and a chance to select any intermediate ranked spell in the fifth floor of the academy's library!"
This immediately roused the fighting spirit of every student in the stadium. Most of the students turned to look at Lucia since she was the strongest competitor for first place. Lucia was calm and didn't seem too excited. Her composure caused the other students who turned to look at her to feel even more uneasy. Instructor Jin raised a hand to silence the students again before he continued on with his explanation.
"The second segment will be a mock combat against other fellow students. The whole assessment will take around three days! Today being the first segment while tomorrow we'll continue on with the second segment that will go on for two days!"
Instructor Jin smirked and raised his hand to the sky before shouting, "Now, let's get on with the assessment!!! First will be our first year's representative! Lucia Yukihime!!! Come up to the stage!"
Lucia sighed helplessly and shrugged, "Me again, huh?"
Cecil looked towards her and quietly said, "Don't overdo it, Lulu..."
Lucia didn't say anything and only chuckled at his words. She unhurriedly walked to the stadium's arena and every student there had their eyes fixed on her.
"Second from the S class, we'll have Armin! Step up, boy!!!"
'So instructor Jin is sending our number 1 and 25 together... that means I'm next with number 24?' Cecil thought.
The other instructors quickly did the same and had two of their students come down to the arena. Soon, 16 students from class S to G had gathered together in the middle of the stadium's arena. The 7 other instructors started casting a barrier around the arena while Instructor Jin walked right up to the 16 and asked, "Who wants the honor to go first?"
Everyone involuntarily turned their gazes to Lucia. Lucia already knew that she would be the first to go so she had already stepped forward immediately after the instructor asked the question.
"Alright, our first ranked student will set us an example! Now, for the rest of you! Please proceed outside of the barrier."
While the other 15 were walking out of the barrier, Lucia had begun stretching her body. Her actions earned her some doubtful gazes from the rest of the students. It wasn't like she was going to do some extraneous activity. All she would be doing was casting her magic, but her stretching was welcomed by all the boys, however. Cecil's eyes turned cold when he noticed the odd glances the boys were sending her, but again, he didn't understand why he felt unsettled.
Instructor Jin waited patiently until she was finished before he asked her, "So, what spell will you be showing us Lucia?"
"Instructor, are you sure it's safe for you to stay inside the barrier?"
"WAHAHAHA! You don't have to worry about me, little one! Just cast your magic without restraint! And don't worry about the barrier! It's able to withstand tier 6 magic so it will be absolutely fine for you to show us your strongest!"
Lucia nodded at his words and got ready, "Alright...uhm...step back a bit instructor."
Instructor Jin took a couple step backs and Lucia closed her eyes and began gathering her mana.
'I can't use Divine Punishment here... How about Explosion? Yeah, let's go with a full-powered Explosion.'
Without any chants, Lucia stretched out both her hands and a crimson red magic circle formed above her right hand and an aqua blue magic circle formed above her left. She then threw the magic circles into the air like two disks. The blue magic circle stayed afloat in the air while the red magic circle fell to the ground. She then unsheathed her Butterfly and pointed it at the two magic circles ahead of her.
When she channeled her mana into the kodachi, the small magic circles immediately enlarged, almost encompassing the whole arena as the mana in the air immediately started to rumble.
"Oh!" Instructor Jin exclaimed in surprise.
It wasn't only the instructor, but everyone in the stadium broke out in surprise at the sudden abnormal mana activity. The headmaster was really surprised and smiled gently. He was just about to stretch out his arm and reinforce the barrier, but he stopped and widened his eyes a bit seeing Lucia's next action.
Lucia concentrated and shrunk the magic circles to about a third of its size and only then did the rumbling stop.
"What superb mana control!" The headmaster smiled and exclaimed in appreciation.
Lucia then started chanting, but it wasn't like the normal chants of orthodox spells. It was an original chant that Lucia made only so that she could have a clearer picture of her spell as well as a better control of its output.
"Scorched earth and frozen skies! Heed my call and obliterate my enemies–EXPLOSION!"
