Thompson Varrow and Rebecca Jones looked at Nick weirdly for a few moments before Varrow replied:

"Nick, to get into auctions like this one, the hosts have to be assured that you have the ability to at least purchase the items that they are going to sell, that's just the way that things are done to avoid unnecessary drama and to keep out irrelevant people. You are..."

Nick interrupted Varrow by showing him the bank account balance on his smart phone. Varrow immediately paused, at a loss for how this youth with no magical or financial background suddenly ended up with millions of pounds to spend. Varrow quickly changed his attitude.

"Well, that makes things easier, if you'd like, you can always sit in my private room with me and view the auction from there."

Most Regular Magicians would be assigned a private room at auctions while representatives from important companies and others would sit together and participate in the auction. Rebecca stood at the side wondering what Nick had showed Varrow that resulted in him changing his attitude like this but she decided not to give it too much thought. Rebecca told Varrow:

"We'll talk more later tonight when I see you at the auction."

Rebecca transformed into a pillar of blue light and disappeared from the combat field. Varrow went close to Nick, before saying:

"Meet me in front of the academy's Convention Hall tonight and I will vouch for you so that you can get in without having to reveal your bank balance. You probably don't want a lot of people knowing about it, right?"

Nick silently nodded his head. Varrow continued:

"Well then, the auction starts at 8 pm sharp, don't be late."

After saying that, Varrow left Nick alone and went to lecture the other students. Nick thought:

(That was a bit of a risky move, showing Varrow my 'wealth' like that but I figured that since he helped me this much so far that he might be somewhat tolerant of my success and I guess I was right.)

Nick continued to practise his sword technique until class ended, following which he went to the battle simulation building where he decided to test out the skills that he had been honing for almost half a year.

(Come to think of it, my next midyear exam should be taking place in one month. I wonder what it will be this time.)

Nick walked into the battle simulation building and asked the clerk that was present:

"Can I have a simulation with a single strong enemy of rank 2 strength with powerful magic. Oh, and I would like the surroundings to be flat, normal terrain."

The clerk nodded and after receiving Nick's student ID and manipulating his computer, he said:

"Go ahead to room number 6. Your simulation is waiting."

Nick took back his ID and entered room 6; when he close the door behind him, the space became that of a clean cut, flat grassy field with mountain ranges in the far distance. Twenty meters ahead of him, Nick could see someone walking towards him. This person was a black man wearing brown leather pants and shoes but was not wearing anything on his upper body. The man looked to be in his mid twenties and was looking at Nick menacingly as he approached.

Nick smiled.

"Let's go, son."

Nick walked towards his opponent with an average pace, taking his sword from its sheath and keeping the sheath at his side. His stony faced opponent did not make any strange movements while waking towards Nick but as soon as he and Nick came within ten meters of each other, the man balled his right fist and raised it in the air following which he slammed it down.

(Ranged Strength: 1 Arm)

Nick sensed something amiss and looked above him to see the yellowish, almost translucent phantom of a fist coming down towards him with extreme force. Nick was certain that if this attack hit him in real life, he would turn into meat paste.

(This is...strength path? Awesome.)

Nick began casting a spell and a moment later, his already scary black-red irises completely disappeared as his eyes became a complete pitch black.

(Soul Pulse.)

Immediately, a strong force with an all-encompassing aura was released from Nick's soul that covered the ten meter radius around him, not only destroying the phantom fist like a shattered mirror but also resulting in Nick's opponent taking two steps back while he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Soul Pulse is a rank 2 intermediate grade spell that releases an aura carrying a physical force that can also harm the soul, the strength of the spell varying based on the strength of Nick's own soul.

(This guy is a Strength Magician so his bare body should have a certain amount of physical resistance to my spell and that's why he only took two steps back but the attack on his soul caused him to cough up blood.)

Nick smiled even wider, feeling his blood boiling and unbeknownst to him, an entirely different aura emerged from his body at that moment.

Nick pressed forward while his enemy was still trying to cope with the effects of his attack.

(Soul Pressure.)

Nick tried to restrict his enemy's movement when a violent force suddenly bathed over him sending him flying three meters backward.

(Formless Strength)

Nick held the handle of his sword tightly as he hit the ground and then cast:

(Blink.)

Nick disappeared and reappeared four meters from his original position where the yellowish phantom of a leg stomped down onto the ground creating a meter deep crater.

(Ranged Strength: 1 Leg)

Nick started running to his opponent again and with his eyes still pitch black, he cast another spell after getting within six meters of him, Nick focused on the magic energy that he felt coming from his opponent and cast:

(Soul Vision.)

