The Practical Exam

'Finally! It's my turn'

Ray gets up and goes through the door into the arena, the arena has sand flooring with a radius of 150 feet, with an outer ring for viewers that has well over 30 rows for people to sit, and a box in the first row for announcers and important people to sit.

Currently there are around 50 viewers in the stands, including Victoria.

As Ray walks in and stands where he is supposed to, his opponent is called to the ring as well.

"Lucius Edelwald, report to the Arena."

As the name is announced there is some whispering in the crowd.

"Damn! He got a noble for his opponent! Not to mention, a skilled one! Lucius is already at the third circle!" Victoria whispers to herself with an extremely worried face as Lucius walks out.

He is 5 '11" with brown hair and green eyes. He is quite handsome, but has a look of superiority in his eyes.

"Your fight will help gauge your capabilities. A loss will not automatically result in a failure. There will be no lethal attacks, permanent maiming, or unnecessary cruelty. Your match begins, Now!"

The announcer shouts, as Ray dashes forward, and Lucius begins to say an incantation.

"Water bullet!"

Lucius shouts as water condenses in front of him, until it is the size of a baseball, and fires at a high speed towards Ray's chest.

'Can't condense it further or it may kill him.'

Lucius thinks as he sends the water bullet out.

[Accelerated scheming activated!]

'Hm, that's helpful, I doubt this spell will change directions, and even if it does, with that momentum it wont change fast so I don't have to move far, just barely out of its reach.'

Ray thinks as he begins to dodge before the bullet gets too close, predicting its trajectory to overcome the speed difference, avoiding it by less than an inch.

Ray continues dashing forward, as he quickly spins and kicks Lucius.

"Snow Shield!" Lucius shouts with no time to spare, barely managing to block Ray's kick.

'Seems sturdy enough'

Ray thinks as he jumps off the snow to get behind Lucius, he does a front flip, and back kicks into Lucius' spine, hitting him extremely hard, and slamming him into his own shield.

"Ack!" Lucius grunts in pain, 'Damn, he is too fast!'

"Water pulse!" Lucius shouts as a violent pulse of water is sent out all around him.

Bang!

The water slams into Ray and continues to push him back for another thirty feet.

'Fuck, that hurt…'

But before he can recover, Lucius shouts,

"Water bullet volley!"

A bead of sweat slides down Lucius' cheek,

'I'm running out of mana, hopefully this finishes him off!'

'Too many to dodge, alright, time to spend some attribute points. Card, put 4 points into speed!' Ray thinks desperately.

[Points allocated! Current speed 20(40)]

[Speed of 40 achieved! Speed affinity unlocked!]

[Point requirement for other physical affinities increased by 10]

[New technique gained!]

[Speed Affinity: Rapid Step]

[Rapid Step(Cost 5 Mana): Speed is doubled for 5 seconds]

'Perfect! Rapid step!'

Ray activates his new technique as he feels a pulse of mana surge around his body.

Ray then begins to quickly weave his way through the water bullets, and run around to Lucius' left side, as the water volley deactivates, Lucius turns to face Ray.

'Shit!'

Lucius thinks as Ray kicks him in the knee, then spins around and kicks him on the side of the head, sending him 9 feet to the side, into the ground.

Lucius coughs, then tries to get up, but collapses before he can stand.

[5 EXP Gained!]

The announcer shouts "Ray has won!"

The crowd looks surprised and whispers to themselves,

"How barbaric…" A rich woman mutters to herself

"He kicked a noble in the face!" A young teen says with a very surprised look.

Victoria smiles as she claps for Ray. 'He is far stronger than I expected. I know he defeated a Gigawolf, but I thought it was luck…'

Ray gets out of the arena and goes into the stand towards Victoria. And says to Victoria with a proud smile, "So, did I pass?"

"They will let you know after all of the other fights finish. Now shush the next contestants are coming out!" Victoria says as she looks out to the arena.

The next couple of fights are mostly boring.

Ray still watches to study more about magic and after a while thinks,

'Hm, after seeing all these fights, I can definitely say Lucius is stronger than them. It also appears that the longer someone chants the incantation, the stronger the spell, but it takes up more mana, and leaves them vulnerable'

After more fights finish, and around 2 hours, the last two applicants are called in.

"Raigal Shadowdance, enter the Arena!"

The announcer shouts, and as soon as he does the crowd goes silent.

Ray notices this and attempts to ask who he is, but before he can the announcer shouts,

"Erin Noi, enter the Arena!" A handsome man with spiky black hair enters the arena.

Erin prepares a spell, as the announcer shouts the rules.

Raigal has a blank expression on his face, he is skinny with long black hair, a clean shaven face, and deep blue eyes. He is around 6'2" in height, but slouched to around 5'11".

"Fire spear!"

Erin shouts as a large, blazing spear is sent out at Raigal.

Raigal is eerily calm and simply lifts his hand and mutters in a deep, yet soft voice,

"Shadow absorption…"

Waves of shadows come out of his hand, engulfing the spear, then compressing it until there is nothing left.

He then flips his hand and lifts two fingers up and says,

"Shadow pierce…"

Erin begins a defensive incantation, but from his shadow two thin, long needles pierce his knees.

Raigal then jerks his hand to the left as he says,

"Shadow impact…"

Beneath Erin, a large cylinder formed out of a purple shadow strikes Erin in the chest, sending him 57 feet across the stadium.

"Blurhhh!"

Erin coughs up blood as he slams into the ground, completely knocked out.

The crowd is completely silent as Raigal walks into the stands, without the announcer even declaring his victory.

After 15 minutes the announcer declares.

"If your name is called, you have passed the practical exam, and will be enrolled into the school!"

"Raigal Shadowdance, Ray Kaine, Lucius Edelwald, Jin Ramsen, Edward Hallen…"

He continues to list out names. After he finishes, Everyone begins to leave.

As Victoria and Ray walk out, They pass by the courtyard, where a massive statue is built.

It depicts a woman with a crystalline ring, and a large staff. Ray notices, and with a very shocked expression, whispers.

"She was on the bus…"