Candidates for First Place II — Virion

The girl with the specialisation performed even better than I did. Her blade could actually pierce into the stone golem's body without bouncing off. In fact, she even left slash marks on the stone floor around her feet whenever she wielded her sword.

I was engrossed in watching her battle. It was beautiful. She was the complete opposite of Caelum in this case. Her every move was refined. Her techniques were magnificent for a person her age.

It was of a style that I had never seen before.

Mana moved when she moved. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say the inverse.

Her Specialisation seemed to be optimised towards the utilisation and movement of mana. That's what I believed, but I couldn't be sure.

It was unfortunate that she still encountered difficulties. She did not defeat the golem with only three hits like Caelum. It took her a number of strikes to fully bring it down to her height and slice apart its core.

A weird taste was left in my mouth when her battle ended.

"She's good," Sylfie commented, clearly aware of the person everyone was looking at.

"I know... I feel like I won't be able to win against her if we fought." I replied, recalling the battle prowess she displayed.

Unless I figured out a pattern to her movements, my battleaxe wouldn't be able to cleave through her sword. She could also exert force that seemed to be superior to mine.

It was a clear superiority when I saw that she had the ability to block the golem's heavy strikes without an issue.

I could only sigh at the sight of this. My eyes thus drifted to the cloaked figure in the distance.

He was still sitting, motionless and unaffected. It didn't even seem like he was watching the fight.

"Her name is Lily Ilventire," Sylfie suddenly returned to her seat; I did not realise she left.

"The Ilventire family of Aelthrie?" A short gasp escaped me, "No wonder she's so strong."

The Ilventire family... I did not know much about them, but I did know that they had immense influence inside the Mana Metropolis. The amount of businesses they owned together with their own private military power could threaten the city's governance itself.

Luckily, they had no ambition to usurp the government. In fact, they worked with them to continue keeping the city running. None of the Ilventire members were part of the government, however, which I found interesting.

Instead, they made it a principle of theirs to keep the family and the government separate, with only the government people being brought into the family and not vice versa.

It was like the Ilventire family was using the city government as a way to nurture new blood. They kept it open to the public by not taking any government positions at all and simple awaited those talented people who wished to be of service to the city.

Once they started working for the government, they would eventually work for the Ilventire.

It was an open secret.

I shook my head to rid myself of these thoughts. The next batch of examinees were walking up the stage.

I was going to continue watching and observing.

...

When all the duels ended, High Professor Deuzetai's scribbling finally slowed to a halt. He took a moment to look down at each one of us despite his position at the podium being lower that the coliseum seats.

His eyes gleamed with a spell that I did not know of, analysing our entire beings. When his gaze landed on me, I felt the chills.

This man was terrifying. I did not want to go against someone like this. He always made my instincts scream.

"Congratulations on completing the test," His voice shook the entire arena. A spell was probably amplifying his every word. "I have your grades here, and to those who have scored well, you shall proceed to the next testing venue. Your rings will alert you if you are worthy to proceed.

"To those whose rings did not alert them, you will join the fifty-two thousand, three hundred and three examinees who have been moved to a different venue while they were unconscious. Your examination will continue with them, but know that it will take a lot of effort to rejoin us during the next test."

I nodded slowly. So that was where all the failing examinees went. It was nice that they still had a chance, but at the same time, I felt an ominous aura from Deuzetai's words.

What did he mean by a lot of effort? He put quite a lot of stress on those words...

Bzzzzt—!

I felt my ring vibrate. I passed, as expected.

I watched as a few thousand other students stood up, and I followed suit.

"The next venue is the Mana-Made Forest located south of this coliseum. You have fifteen minutes to head towards the altar of Liefanissus, the god of nature. Pay your respects to our patron god and he will grant you your next test."

Thus, about four thousand of us hastily rushed out of the coliseum, leaving the dejected students behind.

Sylfie was by my side as I moved. She had a slight limp from her injuries, but she was more or less fine.

I moved under the shade of Aethercaller's magical canopy and headed straight south. I did not even bother with designated pathways and simply trudged forward. The other examinees seemed to be doing the same thing too.

Aethercaller was very spacious, with areas that were simply roads and pathways. It was a forest within a metropolis, blessing the area with fresh air.

Twelve minutes passed and I arrived at my destination.

Sitting just outside a very dense amount of foliage and greenery was a white marble altar. It was in the shape of an evergreen tree, standing taller than any other tree in the area.

It was sturdy and unmoving despite the breeze. A disc could be seen embedded in its marble-white trunk. Several lines of examinees had formed at the base of the tree, with each new arrival falling to their knees at the back of the line.

I knelt together with the others, bowing my head low. Sylfie was behind me, glancing around with sparkling eyes.

When the fifteen-minute timer that Deuzetai had allotted us ended, a bright green forcefield suddenly emerged from the altar.

It enveloped us within its bounds while the smell of pine permeated the area.

—Mortals...

A deep chuckle resounded, and a grand presence arrived.