“Come on, let's go.”

After expressing his thoughts concerning Brenin and Erwin, Durmuss decided to leave, taking Elaine with him and taking her to the girls' dormitory, where the ela would live for the next five years.

Suddenly, a sinister purplish aura enveloped Durmuss's body; it was strange, unnatural, and the “consistency” of that strange energy was definitely denser than what the three boys were used to.

Durmuss rested his hand on the shoulder of the young girl, who in the next instant, was also completely enveloped by that cold energy; at first he was afraid, since that energy emanated something dark; but then, not sensing any threat, he became calm, although he did not know the professor's intention;

“See you later, gentlemen.” the professor said as he waved goodbye to the professors, without deigning a greeting to Brenin and Erwin, who at that moment, were anything but happy about the situation.

Then, Suddenly, as if by magic.... Elaine and Durmus disappeared into thin air, leaving no trace, leaving Brenin and Erwin, who, did not really believe that Durmuss would leave.

"I'm sorry for Professor Durmus' behavior..." - said the principal with a forced smile, disappointed by the way Durmuss left. - "However, I understand his reasoning: with just a glance, it's clear that both of you have talent, but there are many guys like you here. So I wonder, what's so special about you, compared to the others?"

Brenin, who until then had observed everything with irritated eyes, took a step forward, overtaking Erwin and looking at the professors with a firm look.

"My mana may be similar to those of the peers who are here, but my sword skill and my mana management are better." replied without hesitation the blond-haired boy who, with a quick movement, unsheathed his sword.

"How can you be sure of what you say? Don't be arrogant....." said Yilenia frowning, not appreciating Brenin's sassy response.

"Let me contradict you ma'am, but I am not swacky or arrogant, I simply believe in my ability." Brenin replied, not being intimidated by that cold and sharp look of the woman, who, however, was even more enraged, still trying not to show it.

"AH! I like this brat!" Professor Martha exclaimed, who was pleasantly impressed by the determination and confidence in Brenin's words and gaze.

Even Erwin was surprised by the latter, noticing the ease with which he spoke; he, for his part, did not have all this confidence for the fact that unlike the others, he did not possess any magic element. Until that moment, he was convinced that he was doomed, but in seeing Brenin's trust, Erwin also felt within him a boost in his confidence; he had come here to chase his dreams, and he did not want to allow his insecurities to block him right at the beginning.

[FUCK! What the hell i'm doing?!]

Erwin, forcefully, hit his cheek with a slap, displacing everyone present and the principal himself; the self-inflicted blow was so strong that it made him bleed, but he didn't pay attention to it, moving forward.

"I won't have the talent of El... Lucy, but I rely on my fists and my sense for the fight!"

The professors, after hearing their sentences, had a quick meeting between them, lowering their voices so that the two could not hear a word. The discussion lasted a few seconds, in which, although you could not hear much, it was enough to look at Yilenia's gaze to understand her disagreement about what she was hearing; then, after that short reunion, the professors turned their gaze again on the two examiners, with the principal speaking.

"Well guys, we consulted eachother, and since you seem so convinced of your skills, we thought of a challenge: you will face two student of this school: if you manage to beat them or even just put them in trouble, then you will be admitted. Deal?"

Brenin shrugged, since nothing changed to him, while Erwin was incredibly happy about that outcome: by doing so, he had the chance to show his talent without being judged for his "serious" lack!

[Everything seems to be going well!] He thought joyfully Erwin, who was eager to face this opponent.

******

*P.O.V by Erwin*

With a strange sphere, Mr. Principal called someone, ordering them to bring two second-year pupils; a little too much, I thought at first, as they evidently had a different experience from ours.

Then, however, thinking about the modalities of our admission, we didn't have to win, but we had to be able to put our opponents in difficulty. There was much more room for success than I thought, and my morale was skyrocketing more and more.

Brenin and I sat not too far from the professors, waiting for our opponents; none of us said a word, we were probably too focused.