The magic circles enlarged again by about 20 percent of its size before it blinked out of existence. Everyone was puzzled and thought that Lucia had misfired her spell. The students found that the activation sequence as well as the chant was somewhat odd and they immediately presumed that Lucia had failed in casting her spell. Some of the girls in the other classes even started smirking and gloating.
Lucia, however, had immediately backed off to where Instructor Jin was standing and casted a lava and ice barrier around them. Cecil had also rushed in front of S class's sitting area and he immediately activated Mana Burst and quickly constructed a Mana Barrier around them. He also did his best to thicken and darken the surface of the barrier as well.
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"Cecil?"
"Hey, brat!"
"Eh?"
"What's the deal?"
The class was puzzled at Cecil's actions, but he didn't pay them any mind and only focused on strengthening the barrier. Just as his barrier was almost complete, a loud screeching noise rang throughout the stadium and a white light blossomed at the area where the two magic circles had blinked out of existence. Then, a large bright explosion engulfed the arena.
Everyone's ears started to ring and many were left disorientated. Some of the students in the other classes had outright fainted from the screeching explosion. Only class S was relatively alright. Other than the fact that some of them experienced mild nausea and a brief headache, they were all fine and fairing much better than the other 7 classes and this was because of Cecil's Mana Barrier which dampened out most of the light and noise from the explosion.
Looking down at the center of the arena, the protective barrier was completely engulfed by the effects of Lucia's spell and it was unknown what the state of she and Instructor Jin was at the moment. Fina and Eli who were witnessing this absurd spell immediately rose from their seats and ran to the edge of the seating area. Fina was anxious enough that she started calling out to Lucia.
"Lucia! Lucia!!"
Elizabeth quickly tried to calm her down, "Calm down Fina, Lucia knows what she's doing! There's no way she would cast a suicidal spell..."
Although she said this, even Elizabeth herself wasn't so sure and was mired with worry and unease. Cecil, who saw the two worried girls, spoke up to reassure them, "Don't worry."
"But... Cecil!"
"Don't worry, she's okay. This isn't the first time she's used this spell. And do remember. She casted a barrier before the explosion happened."
"But will that barrier be enough?" Fina worriedly asked.
Cecil scratched his cheek while hesitating. He wasn't used to talking very long with anyone other than Lucia, but decided to explain a bit about Lucia's spell.
"The spell Lucia used was her only original chanting spell that combined both her water and fire elements. It's called Explosion. The barrier she used was also a spell she exclusively created to handle the repercussions of casting the spell at a danger-close distance. It's her Glacial Magma Barrier spell."
Cecil paused in hesitation. He didn't want to reveal anymore of Lucia's original spells' details, but seeing how genuinely worried Fina and Eli were, he could only continue, "It's her strongest barrier type original spell. It could easily handle tier 4 and tier 5 spells. It could also withstand the impact of a tier 6 spell to some degree, but the only problem is that her vision and hearing is completely sealed inside the barrier, which in this case would actually be a good thing considering how noisy and bright Explosion is."
Hearing how powerful the barrier spell was, Fina and Eli were finally put at ease, but at the same time they were shocked. For an original barrier spell to be so strong, that was amazing!
They continued staring into the brightly lit arena barrier hoping to find the silhouette of their spirited fox friend. After about a minute, the light from Lucia's Explosion spell died down. Just as Cecil said, Lucia and Instructor Jin were protected safely behind Lucia's barrier. To every students and teachers' astonishment, however, was the destruction caused by the spell.
The area inside the barrier that was struck by the spell was entirely destroyed. A large smooth crater that was about 10 meters deep at its lowest point was what remained of the arena behind the barrier. Lucia's spell had cleanly obliterated the area it struck and the most astonishing part was that the barrier had very faint signs of cracking. This meant that Lucia's Explosion spell was at least tier 6 and a high-ranking one at that.
