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This was fun! Seraphiel was enjoying the new format they’d shifted into quite a bit, as shown by the grin on her face. Beasts of different types spawned to attack her at regular intervals, with the waves of beasts getting larger and more dangerous every wave. If she didn’t kill them fast enough, she risked getting overwhelmed, while killing them fast enough gave her a bit of time to recover between waves. On the other hand, going all out risked tiring her faster, at least in theory. In practice, these beasts she was currently facing weren’t yet dangerous enough to really push her.

She quickly dodged a hail of spikes from some sort of a Quillboar, before decapitating a wolf that she’d slammed to the ground with her shield just before. Another hail of spikes from a different Quillboar forced her to duck behind her shield. The beasts weren’t all that accurate, but they launched several spikes in every volley, saturating the area with shots when enough of the beasts gathered.

A small number of glowing weapons of light appeared above her head and were launched at the Quillboars with her Telekinesis. The beasts screamed in pain before succumbing as her Telekinetic force twisted the weapons inside them for extra effect.

She had to admit that she really enjoyed finally having her Telekinesis at a high enough level to be useful. It was one of her oldest and most important abilities, and it had been annoying to have her most common tool turned useless. Hard training was finally paying off. Just levitating things could be handy, but the real use of Telekinesis was in throwing things at your enemy. At first small and sharp things, and later on large and heavy things. Finally, once you had enough power, you could just crush your enemy with the power itself.

Another wolf jumped at her, trying to chew off her face, but her armor easily withstood the claws of the canine while she shoved the wolf away before its maw could reach her. A quick thrust with her sword finished the last beast off, giving her a bit of breathing room, and a chance to read her announcements.

[Congratulations! [Boring Armor] has leveled up from 20 to 21!]

[Congratulations! [Telekinesis] has leveled up from 35 to 36!]

Not a whole lot, but she'd been checking her announcements between every fight. She was a bit torn on her armor Skill. While it wasn't detrimental that it leveled up, it was also kind of pointless. The System was clearly pushing her to pick another armor Skill later on, so any levels into this Skill would be lost. Unless she somehow managed to evolve this Skill into a new one. Was that even possible?

Her thoughts were interrupted as three bears suddenly appeared at the edge of the small clearing she was fighting in. The treeline was marking the borders of the space she was working with. Despite looking like normal bears, she knew better than to assume that to be true, and was proven right when the lead bear suddenly breathed fire at her!

A quick barrier deflected the relatively weak fire attack, but it was a good example of why she needed to stay careful. Fire-breathing bears! What next? Bunnies with the spatial element?

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"So, who came up with the space bunnies?" Eva asked as the remaining contestants had to deal with murderous bunnies teleporting everywhere. Some of the more magic-oriented contestants found out the hard way that the horns on top of the bunnies' heads were quite sharp. You should never judge a book by its cover.

“I did.” The Asari headmaster admitted. “I wanted to originally make them gravity manipulating, but I was overruled.”

“You have to admit they’re more effective this way.” Darion pointed out.

“Against mages, yes. Gravity manipulation would’ve been more effective against the martial types with their heavy armor.” The Asari headmaster grumbled.

"Yes, but that's why we added the Salamanders that cast a spell that heats up all your metal equipment.” Darion pointed out. “It’s not fair to only kick at the martial types. Mages already have an advantage when it comes to crowd clearing.”

“True enough. And it is important to target the weakness of every Class just to train them to deal with their weakness.” Another headmaster pointed out.

“Assuming they have weaknesses.” The Minotaur warlock grumbled, watching Seraphia happily slaughter her way through all the beasts that were steadily getting more dangerous and numerous. Unlike the others, she still didn’t have any trouble fully clearing every wave before another one appeared.

“Everyone has weaknesses. Hers are just less obvious. And you shouldn’t complain. You all knew she was going to win anyway, despite the change in format. The others are still managing to hang on, and she was trashing them before, so of course she’s fine.” Eva pointed out coldly.

