Tim appeared in front of Ryan within moments of the fight starting. If Ryan was nervous about facing a Light Type spear user, he didn't show it. Stepping back to avoid the thrust.

Tim's offence was unrelenting, but he only ever achieved glancing blows. Ryan's Heavy Armour showed some signs of damage but nothing that would affect him.

Ryan seemed to be waiting for the right moment to strike back. Content with tiring out Tim.

Tim seemed to realise that after a few moments, so he took a more defensive position away from Ryan. He was waiting for him to attack.

It was then that Ryan showed off his true power. The red of his armour began to glow, shifting hues to an aggressive scarlet.

The shock in the audience was palpable as Ryan moved with a speed and brutality that looked foreign to a C ranker.

Everyone in the audience could recognise the use of the first Rare skill from a first year.

Frenzy was a cornerstone of many of the most powerful Heavy Types. Capable of giving them an immense stat boost for a short amount of time.

Clearly, no one in the audience had been expecting that skill. Except for Georgia, it seemed, as her hollering could be heard above the crowd's silence.

Tim's reaction was impressive, shifting back as fast as he could. Even then, he reacted too slowly in the face of Ryan's Frenzy. The skill wasn't something any of the other first years could handle. Even Ivan's fists were clenched tightly in view of the impressive skill.

The resounding blow from Ryan took Tim straight out of the fight. Even with Tim having only been hit by what looked like a glancing blow. It was enough to take him out of the fight.

While it seemed premature for Ryan to bring out the skill against an opponent he could have beaten. It certainly made his presence known to everyone else in the Academy.

Ryan's roar after his victory seemed to echo around the arena. Supported by the cheers of many of the other first years.

Compared to those celebrations, the mood in the front row was more than a little dour.

Seeing one of their own being knocked out so early was a sobering experience. It would only be the next day when the true powerhouses of the capital would be paying attention. If Tim was from an influential family, they would not be happy with him being knocked out so early. It didn't matter who he lost to.

With that, the fights for the day were over. Most had gone the way everyone had expected. I tried to leave my seat to follow the rest of the crowd out. But Arthur had his hand on my wrist. He was stopping me from moving. Even with the upgrade of my stats, I would still have no chance of breaking out of the hold.

"You're coming with us for some more training. Did you know that kid?"

I wasn't sure how to respond to him.

"His name is Ryan. I talked to him a little last night. I don't know anything else about him."

Arthur's stare bore into me for a few moments, before nodding his head slightly and getting up off his seat.

The others followed as we exited the arena, heading straight for the practice area. I couldn't even see the shadows of Violet and the others, which left me resigned to my fate. Only this time, I wasn't sure If another Violet would be willing to heal me fully.

If the training was anything like the day before, then I was sure that I was going to be in pain the next day.

It was a sombre walk to the training halls. No one wanted to be the first to break the silence. Tim walked beside us. He was more focused on the ground than anything around him.

I felt more than a little awkward by the time we arrived. I felt out of sorts with the group at the best of times. Now, I felt like I was seeing something I wasn't supposed to.

There was anger brewing within the group, and I couldn't help but think I was soon to become a punching bag.

While my increased stats would help me a little, they would still be nothing in front of any of the other's assaults. It was only Sarah, whose stats I didn't know anything about, that I might have a chance against. But she had been treating me coldly all afternoon. She barely said a single word to me.

We arrived at the expansive cavern without any issues. I nodded to the attendant who had helped me the day before. She only gave a polite smile in response.

The other attendants kept their heads lowered as we passed. The silence during the walk down the stairs was almost oppressive.

It had been fine in the open air of the campus, but now that we were all together in a small group, the tension was high.

Tim's shoulders seemed even more slumped by the time we arrived.

I had worried about how the sparring would go. Yet Ivan's entire focus was on Tim. He spent most of the evening talking and sparring with him. The others focused more on preparing Blaine for the next day.

Which left me sparring with Jacques and Sarah for most of the night. Whose stats while better than mine. Weren't so oppressive as to beat me into unconsciousness.

They were both more skilled than I was, but my foundation was still solid enough to put up some semblance of a fight.

While Jacques's stats were unsurprising, a Support Type was heavily focused on Spirit, with the other stats trailing behind. It was interesting that Sarah's build followed a similar trend.

Unless she took it easy, I was almost faster than her, putting her speed at the bottom of D rank. That would be low even for a Support Type. So whatever her stats were, for her to be C1, she must be heavily focused on Spirit.

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I hadn't heard anything about her having special attributes. So, for her other stats to be this weak, it would put her Spirit close to B rank. A monstrous distribution by all accounts.

It seemed that I had been worried for nothing, as while I had gained a few bruises. I left that evening with nothing but a slightly wounded pride.

The dining room was all but empty by the time we had finished up for the evening. So I scarfed some leftover food, before making my way back to my dorm.

I was exhausted enough to fall into a deep sleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.

The following day came far too soon; I was glad at least that I didn't have anywhere too pressing to be. My morning habits still had me up earlier than most others, so the dining room was pretty empty. After a quick breakfast, I went to check on Goldy.

Opening the door, I was annoyed to see that I still couldn't open it all the way. I had a slight hope that the professor might have changed it the day before, but I had no such luck.

It was still more than enough for me to see inside. The morning light filtered in from behind me, lighting up the room. The lone magelight leaving most of the room in shadows.

I could see Goldy curled up in the corner, in the same position I had left him in the day before. He looked up for a second once I appeared. But he seemed to huff in annoyance before turning his head.

It seemed that he wasn't too happy with me. I had left him for an entire day, after all. I longed for the day I could take him out and about with me. It would make me feel a lot better.