The ice and magma hardened barrier started to crumble and Lucia stepped out of the barrier and observed her handiwork. She smiled proudly and nodded in satisfaction before turning towards Instructor Jin, who was also dazedly witnessing the destructive results of her spell, and asking, "So, instructor... how was it?"
"..."
The stadium was silent so everyone heard Lucia. They could only send the monstrously talented girl a horrified look at how nonchalant she asked that question. The crowd was even more surprised at how composed Lucia was.
Even after casting such a strong magic spell, she didn't look the least bit strained or tired. Judging by how high tiered the spell was earlier, it was bound to use up a sizeable amount of mana, but how come Lucia still looked so spirited even after that? Even for an Initial Mana Core stage spell caster, wasn't the amount of mana she had somewhat abnormally high?
Such were the thoughts of the stupefied students and instructors. Only the headmaster was smiling in appreciation at Lucia's splendid performance. The students and teachers who weren't in the know started suspecting whether or not Lucia was already close to the Intermediate Mana Core stage or not and thought that she only needed a small push before officially stepping into that stage.
That of course wasn't the case. Lucia had used up the mana inside two of her tails to cast Explosion. It was a lot of mana, about 2000 units worth. She would have to spend at least a day or two to accumulate and refill the mana in her tails' empty mana cores.
Seeing that Lucia was okay, Cecil inwardly let out a sigh of relief and began walking back to his seat after he dispelled his Mana Barrier. Fina and Eli were also relieved seeing that Lucia was safe and okay. They smiled wryly after hearing Lucia's nonchalant question and walked back towards their seat. Everyone in S class were quietly discussing and admiring the strongest spell caster that was in their class.
Instructor Jin snapped out of his daze and took a look at his teacher-exclusive MID. The results of Lucia's spell were sent to his MID from the active mana sensors that were distributed inside the whole stadium.
The sensors were something unique to the stadium that was used to sense the strength of the spells invoked by the people inside the arena. It served to help quickly adjust the power output and durability of the arena's barrier that encompassed the arena. It was only because of these sensors that the barrier had only cracked instead of breaking due to Lucia's spell.
"High Ranked 6th Tier spell! Splendid! Just splendid, Lucia!" his exclamation caused another round of astonished gasps from the students around and teachers.
"A Tier 6 Mage at that age...what the heck..."
"Are you kidding me?!"
"As expected of this year's strongest... she's already on par if not stronger than some of our seniors."
"We're way out of her league..."
"Tsk... just look at how full of herself she is."
"..."
There were some who admired her and there were also others who frowned at her results due to jealousy and envy.
"This spell isn't listed in our academy's database. Is it an original spell, Lucia?" Instructor Jin inquired.
"Yes! It's an original, a combination of fire and water. It's part of my Compound Magic Series! Its official name is Compound Magic Spell: Explosion!" Lucia said enthusiastically.
"Compound magic... a combination of fire and water, huh?" Instructor Jin smiled and then began tapping away at his MID.
The instructor created a new spell sub-category under the original spell category in the academy's database. He copied Lucia and named the new category Compound Magic and listed Explosion as the first ever compound magic spell in its category list.
Spell : Explosion Tier : 6 - High Rank Atttribute : Water and Fire Origin : Original spell created by Core stage Spell caster, Lucia Yukihime (14) Chant : 'Scorched earth and frozen skies! Heed my call and obliterate my enemies'
Instructor Jin then remembered that Lucia had shrunk the spell at the last minute, he then changed the tier.
Tier : High Rank Tier 6 – ?
-----------------------------------------
It took some time for the arena to be fixed, but as soon as it was finished, the other 15 students began their assessments. Everyone had a good score, but their performances were eclipsed by Lucia's previous stunt.
It was soon Cecil's turn and as expected, he and the 24th ranked student in the class were the ones that Instructor Jin selected next from Class S. While the next batch of students were going down to the arena, the instructors in the stands started a small discussion between themselves.
"S class sure is something. Since the first ranked girl had such an outstanding performance, I'm very much anticipating this next student's. I hear that the first and second rankers registered together!"