"Is she as good at obstacle course-type gauntlets?" The Asari asked curiously.

“Judging from her movement Skills so far, she’s even better. It’s also obvious that her effective Vitality is very high, so she should have no stamina issues.” Darion answered in Eva’s stead. “Let’s just hope we can win back some of our wagers in the other categories.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Well, I wouldn’t hold my breath. I made almost all of my bets in the newbie category. You’ll get the standard rewards if you manage to win, but nothing extra.” Eva chuckled. She was going to exploit Seraphiel for benefits as long as possible. Luckily there were plenty of Academies she could still scam.

"Ah. There goes the last contestant aside from yours Eva. You're now officially the victor. Want me to turn the array off right away?" The Minotaur headmaster present asked.

"Let her deal with this last wave just to make a point and then stop. As nice as this is as an experience for her, we do have other categories to get to.” Eva decided, watching Seraphiel take down a large, red-skinned demon that was swinging around a rather nasty-looking sword, before taking the charge of a clawed insectoid monster that was larger than a car, without flinching. The girl really had a lot of Vitality, didn't she? It would be a real shame if she didn't choose a Guardian-type Class next. She was the perfect tank.

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“Hmm?” The feeling as she killed the Bloodletter demon was different. As if she’d killed something real instead of just an illusion. Well, as real as the chaos demons ever could be, since they were all manifestations of emotions.

It wouldn’t surprise her if Tzeentch had somehow managed to sneak in real demons into to mix, and she was quite certain the god would be present in this universe. A place like this would be perfect for the Changer of Ways, or the Great Schemer as he used to be called by the Aeldari. The irony of it being a Khorne demon was not lost on her, as Khorne would never do anything duplicitous like this. It wasn’t really a danger for her, as long as there would be no other such demons. Still, she should probably mention it to Eva once she got the chance. Facing a real Bloodthirster at this level would be kind of foolish.

Tanking the thing that looked a bit like a larger Hormagaunt didn’t even interrupt her thoughts. She’d killed so many of the things in the past that she’d become entirely numb to the fact. Besides, without the benefit of the Hive Mind, these wannabee Hormagaunts weren’t even half as dangerous. The creature was borderline mindless, and it didn’t have the advantages or support of actual Tyranids.

As the battle came to an end, she allowed the notifications to pop up again.

[Congratulations! [Path of the Seer] has leveled up from 37 to 38! Free Stat Points +60.]

[Congratulations! [Celestial] has leveled up from 37 to 38! Strength +10, Vitality +10, Agility +10, Perception +10, Charisma +10, Willpower +10, Manipulation +10, Acumen +10, Free Stat Points +20.]

[Congratulations! [Shinmei-ryū Kamigoroshi] has leveled up from 37 to 38! Strength +5, Vitality +5, Agility +10, Perception +10, Psionic Power +5, Psionic Control +10, Tolerance +5, Psi +5, Free Stat Points: +25]

Phew! She was getting closer to the first Class evolution. Only twelve more levels to go.

Instead of the next wave, she was brought out of the array. She saw the other contestants resting around, apparently having been defeated before she had been brought out. “Seraphia!” Tassadar called out. “I didn’t expect you to be defeated so soon after me.”

"I wasn't. Apparently, the headmasters decided that there was no point in continuing further." She said simply and shrugged.

“A shame. It was a pretty decent way to get levels. I’m going to need to train some of my Skills now, and I imagine you’re the same, but getting a couple more levels would’ve been handy.” The young Protoss commiserated.

“These kinds of arrays aren’t cheap to run.” Titus defended the headmaster as he walked to them as well. For some reason, he hadn't approached Tassadar but had joined them when Seraphia had arrived. "Besides, the older students need to take part in the competition as well."

“It’s fair enough. I’ve gained three levels in this event. Not bad for a single day’s work.” She smiled at the easy levels.

“Three isn’t bad, though I would’ve expected more with you winning every fight.” Titus pointed out.