For now, I had to be content with practising mental commands once again. I could feel that I was getting closer, but there still seemed to be a wall I couldn't overcome.

After making sure he still followed my verbal commands. I continued to practice all morning. This would be the last day of leisure I had in the Academy. Theory classes would start the next day. According to my schedule, I had a lot more than average.

I spent far more time than I expected petting Goldy after calling him to lie beside the door. It made me feel a lot more confident about what was to come.

He seemed to appreciate the pets, at the very least. He was leaning into them for the most part. It took a little longer this time around for him to get fed up and return to his corner.

I wanted to spend more time with him, but I knew that the matches for today would be starting soon. There would be far fewer today.

With a bid farewell and an order not to hurt anyone or anything, I left for the arena.

The roar of the crowd hit me as I arrived. Once again, I had missed some of the first few matches.

The front row was surprisingly full as I arrived. None of them had been called up to fight quite yet.

The others seemed to be in a little better form. Even Tim had a smile on his face as I approached. He was laughing with the person beside him.

I sat down to muted greetings once again. But the others seemed more willing to engage in conversation. Letting me learn a little more about who the students fighting were.

By this point, only the C-rankers were fighting on the arena floor.

For the final day, they were only using four of the simulation areas. The first years were relegated to only one of them. The upper years took turns in having two fights on display.

By this point, my Spirit stat wasn't high enough to keep up with the speed of the third-year bouts. Even the second-year fights were becoming harder to follow.

They were nothing but a blur to me. I was reacting more to the screams of the Upper years than the fights themselves.

I didn't think my Spirit would be improving much any time soon. Terror Wolves reacted more on instincts than using their Spirit to keep up with their speed.

With that depressing thought, I focused more on the first-year fights, as the only first-years left were those with real skills.

I had looked up towards where Violet had been sitting the day before. Neither she nor Georgia had moved. But they were joined by Ryan. Who hadn't fought yet today.

Blaine was the first to be picked from the front row. The attendant told him to get ready and head to the arena floor.

I looked at the other group to see if Ryan would be his opponent. But the attendant had picked someone from the fourth row to head to the arena floor.

If the sparring the night before had tired Blaine out in any way, he didn't show as he nearly bounced away from us.

He seemed to look forward to putting on a show.

I had seen his power the day before, but I wasn't sure how it measured up to Ryan. Before yesterday, I would have said he was the most powerful Heavy Type in the year. But now I wasn't sure that was true.

Blaine seemed to want to put that argument to bed as he quickly took out his opponent. His heavy tower shield being used more as a weapon than the small mace in his other hand.

His opponent, a Ranged Type, one of the few who had managed to reach this point, couldn't do much in the face of the shield. His Flame burst spell that had allowed him to get so far was useless in front of Blaine's defence.

Without a focus, the Ranged Type's combat ability was far from complete. The fact he had managed to make it this far in the first place was impressive. There was a reason their ranking for the first semester wasn't based on their results in the arena alone.

I had no doubt he would be one of the highest-ranked Ranged Types when the Rankings were released.

Blaine's victory seemed to boost the mood of those around me, happy that they once again came out on top.

It wasn't long before another of the front row was fighting down below.

It took asking Arthur to find out who it was.

"That is Rosalia Dunn. A competent Light Type."

While Arthur was still reserved with his words, his praise of Rosalia wasn't undeserving.

A rare dual-wielding Light Type, her two short swords glinted dangerously in her hands.

While I didn't recognise the Dunn family name, I was sure they were a powerful clan.

Her opponent was a Classic Heavy Type. She was a stout woman with more armour than most C-rankers. Her Kite shield was close to the largest I had seen in the first years. Her duelling knife, on the other hand, looked tiny in comparison.

Both of them looked like they countered the other. It would be an uphill battle for Rosalia.

Her skills were obvious from the start of the match. She danced around the arena, constantly targeting her opponent's weak spots.

Even with her skill, getting past the oppressive defence was proving to be difficult. The kite shield was large enough that her opponent could hide behind it for as long as she wanted. She was simply waiting for Rosalia to tire out.

As the fight continued, I was impressed with Rosalia's stamina, going for attack after attack. She was clearly learning how her opponent reacted with each blow. Moving closer and closer to striking true.

The end came faster than anyone expected. Rosalia went in for a low attack, causing her opponent to shift down. Then, in a display of acrobatics that had the entire crowd cheering, she leapt over her shield.

Her opponent didn't have time to react as Rosalia landed behind her. Delivering the fatal blow to the back of her head.

Every first year was on their feet after that. If Rosalia was also trying to prove something, she had done so. No one had finished a match in quite so particular fashion thus far.

She returned to a hero's welcome from everyone else in the first row. More and more people from the first row went up for their matches. Ivan was the first to face another from the first row.

A mousy man from the end of the row. This time around, Arthur was quick to supply me with his name.

"Noel Shepard, He is Ivan's cousin. I am sure neither of them is happy that they have to face each other."

While I also hadn't heard of the Shepard family. The fact that he was cousins to the Alexanders ensured some level of power.

It was frowned upon to surrender immediately within the arena. After all, no injury or deadly blow would affect your real body. Even with Noel trying his best, he was no match for Ivan.

It was the first fight that Ivan ended quickly, not wanting to make a display of his cousin.

Before Ivan struck the finishing blow, I felt a strange tug from my tether with Goldy.

It didn't worry me too much to start, but the intensity kept on growing. It finally reached a point when I could not ignore it. I had to see what was happening to him. I tried to calm the tether but had no control over it.

With my worry, I nearly hit Ivan, who glared at me in turn, when I got out of my seat. I didn't have time to care about that as I left the arena. A few cries came out from behind me. But I ignored them. My only focus was on the bond.

I ran through the campus, arriving in front of the stables.