Nick could now see in his mind what his opponent was seeing. The man in front of Nick frowned, feeling something amiss and cast his spell in retaliation, running towards Nick:

(Boar Strength)

The man's pace suddenly quickened and the force generated by his momentum now appeared deadly as if a ferocious boar was about to charge right into Nick. Using the connection established by Soul Vision Nick cast his spell:

(Soul Quake.)

The man felt his soul shake and he frowned intensely but kept charging forward, reaching Nick within a matter of seconds. As Nick was about to be run over by his opponent, he cast:

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

(Blink.)

Appearing a few inches out of of his opponent's way.

(That guy was charging so wildly in a straight line which means that he would have a problem suddenly turning so all I needed to do was dodge the attack but man, that was close. From what I know about strength path, Soul Quake was ineffective because strength path usually requires minimal magical and mental exertion to be used so my opponent practically suffered no backlash from the effects of my Spell even if I caused some damage.)

Nick did not let up, the next moment he chased his opponent down and cast:

(Soul Attraction.)

As Nick's opponent stopped and turned around, an irresistible force washed over him and quickly drew him toward Nick, resulting in only his toes being on the ground as he moved along. As they were about to meet, Nick waved his sword in a horizontal line.

(Sever.)

Feeling a 'shadow' of death approaching him, the man countered with his own spell:

(Strength Cauldron)

The phantom of a metal cauldron appeared surrounding Nick's opponent and when Nick's attack met with it, the cauldron was cut open with a horizontal slice at the front but Nick's attack dissipated right after and the cauldron fell to the ground as Nick dispelled Soul Attraction. They were two meters apart when the shirtless man activated another spell from within the cauldron as he raised both his arms and slammed them down:

(Ranged Strength: 2 Arms)

Two huge balled up fists slammed down towards Nick's position as if Nick were an ant that they needed to crush. Nick acted quickly:

(Exchange Space.)

Suddenly Nick and his enemy exchanged positions, remaining two meters apart but his enemy had no time to cancel his spell before he realized what had happened. The two phantom fists landed heavily on the strength cauldron and broke it apart but Nick's opponent had enough time to break out at a section of the cauldron and escape the aftermath of the fists' destruction which resulted in a large crater being formed. Nick's opponent quickly gathered himself and while moving closer towards Nick, cast:

(Formless Strength.)

Nick felt a wave of violent force wash over him which made him cough up two mouthfuls of blood and he was swatted five meters backward. Nick hit the ground with a harsh thump:

(What is wrong with this guy? He is a strength path Magician but keeps using ranged attacks and when he gets the chance, he uses his spells to push me away. Why isn't he trying to brawl it out in close combat?)

Slade chimed in at this moment:

[That might something to do with the sword that you are carrying. Also, you still have too little experience, kid. Forget the conventional stuff that you've read in books, Magicians of all paths eventually find all sorts of ways to use their magic in a way that doesn't fit a conventional mold. You have to adapt to your enemy's way of doing things in order to win. That is why there is the saying: 'There is no strongest magic, only strongest Magician.']

Nick repeated that saying in his mind:

(There is no strongest magic, only strongest Magician.)

Nick picked himself up and once again cast:

(Soul Attraction.)

Nick's opponent practically came flying towards him as a mystical connection between his and Nick's soul acted as a one-sided magnet. Nick ran towards his opponent with pitch black eyes with sword in hand; Nick's eyes were like this as a result of his soul cultivation, whenever he used some soul path spells, his eyes became this way and Slade told him that this was a unique trait of many spells within his inheritance. Nick waved his sword horizontally and cast:

(Sever.)

Nick's opponent once again formed a phantom cauldron around himself and Sever sliced into only a portion of the cauldron, dissipating afterwards, however, Nick did not cancel Soul Attraction.

Nick ran forward while pointing his sword towards his opponent and cast:

(Reinforced With Soul.)

A translucent miasma bathed over Nick's sword as the cauldron came towards him. Reinforced With Soul was a spell that used the strength of Nick's own soul to toughen, sharpen and/or harden whatever Nick used the spell on with a portion of his soul practically covering the object. Just before the cauldron slammed into him, Nick dispelled Soul Attraction and the cauldron fell heavily onto the ground in an upright position. Nick continued running and with his sword in front of him, pierced into the cauldron. Nick's sword was about 0.8 meters long and the phantom cauldron did not have a large internal space so Nick was able to stab his opponent who dispelled the cauldron afterwards and attempted to grab Nick's throat with his right hand while grabbing hold of Nick's sword with the left.

Nick smiled at his opponent's foolishness.

(Got you. Sever!)