Suddenly, the door of the gym opened, and from the latter 2 people entered: the first person, the one who entered in front, had a fairly powerful musculature, with a slightly dark complexion. He was completely shaved and had a really frightening expression. he looked at me for a moment with a sharp look, making me a little shudder;

The other person who entered instead had a more contained but still muscular build, and wore fairly long black hair, well-groomed and double-rearing. On the belt, he wore what looked like a very high-cost foil.

He walked with a haity face, looking at us with a very ambiguous look; he stared at us for a few moments, then made a blatantly forced smile, trying to hide the contempt he felt for us.

"What kind of problems those bastard have?" Brenin said in a low voice that, despite the always bored look, it was clear that he had been annoyed by the way the two guys older than us looked at us.

Looking at his behavior, I was perplexed about the character of the latter: at that moment for example, I was quivering to fight them, and I was excited at the idea of being able to compare myself to another person and show those present my skills, with my hands not stopping sweating; instead Brenin was completely the opposite of me, he was completely calm, almost detached from reality and did not even seem excited by the idea of fighting.

"Hey Brenin... How can you be so calm?"

Brenin looked at me for a few moments, then answered me;

"Being calm is the first rule of the art of combat. Managing your emotions helps you better understand situations. If you're not calm, you reason irrationally, do rash things, and you're more vulnerable."

His answer, so calm and detailed, disgustingly reminded me of Ron: perhaps because of their beaten dog expressions, or perhaps because his words, although different in explanation, were similar to those that the old man told me the night before I left, making me think a lot.

"Uh? What the hell are you looking at?"

"Oh... Ah! Nothing nothing! You reminded me of a person!" I said slightly embarrassed, not realizing that I had been staring at him for too long now.

"... Got it. Anyway, I want to start first, if you don't mind." said Brenin, who got up from the floor and then cleaned his pants.

"Oh, all right."

"I was just about to call you!" said in the meantime the principal with his usual smile, touching his beard – "I introduce you to your opponent: his name is Luke, and he is in his sophomore year here at the academy. He is a good swordsman, and he will be your yardstick to see if you are really capable!"

"Nice to meet you..." said the boy named Luke with that annoying smile, reaching out to greet Brenin.

The latter, however, looked at his hand for a few seconds, and then turned his gaze to the principal.

"Can we start?"

It was clear that everyone, myself included, was surprised by such a gesture, especially that boy named Luke, since in his glaze you could see the annoyance toward Brenin's behavior.

"Hey... Didn't they teach you to respect people? Or in that sewer hole where you come from, there is no such thing called good manners?" Luke said with a very forced smile, who looking at Brenin's clothes, speculated that the latter was poor, so he tried to provoke him and make fun of him.

Brenin, however, did not pay attention to the latter's words; he went towards the wooden weapons, grabbed two swords and threw one at Luke, who almost missed his grip.

"Instead of saying bullshit with that little tongue of yours, get ready to fight." replied Brenin, but he was very calm at the time.

[This guy is really good at provoking!] I thought slightly astonished, as I could see Luke's expression wrinkling more and more with anger.

"Ohohoh... At my signal, you can start the fight!" said the principal, who instead seemed amused by that bibbrel.

The two put themselves in a combat position: suddenly, Luke's body was enveloped by hot flames, with the latter they went to wrap the wooden sword without burning it.

I was surprised to see that other people besides Ron have the fire element; yet, despite the similarity of the elements, the flames of Ron were different from those of Luke, both in terms of the intensity of the flames and for the energy they gave off; making a comparison, Luke's flames seemed almost like a chimney fire, while Ron's flames were as lively as those of hell.

Despite this, I felt that those flames were still dangerous for me, although they were not in the slightest comparable to Ron's.

"Fire, huh?" Brenin hissed, while a strange smile appeared on his face, almost as if he was not troubled by his flames.

Brenin thus took on a very compact pose, putting his sword forward;

"Good. You can start!" so exclaimed the principal, giving away to the 'dances'.

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Luke thus catapulted himself on Brenin trying to finish the clash with a single and powerful slash; Brenin stood still for a few seconds, and after waiting for the right moment, he easily dodged Luke's blow; the latter, however, concatenated another attack starting from the bottom, this time putting even more strength and speed into it.

