14 How to use Ice Magic

Under the stubbornly suspicious gaze of the burly man, the examination began without a hitch. It turns out that he was actually their examiner... which although Adrian had sort of expected judging by his attire, he still couldn't help but sigh at the revelation.

As the instructor stood before them with his masculine chest puffed up under the gold sun like he was a disheveled flower unfurling its petals to desperately seek its nurture, his eyes remained deadlocked on poor Adrian, attracting the animosity of Callan.

Just like that the rules were explained. Essentially, inside the mini stone arena, each of them would be individually versing the instructor... and were expected to last at least a minute or perform to a satisfactory level that would be equivalent to that of a C-rank adventurer. Although thankfully, there were another two instructors on their way because there were a total of twelve people who wanted to take the test, and in order to make it fair, the instructors were only able to verse a total of four adventurer's max, lest they get tired and make the test easier to those who went last.

Adrian's already pale complexion lightened up by a shade or two. Unlike the enrollment exam for the academy, which tested a student's raw magic potential and assimilation with mana, the Adventurer's guild was testing the most vital thing to an adventurer which was combat ability as well as instincts.

And sadly, he didn't have much confidence in either.

But that didn't matter, he thought to himself as he clenched his fist once again, in resolve. As long as he did his best then he would be satisfied no matter the outcome.

The burly man began to sprout an impromptu speech about trying one's best and having self-confidence, which he'd no doubt recited numerous times before to other groups of aspirants, but still had quite an uplifting effect on the nerves of many gathered.

However, Adrian wasn't one of them as he felt his mind wander back to Eliza's words. Although on the way back, he'd tried his best to clear his mind of it and focus on the present examination, it was impossible.

After all, he'd never felt any different before? Was it due to him being a mermaid perhaps? Was this going to reveal his secret if she told anyone?

He felt like a pig being led by a carrot on a stick. He was so close to the answers he longed he could practically taste it, and yet the treasure just dangled there, annoying close and yet insurmountably far.

Lost in his own mind, Adrian didn't notice that the burly instructor who had long since determined his first target, was eyeing him up in anger.

This damn brat wasn't listening to a single word he said! He wasn't even attempting to disguise his lack of interest and had his mouth hung dumbly open as his black eyes wandered unfocused along the distant sky.

"You, freckled boy!" He declared, pointing his finger towards a dazed Adrian, "You're up first!"

He said it as coolly as possible. After all, he was still a professional and as a professional, it was his job to make sure that this scum didn't enter into C-class!

Adrian who had no clue he was still being blatantly blamed and hated for something he didn't even do, "..."

Seeing as the boy didn't respond to his call and had to be nudged by his companion on the shoulder before he coughed out a response, the man felt his cheeks burn up in humiliation and unbridled rage.

He was quite renowned throughout the guild for being a fiery musclehead and enjoyed burning the pride of noble children who thought that becoming an adventurer was easy to work with and any self-righteous scummy bastards.

So he was going to destroy that freckled bastard! There were medics on sight so if he didn't break at least one of his puny little bones then he'd never forgive himself.

With a huff, the burly man turned his back on Adrian and the audience to enter into the stone platform that never seemed more intimidating, its lifeless grey staining everyone's eyes.

Adrian could feel the bloodlust in the air, smoldering his senses and making his stomach flutter with nerves but he swallowed them down and didn't dare to let it show on his face. He took a deep breath in and unclenched his curled-up hands as he followed after the burly man.

He seemed unaware of the true extent of the instructor's prowess or dislike towards him. But the audience did and they sent the boy a silent prayer as he proceeded to the platform, and Callan's frown darkened, his furrowed brow casting an unreadable shadow over his face.

"Your a magician aren't you?" The man huffed and Adrian straightened up his posture under the intensity of his gaze.

"Yes sir." He dipped his head politely, his black eyes slightly squinting as he surveyed the instructor and his potential as an opponent and quickly formulated a strategy in his mind, but it was hard seeing how he didn't know anything about his opponent.

Was he too cocky in trying out? Perhaps a normal person would've thought this but for some unknown reason, once Adrian entered the platform, he became more relaxed but at the same time more alert. Time seemed to flow more slowly as he carefully observed his opponent from head to toe.

Adrian didn't know where his confidence was coming from, but he had a feeling he would be just fine as using his senses, he felt the mana in the air and found that it was plentiful and obedient.

Still in the eyes of the audience, when they stood facing each other on the stone platform, the difference in height and stature became extremely obvious. A single punch from the man would likely send the slender boy flying out of the arena. Would he really be okay? Even some of them would find it hard to last a minute against this man, let alone a young boy!

"Are you ready to begin?" The instructor was trained in both magic and swordsmanship, and although he found his true talent lay in the latter, his fire magic was nothing to scoff at.

He wasn't called The Red Slash for nothing and Adrian was about to find out who he had just offended! He cracked his knuckles and grinned menacingly.

So the time to stall was over. One of the other Adventurer's guild staff was the designated timer of the match and the instructor, whose name was Bruce, gave a quick nod in his direction.

"Alright kid." He entered his stance, and in his left hand appeared a large claymore, made entirely out of deep red bubbling fire, "Let's begin!" He roared before lunging forwards, like an enraged bull.

Adrian drew a deep breath in as he watched the horrendous-looking weapon of fire slash toward him, cutting through the air at a frightening pace.

He didn't have a weapon and neither had he admitted to materializing water into one before but seeing that giant claymore, a burst of inspiration struck him.

He didn't need to win, he just needed to stall for a minute.

In a single strike as quick as a bolt of lightning, the claymore forged of fire swung towards his right arm and in response, Adrian nimbly dogged back, narrowly escaping being slashed.