"Two magically adept students, huh... each subsequent year, the quality of the students are getting more and more ridiculous, don't you agree?"
"It just goes to show how developed the progress of magic is now. Centuries and even just decades ago, things like this were never even heard of before. Back then everyone was still pioneering the path."
"Even though our magic system has been around for over a couple centuries, there seems to be no end to how magic can further progress."
"Ah! There he is, the second ranked student. He's even a foxkin like that Lucia girl! The foxkin tribes must be laughing in their sleeps knowing that they've got two enormously talented youngsters! Just which tribe are they from though?"
It took a while before it was finally Cecil's turn to go up. They had him go last in fear of him also wielding enough power to decimate the arena just like Lucia. The worries were unfounded though since Cecil himself knew that he was nowhere near Lucia's level in terms of magical capabilities.
'If I was the same as Lucia then I wouldn't have struggled with the 3rd part of the exam...' Cecil lamented in his heart.
Seeing as the arena's barrier was up, Cecil looked around and started thinking about what he should do. He was honestly clueless since there wasn't one magic spell he could actually use. As a non-elemental user and a person who had successfully cultivated the Mana Eyes, he was more focused on mana manipulation than the actual use of magic spells.
'Guess I'll just go with a Mana Wave? Or maybe...hmmm...'
Cecil was thinking and was having a hard time which technique he should choose to exhibit. He didn't want to use anything too flashy. Seeing as Cecil hadn't made his move yet, it puzzled everyone since it looked like he was staring off blankly into space.
Instructor Jin immediately reminded Cecil softly that he could begin at anytime, but hopefully soon.
"Uhm... Cecil? You could start now."
Cecil snapped out of his daze. He didn't say anything and only nodded. Up in the stands Lucia had her eyes on Cecil and seeing the clarity return to him she frowned, "Tch... he's hesitating..."
"What's that Lucia?" Fina asked while glancing at the seemingly dissatisfied Lucia.
"Nothing! It's nothing ehehe~"
Even though she tried to laugh it off, Fina was still skeptical since she did somewhat hear her mumbling. Cecil, who was hesitating, finally turned towards the Instructor and said, "Instructor, sir. Uhm...I'm not really all that adept at magic spells. My main focus has always been body enhancing techniques, so I don't really know any conventional spells..."
"Oh? Then what about originals? You can use an original spell just like Lucia!"
"I...don't have any either... I only have body strengthening originals..."
"I see. But you did get into S Class didn't you? That means you should at least know some spells right? It's fine to use whatever."
"O-Okay..."
Cecil went silent after that. He sighed and turned around while thinking to himself, 'Whatever, let's just go with Mana Volley or Mana Wave.'
Cecil activated Mana Burst and slowly rose into the air. Instructor Jin immediately raised an eyebrow at that and thought, 'Didn't he just say that he didn't know any originals? A no chant flying spell...that's already pretty advanced!'
Cecil levitated just before his head hit the barrier that surrounded the arena. He stretched a hand and aimed it at the ground. He concentrated and began directing the mana in his body into his palm. It normally took him not more than a second to concentrate his mana to use a volley, but he decided this time to take his time and push his limits. It took him 10 seconds to form a huge globe of mana in his palms that reached the threshold of his mana control. Anymore and it'll cause a backlash to his mind and body.
"HAH!!"
With a shout, the globe of mana in his hands burst apart and mana bolts the size of wash bins rained down from the sky like meteorites. For the next minute, Cecil continued channeling his mana and sent mana bolts bombarding the arena grounds, causing multiple explosions upon impact. Once the dust settled, the aftermath of Cecil's bombardment soon became visible.
Craters ranging from 1-3 meters in diameter dotted the entirety of the arena. Although the destruction caused by the spell wasn't as mind blowing as Lucia's spell, it still caused the teachers and students to gape since Cecil had continued channeling the spell for such a long time and even then, he didn't look drained at all after using so much mana.