Brenin stood dangerously still for a few seconds, and only when the flaming tip of Luke's sword was close to his face, that Brenin bend his head slightly to the side, thus managing to dodge that blow that would almost certainly put him out of the game, then moving away with few steps.

"... you must be luck!" Luke exclaimed with a smile, but this time his was a forced smile, surprised that he couldn't hit Brenin at all.

"Luck, huh? Try hitting me, if you can."

Luke's gaze was suddenly serious, a symptom that this time he would fight with all his energy. Brenin remained in his usual pose, ready to wait for his opponent's eventual attack.

Luke, very carefully, started on the attack, and this time he did not try to finish Brenin with a single shot, but made cleaner attacks than the previous ones; nevertheless, however, Brenin managed to dodge every blew towards him, without any effort and pairing some attack with his sword, making use of very minimal movements with his arm.

While watching Brenin move though, I realized that his dodges were not natural at all: of course, his dodgings were effective, but it was as if there was a kind of "delay" in his movements;

Despite this though, Luke couldn't hit Brenin, and the fight went on like this for several minutes, with Brenin in total control of the situation, and with Luke getting nervous with every second that passed.

"Damn... Damn it!"

Luke attempted yet another attack on Brenin, but in addition to being exhausted because of all those movements, his mana for some time now had dropped dramatically, and from the way he breathed, it was clear that he had now reached his limit.

"Why the hell don't you attack me!?" the student of the academy exclaimed again, irritated by the bad exhibithion he was making in front of the professors. In his eyes, at that moment, I saw despair, and at that moment, I believed it was for the fight itself;

Brenin watched Luke for a few seconds, and after standing still for a moment, he turned his gaze to the jury of professors.

"I don't think going on is necessary..." - said Brenin, who rested his muscles – "I think I showed you my worth, don't you think?"

"Mh... in fact, I think that can be enough-"

"It's not over yet!"

In despair, Luke wrapped his wooden sword in the flames, despite the fact that it was obvious that he no longer had a mana, since the flames around the sword looked smaller than before.

"It's useless, you don't have enough energy to fight..."

Suddenly, i felt a variation in Brenin's mana; in fact, his body was enveloped by a celestial aura, which revolved around him; at the same time, inside the room I felt a strange cold breeze, which gave me a little shivering.

Luke, who was blinded with anger and who wanted to win that challenge at all costs, ignored what was happening at the time, thus loading Brenin with everything he had in his body.

With extreme lightness, as if he was a leaf, Brenin began to move towards Luke: his movements were elegant and composed, but at the same time, his movements were faster than before, to the point that I struggled to follow that kind of speed.

Luke, who had started his blow, belatedly noticed the incredible speed of his enemy; i'm sure that he would have liked to stop his attack, but unfortunately, he could not stop his movement in time, clumsily missing Brenin, who, after dodging his blow, began his counterattack: with linear, but rapid and precise movements, he hit Luke forcefully in the legs, in the abdomen, on the arms and on the temple; he did all this within about 6 seconds, in which Luke did not have the slightest chance to counterattack.

"Well, it's over." said Brenin, while Luke, now beaten and unconscious, sang to the ground slowly, like a leaf slowly but surely falling to the ground in the fall.

I did not know swordsmen, and in general, I had never used a sword in my life; but even an inept like me could understand that the level of Brenin's technique was excellent and clinical, and judging by the complacent looks of the professors, Brenin had to be someone really talented. Also, that strange and icy breeze I felt was not normal, since after that breeze, his movements became even faster and more precise; In all probability, that was the manifestation of his wind element.

[Coming here... wasn't a bad idea!] I thought, more and more curious to meet other students of the caliber of Brenin.

"Well, I'm not an expert when it comes to swords..." - the principal began, massaging his beard – "So I think it's Professor Yilenia's duty to evaluate what she's seen."

The teacher, with her sharp gaze, remained silent observing Brenin, perhaps ruminating about what to tell him.

