“Nice jump!”
“Do that again!”
“Don’t lose, Kane!”
The crowd was riled up from his actions. Some of them even applauded, cheering for him. The students from another class too joined them. It was a sharp contrast from before. The jeers had turned into cheers.
“I overdid it again…” Kane was disappointed in himself. The plan had been to experiment on [Lesser Firebomb] without being too flashy. He had been in life-threatening situations so many times that his body was unconsciously trying to survive. Nonetheless, he was satisfied with the results and had learned new tricks, though his barrier got damaged by his spell.
“Why… Why can’t you just lose? I need to leave this class E or otherwise…” Tears formed in the corner of her eyes. She started chanting again, “Rank 1 fire spell, [Fireball]!”
A magic formation larger than before appeared above her head. In fact, it was the largest Kane had seen in his post-reincarnation. A bright light flashed for an instant, then a massive fiery ball descended toward Kane’s position. Upon crashing, the [Fireball] turned the ground into a field of fire.
The half-oni immediately leaped to his left while chanting, barely dodging the blast radius. He was immediately greeted with a barrage of [Flame Wisp]. He cast the previously chanted [Lesser Firebomb] and threw it at the closest wisp. They collided, triggering the early combustion of the wisps. The remaining ones were easily evaded by Kane.
“How did that hit the wisp!?” shouted Lucrais.
Kane did not answer as his mouth was chanting another [Lesses Firebomb] spell. Hitting an erratic, yet slow-moving projectile was trivial for Kane. He threw it similar to his previous throw except with a different grip. In response, Lucrais cast [Earth Spike] in front of her and Kane. Caught off guard by the sudden [Earth Spike], it stabbed his barrier after the [Lesser Firebomb] was thrown.
Lucrais stood still, her eyes following the ball. The [Lesser Firebomb] was traveling in a straight line then passed the [Earth Spike]. Suddenly, it curved inward. It turned toward Lucrais and bumped against the barrier, causing an explosion.
“Did… did that [Lesser Firebomb] just curve!?” dne of the students remarked.
“I think so… otherwise, it would hit the spike, right?”
“But, how?” They proceeded to discuss among themselves.
The reason why Kane knew how to throw a curveball was because he had mastered ax-throwing, and he had simply applied the skill to throw the ball. They had different techniques, yet the principle behind them was the same. This was the reason behind his deadly accuracy.
Kane checked his barrier state. It was dim, almost disappearing due to the damage it had sustained. He turned his gaze toward Lucrais. Her barrier was roughly in the same state. If either one suffered another spell, their barrier would perish.
“Seems like we’re near the end,” said Kane.
“So it seems.” Lucrais nodded, her sweat rolling down from her temples. Her mana should have depleted substantially based on his observation.
But the same applied to him. Kane had been hiding his headache behind his nonchalant expression. His mana was adequate for one more [Lesser Firebomb].
They were facing each other silently. No other actions were performed other than observing their opponent. The crowd gradually became more silent as time passed by, while Vauren kept observing and taking notes.
Lucrais raised her hand skyward, slightly tilted toward Kane. She then chanted, “Unranked fire spell, [Burning Pellets] times three!”
Three medium-sized magic circles appeared on her hand. Each of them shot five tiny flaming balls toward the sky, meaning fifteen of them were launched. After reaching a certain height, they descended toward the ground as though it was raining fire.
“I prefer [Flame Wisp] over this, but since your barrier is low, I bet just one hit of them can break it! It’s over, Kane!” she laughed.
Kane tried to evade the raining pellets’ hit radius, but Lucrais had cast [Blazing Fence] all around him. The situation was similar except there was no escape path. Looking skyward, his face was calm. He grasped the enchanted ring and then pulled it off from his finger. The barrier immediately dispelled.
“What are you doing? That’s dangerous!” questioned Vauren.
“Don’t worry and relax,” said Kane as he danced around the rain fire. Every one of them missed Kane. When they were about to hit him, he simply moved out of the way. After it settled down, he put on the ring again.
Gritting her teeth, Lucrais complained, “How in the world did you manage to dodge that!?” She looked at Vauren. “Teacher! Isn’t that against the rules!?”
Vauren stroke his chin. “Hmm, I didn’t state that one cannot remove the ring, though. I suppose I will allow this for now.”
“Ugh, why didn’t you tell us that before...” She turned her head back toward Kane and said, “No matter. I will use all of my mana to finish you off! Rank 1 fire spell: [Fireball]!” After she finished casting the spell, she fell on her knees. The spell was shot directly toward Kane.
The spell was approaching him fast. He sensed an imminent danger as it would severely injure him whether he had the barrier or not. No space left to dodge this time, nor jump to escape. Even if he crossed the flame wall and lost the duel, he could still be heavily injured by the spell. There was only one way left to deal with this situation. Kane used his very last remaining mana to cast his trusty spell.
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“Unranked fire spell: [Lesser Firebomb], full power!” Kane poured all of his mana into the spell. He did not know how exactly to do it and instead relied on his intuition. Once more, he threw it with all of his might. His white palm turned red from throwing many burning hot [Lesser Firebomb].
The [Lesser Firebomb] was twice as large as before, though it was still much smaller than [Fireball]. Both of the spells were approaching each other. In just a blink of an eye, they clashed. A big, loud explosion occurred in the middle of the arena. It was the brightest and loudest yet. Despite the blinding light, people could not take their eyes off the spectacle.
Would the [Fireball] go through? Or would it be impeded by a mere [Lesser Firebomb]? Those were the questions that the crowd wanted to know. They were about to find out in just a moment.