His left palm tingled as he condensed water mana, and molded it into his ideal shape while keeping it carefully hidden from the instructor's view. However, he barely had any time to hesitate as he braced himself for the barrage of assaults that followed.

From the audience's viewpoint, although barely ten seconds had passed, the winner already seemed predetermined as in order to avoid being hit by every slash, the brown-haired boy had been forced to retreat further and further to the border. Sooner or later, he would run out of space to run and it would all be over.

Yet even in such a desperate situation, although his eyes were constantly darting back and forth as he narrowly dodged each strike, Adrian's face still retained a degree of calm, which the instructor immediately noticed and subsequently got even madder.

This boy was as slippery as a fish! He was doing nothing but dodge and those leering pearly black eyes seemed to be mocking him! Bruce's anger issues resurfaced and his face became as red as his own flames, and every breath he puffed seemed to be an exhale of smoke.

"Fight me, coward!" The instructor growled at him.

Adrian gritted his teeth. He wasn't scared of his puny flames but the bloodlust directed towards him made his skin tingle uncomfortably.

So he complied with the instructor's request as any good student would and with his feet mere inches away from scrapping the edge of the arena, Adrian halted. It was about time for him to go on the offensive anyhow, as his preparations were complete.

But it should be forewarned that as someone not trained in combat, Adrian's tactics were rather crude...

Seeing as he'd gotten the boy cornered, Bruce smiled as he got ready to put an end to the match. The fire of his claymore became more intense as he slashed his finishing stroke. Although the attack wasn't strong enough to kill him, as per the rules, it would certainly cause him a decent amount of pain, depending on how the boy chose to block it.

However, his ugly expression quickly shifted to annoyance, when he felt a devilish chill suddenly latch onto both his ankles, causing his moments to promptly halt. Bruce's feet had become completely engulfed by a small mound of ice.

Since the start of the match, he'd noticed that the ground had become wetter and wetter as the boy occasionally fired blades of water in his direction. They were fast but poor in accuracy, several of them simply falling to the ground. Back then, Bruce had simply thought the boy had a poor aim, but it turns out that he had been planning on freezing him in place since the start.

It wasn't a bad idea. Had it been a magician of another element, like earth or wind, it could've been quite effective. But too bad for the boy, he was versing a strong fire magician like himself!

Bruce concentrated his mana around his ankles as he prepared to lunge again. What should've happened was the ice melted away and his claymore struck the boy and called an answer to the duel.

The answer? Reality is a mean bitch.

Expectations are constantly shattered and remolded.

And no matter how fierce his flame burnt, the ice melted only slightly, before freezing up again, trapping them both in a deadlock.

The smile of victory slowly slid off Bruce's face as droplets of sweat trickled down his face as he glanced towards Adrian and from then on, only silent curses spilled out of his agape mouth.

Bruce had been an instructor for around two years and he'd assessed many adventurers during this period. He'd been subjected to various attacks of practically every element- with the exception of dark magic and had been brutally attacked by all different kinds of melee weapons. In his adventuring life, he'd also come across many dangerous encounters and fought both those who were stronger than him and those who were pitifully weaker.

Yet never had he faced anyone who had the audacity to do what this kid planned to do and worst of all, with his feet frozen in place and for some absurd reason, refusing to be melted by his flames, he could only stand there helplessly surrendering to fate.

The mana in the air buzzed as behind Adrian's back materialized a large bat made out of water. It was taller than it's wielder but that's not the reason why Bruce faltered. It was upon glancing at its surface, that he saw the same ice which had locked him in its place had sprouted up in needle-like icicles all over the bat's head and was glimmering viciously, vaguely reflecting his own image back at him.

Instinctively, he raised his own fire-forged claymore to defend himself but it was to no avail as when Adrian leaped up into the air and swung it down towards him like it was as light as a feather, the second his prized flame came into contact with the ice-needled bat, it was pitifully snuffed out. With no physical weapon beneath, the remaining brunt of Adrian's attack crashed unceremoniously against the instructor's body and the water that the bat was made out of, came splashing down all over him.

Although his attempt at a parry had managed to melt several of the icecubes condensed on the bat's head, some still remained and lodged into his flesh. As he was quite strong, none of them caused any serious harm but nevertheless, it was still quite painful.

Panting, Adrian tried to steady his breath as the handle of the bat, became a puddle beneath his outstretched hands. Adrian was only able to materialize it for that long because it was really quite draining and chunky but it was more than enough to secure his victory.

The burly instructor stood agape as his whole body was soaked from head to toe and the ice still restrained his feet.

The amount of pure mana condensed in that attack had been insane! His impromptu flames never stood a chance...

He'd planned on teaching the boy a lesson but had been embarrassingly bested before the minute was even up! There were still ten seconds left but rather than endure having to stand there or worse another one of the boy's horrible bats, he'd rather end it there.

"It's your victory!" He declared gruffly and Adrian immediately burst into a bright smile.

He whipped his head around to turn to the audience and met the gaze of Callan. Despite being extremely tired, Adrian suddenly felt invigorated at his first ever victory! He clenched his fist in victory and lightly punched the air.

The corner of Callan's lips twitched up. He wished he'd brought a recording device with him so he could take a picture of his cute expression and keep it forever and his eyes slightly darkened. Tonight, he'd definitely taste those cherry red lips again, so that together the two of them could celebrate the sweetness of victory.

Eliza accidentally caught sight of the prince's expression and cast a worried glance back at Adrian, who stood next to the half-frozen, slightly bloody instructor, beaming beautifully from ear to ear. Once again she was worried that he would simply be devoured by the prince, especially with his weak little soul... but then again the attack against the instructor just then had been shockingly brutish and so she sighed.

Someone that damn prince took an interest in couldn't be simple after all. Surely, he'd be just fine~