“Well, my fights tended to be short, so I was probably penalized a bit for that when it comes to experience." She didn't mind it. As her [Been There, Done That] leveled up, her experience gains would also increase. She was already getting a 108% increase in speed of gaining levels, which meant double. While others would slow down when their levels increased, she wouldn't have that problem. Or at least not to the same extent.

“When do you think they’ll have another competition?” Tassadar asked eagerly, his rather loud voice gaining groans from the other participants.

"Not too soon I fear." Titus speculated. "Our academies will likely want to avoid having this disaster repeated, while Seraphia's academy will try to challenge others, but word will spread. You won't have it quite as easy in the future." The last part was directed at Seraphiel.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. No offense of course, but I would prefer a bit of challenge.” Seraphia stated bluntly. More challenge meant more levels both to her Skills and Classes.

"Harsh," Titus grunted.

“But not untrue.” Tassadar cheerily admitted. “I hope to have a rematch soon!”

"On that note, pass the word around. I think one of the demons I fought might have been less illusion-y than it should've been. It would be just like Tzeentch to sneak in real demons." She didn't forget to give the warning.

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“Nice work.” Eva complimented everyone with a toothy smile as the team piled into the airship that would be bringing them back to Mahora. “Especially you Seraphia. Everyone did well, but you just earned us a lot of favours.”

“That’s been bothering me for a while. What exactly did we gain from this? I’m not sure of the economics between academies. What do you bet with?” Seraphia asked.

"Mostly materials needed for Class evolution. You know only Core Worlds have the necessary materials, yeah? Well, it's rather logical that academies would have a constant need for those materials. Even if the materials for the first evolution are widely available, the materials for future evolutions become exponentially more expensive and rare. Our instructors also need to evolve their Classes as well. We also bet on rare materials that can be used to create and power arrays and effects that influence the whole academy.” Eva replied while lounging back in a large, almost throne-like chair.

That was something she’d forgotten about. Class evolutions required materials. As Eva had mentioned, the first evolution was easy, and the materials could be found in most worlds, or at least could be easily traded for even if that wasn’t the case. Her deal with Eva included having said materials provided, so she didn’t need to worry for now, but it would become an issue in the future after the academy.

The rest of the participants were also listening in, even if they weren’t really paying as much attention as this was likely familiar to them. “How are you able to leave the academy by the way?” Seraphiel asked Eva sneakily.

The Shinso Vampire just gave a shudder and shook her head. “Don’t ask.”

As the trip was going to take a while, Seraphiel and Raziel decided to withdraw to a more private corner of the vessel. "Don't mind it, Raz. That mage was almost fifty levels higher than you." She commiserated her brother for his loss.

Raziel looked torn. “It’s not…you could’ve beaten someone fifty levels above you. And I lost because I made a mistake.”

“Hmm.” She made a non-committal sound. “I might have been able to defeat someone fifty levels above me. Not everyone though. There’s an issue of compatibility.” She didn’t dismiss his issue entirely, just added a caveat.

“And I should’ve been able to win that fight. I just walked straight into his trap.” Raz was genuinely upset at his loss it seemed.

"Maybe. Yes, you played right into his hands, but he had a good plan. You didn't. He had clearly seen you fight before, or at least he had a plan ready to use against someone like you, implying he had practiced against someone similar. There were things you could've done, true, but when two people fight and one has a good plan, while the other one doesn't…well we saw the result. You're much younger than him, and you've been mostly practicing against me lately. While that's been good training in general, it hasn't really taught you how to fight different opponents." She analysed the situation. "You learn from this and move on. That's the important part. Remember that these are supposed to be the best of each academy.”

Raziel shook his head a bit. “I know. I just…wanted to do better in our first tournament together.”

She pulled her brother in for a hug. “I’ll always be proud of you. You know that.” She reassured him.

“I know.” He mumbled, and his voice implied he actually believed his own words, even if they weren’t enough for now. “I’m proud of you too. Always.”

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