Behind the smoke curtain, a faint light could be seen. It was the [Fireball]. The spell had considerably shrunk in size yet it kept moving toward Kane.
I guess this is it. Kane accepted his fate. He had no energy left to stand up straight.
However, the [Fireball] began to slow down. It became slower as it was closer to Kane. Right in front of him, it stopped. The spell combusted prematurely, dealing no damage to his barrier. He sighed in relief before collapsing. As his consciousness ebbing away, he could hear Vauren’s faint voice declaring the result of the duel, but unfortunately, he fainted too early to know.
---
Kane slowly opened his eyes. Before fully allowing his eyes to see, he winced due to the bright light. He raised his torso and cast his gaze all over his surroundings. A row of white beds was arranged neatly. Some of the beds were taken by sleeping people. The sunlight from a small window on the left wall beamed onto his bed. As he breathed, Kane caught a whiff of medicine and herbs from the room.
A middle-aged woman was sitting on the marble desk in the right corner. She was clad in a pure white mage robe with a golden cross pattern on her sleeves. She was busy humming, writing on some paper. Even when Kane got up and walked toward the entrance, she did not notice his presence. It was until he stood in front of her. Looking at Kane, the woman ceased her activities and her rosy lips creased, forming a smile.
“You’re awake. How are you feeling? By the way, I’m Maria, the nurse of this infirmary,” she asked with an unusually high pitch voice. She then tied her unkempt long blonde hair with a band.
“A little light-headed. Overall, I’m fine,” replied Kane.
She nodded. “Good, good. You recover quicker than I thought. Usually, other people would’ve spent an entire day before they woke up. Meanwhile, you only spent half a day!”
“Huh, I wonder why?” Kane could guess why he recovered quickly. It was due to his level 10 talent. “Anyway, could you tell me… how I got here?”
“Right, of course, you want to know that. As far as I know, Vauren ordered a couple of students to carry you into this room, the infirmary. They seem to care about you… which is the last thing I expected from kids today.” Her voice was low toward the end.
“I see. Do you know the result of the duel?” asked Kane once more.
“I have no clue about the duel, tests, and whatnot. I’m here all the time and your friends tell me nothing. You should ask Vauren in his office. He’s been waiting for you.”
“I take my leave, then. Thank you for looking after me.” He bowed.
“What a polite young man, you just caught me off guard with that deceiving appearance of yours! Wait here, I forgot to give you something that will make you better.” Her hands reached the cabinet and took a small vessel containing clear blue liquid. She offered it to Kane. “Drink this.”
“A mana potion?” He grabbed the potion, identifying it. More precisely, it was a lesser quality potion, the lowest grade.
“That’s right. Fully recovering your mana for kids like you usually take two or three days. It would just take a day if you drink that. Also, you should drink this too.” Maria placed another potion on the table. The color was red as blood. “This is a recovery potion. It will make your injury heal faster.”
Kane pondered about what she said. He did realize that his mana seems to be running out too quickly. Had he not rested enough since the entrance exam finished? After drinking both of the insipid potions, Maria gave him a brief direction toward the Vauren’s private office.
Following Maria’s direction, he finally arrived at the office. He pushed open the door to find Vauren who was stamping a paper from a pile one by one.
“Kane Foxsnove. I have been waiting for you. Come closer,” he gestured.
“Is the test still ongoing?” asked Kane as he approached the teacher.
“No, all of the students were dismissed from further lessons because the test is over,” replied Vauren.
“Regarding your duel with Lucrais, the result was…” He paused for a moment before continuing. “...a draw. Both of you collapsed at the same time, and though Lucrais did not faint, she could not continue to fight.”
“So, I won’t be expelled, then?”
Upon hearing the question, Vauren’s eyes bulged out before bursting into laughter. “Hahahaha! The matters about promotion, demotion, and expulsion were just a ruse for you, students, to become motivated while taking the test. Besides, who in the right mind would expel you after seeing your duel? I have recommended for you to become a class S candidate, along with two others from class E. Rejoice, Kane! You have exceeded my expectations.”
Kane could guess the two students: Calypso and Lucrais. They had the best combat prowess among the people he had seen, unless there was another better person who he had not seen yet. However, he was confused about what Vauren said, so he asked, “But you said the class promotion is a lie. Why is there a class S promotion then?”
“Because we believe there are talented students in every class. The class S exists to nurture them and unleash their potential, while class A, B, C, etc, are restricted for academic achievement, not their capability in magic,” he explained.
“Then, why didn’t you say anything about class S candidacy?”
“I intentionally did not. The secrecy is important to minimize cheating while the test is conducted. ”
He asked again, “Isn’t the judgment a little too hasty?”
“Not at all. This is how regular class students become class S students. In case they fail, another candidate from first year to fourth year students will be chosen once more the next year. Also, they can repeat the trial. Regardless, all of the teachers have decided on their candidates. The exam will begin six months from now. That being said, it depends on you whether you want to enter or not.”
“We’ll see about that.” Kane grinned. “What about the fourth test? I haven’t taken that yet.”
“After watching your battle against Lucrais Habborleigh, I don’t think it’s necessary to take it. It’s crystal clear where your talent lies on.”
“I guess that’s true,” said Kane. He also didn’t want to waste time taking more tests.
“On to the next matter. Sir Reynar has sent me a message to inform him regarding your performance in the tests. He was quite pleased and is waiting for your presence after we are finished.”
“What does he want?”
“I am afraid I do not know the answer. He wanted to discuss it directly with you.”