This was because the amount of mana he used just now in his Mana Volley only amounted to about 10 percent of his total mana pool. However, he still wanted to play the part and acted like he was exhausted. After landing back down on the ground, he fell on one knee and began panting in exhaustion. After gathering his breath, he turned towards instructor Jin and asked, "I...I'm done now, right?"
"...yes."
Without delay, Cecil started walking back to the stands while looking physically drained. Lucia, who was in the stands observing him, clicked her tongue and started pouting in annoyance.
"Two-faced idiot. See how I'll handle you later."
Lucia mumbled in annoyance.
"...Lucia?"
"W-What is it, Fina?"
"You look dissatisfied somehow..." Fina asked, a sharp glint flashed in her eyes while she observed her flustered friend.
"No. No, I'm not! Haha~"
Seeing how she only wanted to laugh it off, Fina started pressuring her friend with a hard gaze. Lucia quickly grew nervous and didn't know what to do since this was the first time her seemingly timid friend was putting up a strong front.
"Hey, guys... that sure was tiring. What's up?"
Cecil had arrived back at the stands, his group of friends greeted him and Lucia was saved.
"Oh! Cel, good work," Lucia said, while inwardly releasing a sigh of relief. She didn't know why, but lately, Fina has been growing more and more inquisitive.
"Yeah... channeling Volley for over a minute took a lot out of me..." Cecil scratched his cheek while nonchalantly lying.
Lucia turned a disdainful look at him. Her face showed that she didn't believe a single word from him and this caused Cecil to turn his eyes away from her. The others, however, nodded in understanding.
After he sat down, Elizabeth immediately asked, "That spell earlier... it looked like an empowered version of the air bolt spell. What's it called?"
Cecil smiled, knowing that he had successfully pulled the wool over everyone's eyes, he answered her, "Yeah, it was indeed a stronger version of air bolt. I'm not really adept at using higher ranked magic, so I compensate that by empowering my low tier magic instead. That version of air bolt was just me condensing a large mass of air bolts in my palm and firing it out indiscriminately."
"I don't have full control of each individual air bolts, so they randomly fire at the general direction that I'm aiming. Each air bolt is as strong as a tier 3 or tier 4 spell, but it's hard to use since I can't aim it well."
'LIAR! LIAR LIAR LIAR!' Lucia wanted to scream.
Only she knew for certain that Cecil could precisely control each and every mana bolt individually. With Cecil's Mana Eyes he wouldn't even break a sweat while doing it! Not to mention that if he attached a homing function on each bolt then the concentrated mana bolts could chase after whatever it was that Cecil targeted, by then control would be meaningless. In fact, this function-attaching technique alone was the epitome of 'control'.
She couldn't stand Cecil downplaying his own technique like that. He was also deliberately portraying himself as being weak in magic combat, so Lucia walked behind him and furiously started pinching Cecil as hard as she could.
Although, 'weak' was only relative to her understanding since Lucia hadn't been in contact with anyone else that close to their age, but if they were to actually compare their fighting and magic capabilities with others, then Cecil and Lucia would be so many levels ahead of the people in their age group.
Cecil had already foresaw that something bad was about to happen to him when he saw that Lucia was pouting, so even when he felt surprised at the sudden pain that originated from his back, he made sure to keep his cool and not yelp out in surprise. Seeing as Cecil didn't react to her pinching, Lucia started putting in more force in her hands.
This caused Cecil to grimace a bit as he started crying inside, 'Ow, ow, ow, ow...'
Cecil turned an apologetic look at Lucia who was pouting behind him and she only scoffed in return before pinching even harder, but she soon stopped and helplessly sighed. Cecil's circumstances were too special and it would indeed be hard for them to explain anything if his circumstances were exposed to everyone. Even though she didn't like it when Cecil downplayed his abilities, she couldn't force him to do otherwise though.
The assessment continued and everyone had their turn showing off their magical capabilities. It was deep into the afternoon when the first segment of the assessment had finally finished and everyone was allowed to go back to their dorms.