Nick flicked his left index finger and his opponent's right arm was completely cut off at the shoulder region and a fountain of blood flowed from it. Nick's opponent used the raw strength of his left arm to pull Nick's sword out of his abdomen, take it away from Nick and throw it ten meters into the distance. Nick backed away, stupefied that his sword was taken from him. Slade said with an amused tone:

[That's a strength path Magician for you. Your experience with the sword was too little to overcome your opponent's raw strength.]

Nick sneered and said:

"I don't need the sword."

Nick cast his spells one after the other:

(Expand Space.)

(Rumbling Pillar.)

When Nick's opponent felt his surroundings warping, he started to run while putting pressure on his abdomen wound and while bleeding profusely from his right shoulder, casting:

(Boar Strength)

But he was too late as the effect of Expand Space doubled the efforts required to move any distance so he couldn't escape from the one meter area of space that was warping around him before his body began to feel like it was suddenly caught up in a blender and running away became impossible. Space twisted, turned and shook around the man; he desperately cast his spell:

(Strength From The Inside Out.)

A formless strength enveloped him and protected him from most of the effects of Rumbling Pillar but the left side of his body had been slightly crushed from his shoulder to his ankle and he fell down.

PLOP!

The man struggled to breathe as Nick walked up to him slowly. Nick looked at the man indifferently then frowned as he felt the man gathering magic energy around him, preparing to cast another spell.

"Hmph!"

(Sever.)

A moment later, the Strength Magician's head was sliced off from the Neck and blood sprayed onto the grass dying it in a deep red as the head rolled away by half a meter and then stopped. Nick looked at the corpse indifferently for a few moments and then neon colored words appeared in front of him that read:

SIMULATION ENDED

The space around him warped and Nick appeared in a white walled room and upon seeing his sword on the floor some distance away from him, he picked it up and put it inside the sheath at his side. Nick's eyes changed from being a complete pitch black to again having a white sclera with pitch black irises that had two dull red rings contained in both of them.

(Soul Pulse, Soul Attraction and Reinforced With Soul. These three spells are excellent and very useful, all being rank 2 intermediate grade spells but having slightly greater power than other spells of the same grade. To cast them successfully, I had to use a special magic formation contained within Slade's inheritance to carve a part of each spell's laws into my soul and when I activate one of the spells I just have to form certain laws within my mindscape that act as the trigger for them, resulting in a quicker cast time and allowing me to cast these spells in high pressure situations with minimal chance of backlash from failure to form their laws. If the spells' laws that are carved into my soul can be viewed as a door with munitions behind it, the laws that I form within my mindscape act as the key to open the door so I can get to and use the munitions.)

Nick left the combat building feeling proud of his progress. Since it was just around 5:30 pm, Nick visited the restaurant across the street from his building and had a meal of fried chicken, whole wheat bread, fries and rice. He then returned to his building, rested for a while, took a shower and got ready for the auction that was to take place. Nick left his building and got to the academy's Convention Hall by 7:50 pm; it was a large cuboid shaped building with a few guards at the door.

Almost as soon as he got there, a gust of wind came over him and Thompson Varrow appeared beside him dressed in a black and white suit. Varrow looked at Nick who was wearing his usual attire of a pair of jeans and a polo shirt and asked:

"With the amount of money that you have, you should be able to afford better clothes, why do you only wear clothes like these?"

Nick shrugged his shoulders and replied:

"Old habits die hard."

Varrow silently shook his head with a half smile and motioned Nick to follow him into the building.

"I've already taken the liberty of registering you with the hosts so no need to worry about having to show them your assets."

Nick and Varrow walked into the building where there were many wooden, polished seats set up in neat rows on the ground floor with hundreds of people filling them, most wearing suits, robes or dresses. Nick could see the windows of the private rooms above the ground floor that were positioned to have a great view of the stage where the items for sale would be presented.

Nick and Varrow walked up a flight of stairs to get to a private room that had several seats in it positioned in front of a large bay window that had an almost perfect view of the stage below.

Nick and Varrow waited until 8 pm when the announcer arrived on the stage, saying:

"Welcome to the Madrid family auction, we've got some great goodies for you folks so I hope that you came with filled bank accounts..."

While the announcer tried to banter with the audience, the door to their private room opened as two persons walked in. Nick grabbed hold of his sheathed sword, ready for an attack but Varrow placed his hand on Nick's shoulder and explained:

"Relax, a friend and her relative will be watching the auction with us, my bad for not telling you but you should be less jumpy with that sword when we are not in class."

Nick placed his sword in his lap and attempted to relax as two women that Nick recognized appeared in front of them.

(Oh, It's Rebecca Jones and....wait, Jessica Jones.)

Nick raised both his eyebrows, not expecting to see the young woman that once made a fool out of him, here, at this auction.