"Impeccable, really impeccable. Yours wasn't just small talk. The way you used your wind element combined with your swordsman skills was amazing to see. In addition, you have shown a calm that does not suit a boy of your age, and you also show a great ability to read the situation quickly. So yes, I have to congratulate you..." - said Professor Yilenia after a few seconds confirming my thesis; after seeing Brenin in action, Yilenia found herself forced to admit the fact that the boy in front of him was really talented, despite that little note of spooking that she didn't like... - "But don't get your head, in this academy there are really formidable young swordsmen. So keep training."

"It is not my intention to not improve, ma'am" Brenin replied decisively, making a slight bow;

"Well, it's decided! You are admitted to our academy. Congratulations!" - exclaimed the principal - "Nothing else to say, you two?" asked the principal turning his gaze to Martha and Leonard, who said nothing, apart from showing a satisfied smile towards Brenin's performance.

"As I imagined! In the late afternoon, you will be assigned to your section."

"Okay." said Brenin, who, once he finished the test, came back close to me, sitting on the ground again.

"As for you, Luke...." - said Yilenia in a threatening tone of voice, as Luke, who in the meantime had recovered a few seconds earlier, got up from the floor haphazardly - "We will talk about your future after the conclusion of the last test. I only say to you that it is deplorable that a student of this academy could have such a low level, both in terms of your swordsmanship and in such profligate use of your element. Go back to your room and stay there until further notice."

Luke wanted to say something, but as soon as his gaze crossed with the teacher's, he realized that every word was futile. With his gaze turned downwards and with the spirit destroyed into a thousand pieces, he returned to the room breathless.

"Don't you think you were too hard on the boy, Professor Yilenia?" asked the principal, who, however, did not seem angry or disappointed by the woman's comment.

"Excuse me if I seemed unkind to the student" - exhorted the woman, making a slight bow "but it is not acceptable for someone to have this level after two years here at the academy."

From the tone of voice Yilenia had with Luke, I thought their discussion would not be friendly, and i started to think about what might happen to him. This bothered me a lot, as at that moment, I took into consideration the fact that these two boys could be expelled from the academy if they didn't do well.

"You look kinda bothered" – Brenin suddenly said, calling my attention – "Maybe you've already figured it out, but in all likelihood that guy will be expelled..."

"Expelled..."

At that moment I was worried a lot: I wanted to chase my dream, not destroy that of others!

"... It doesn't seem fair to me!"

Brenin looked at me with astunned eyes, as if I had said nonsense; then, after a few seconds of disbelief, he burst out laughing.

"You're an idiot, right?" - exclaimed Brenin, shaking his head – "If you don't commit yourself seriously, you'll be the one who won't enter the academy. Wasn't it your dream to become an incredible magician?"

"...First! Become the best wizard is just one of my goal, my dream is to be a Gifter! And second, I don't think it's right that their future depended on us!" I exclaimed, frustrated by the whole situation and starting to say things that had little to do with what was said before.

"...What-"

"Well Erwin, are you ready?" Suddenly the principal exclaimed, catching my attention;

At that moment, despite my head being full of doubts and second thoughts, my heart made me act instinctively, and without me noticing, I was already in front of the jury of professors.

"It's your time, boy!" said Leonard, who was strangely happy to see me finally in action.

"Y-Yeah..."

A few seconds later, my opponent approached me; he was much taller than me, almost as tall as Ron, and I was forced to bend my head to observe his gaze, which unlike mine which was full of doubts, his was serious and determined.

"I am... Arnold. I wish you a good fight." said the 2-meter giant, who gave me his hand.

"... I'm Erwin, nice to meet you." I replied, giving him a hand. When I squeezed his big hands, I noticed his many calluses, and that had to mean he was one who trained so much.

"Well, the one who will judge your performance will be Professor Martha! So give it all, guys!" the principal intervened with a joyful expression, while he fixed his glasses.

"I want to see the passion and determination in your attack! Don't let me down!" Professor Martha exclaimed in turn, who was most excited by that clash. - "Erwin! You said your weapons are your fists, I'm right! The same goes for me too! Show me what you can do!"

So, Arnold and I put ourselves in position, ready to fight for our destinies.

END OF CHAPTER 22 - THE CONFIDENCE OF BRENIN