“Pleasant Morning Breeze!”

  Huh? Valar’s eyebrows tried to have a sensual makeout session with the cloudy sky and his jaw seemed to be under gravity magic. What the actual fuck?

  Aron Morell clasped his hands, chanting his spell with a distracted tone. Then, Valar heard the wind blow.

  And blow it did…

  It seemed like every single particle of air within the arena suddenly felt the overwhelming need to move to Harrison. The young man, grounded due to his own spell, was forced to watch as every single fiery vine suddenly changed its direction, flying straight back at him. That, combined with the mass of air, created an extremely bad situation for the scion of house Thorn.

  “Oh, shi-!” Harrison’s shout was cut off as a deafening boom rang out in the stadium.

  Valar paled, looking on in horror at the arena below. The mix of wind and fiery vines kicked up a giant dust cloud, managing to push something akin to a pleasant morning breeze all the way to their seats. He felt his black hair blow back slightly as his eyes fixed onto the cloud of dust below.

  Valar tried to see through all the dust, but it was difficult, to say the least. On one side of the arena stood Aron, unharmed but with a panicked look on his face. On the other side was a cloud of dust, kicked up from the explosion of Harrison’s own magic turning against him.

  After only a single second of shocked silence, multiple forms appeared in the arena. Their gold and onyx rank auras surged as they dove into the dust, and a litany of chants could be heard.

  Gideon’s voice was first. “Stasis!”

  Elaine could be heard second. “Supreme edict: Restoration!”

  Finally, Drox Thrawn, the resident professor of space magic, uttered his spell. “Stable transfer.”

  When the dust finally cleared, all traces of Harrison’s and the faculty’s presence was gone. What was left was a patch of scorched sand that glowed red hot, looking like it was close to melting. That… I think that was relatively close to my punch against Edwin in pure power!

  Considering that Valar’s flames were essentially weak dragonfire, the bronze rank fire mage’s reflected had been potent. So much so, that Valar wasn’t even sure if he was even alive anymore.

  “What… How?” Elina’s trembling voice finally broke the silence, and it was soon followed by the others.

  The stadium erupted in a mix of worried shouting and cheering. The target of that cheering, Aron, stood frozen at the edge of the arena, gazing at his trembling hands. His eyes were full of fright, and he seemed to curl in on himself.

  Nobody could hear the boy’s silent mutterings, but Valar could at least somewhat guess what he was saying. Based on his expression, Aron was feeling quite guilty. Technically, he hadn’t done anything against the rules, but there was a good chance that he had just killed his opponent. Even worse, that opponent wasn’t even some grand villain, but a student—just like Aron himself.

  “That…” Helen breathed out a shaky breath. “He invented that spell on the spot, didn’t he?”

  Wait, what?

  …

  Luckily for all parties involved, Harrison ended up surviving the encounter with his own forest of flames. The faculty’s timely intervention—especially the headmaster’s Stasis and Elaine’s Supreme Edict—managed to stabilize the young man just in the nick of time. It was a close thing, however…

  Gideon and Drox appeared in the arena’s center five or so minutes after the fight’s end. Elaine was left to care for the Thorn scion, as he still needed extensive care to minimize scarring and other long-term issues. Nobody wanted to have an arm like Valar, after all. Because Elaine had started the healing process only seconds after the injury, Harrison would probably avoid most future issues. Lucky guy, getting injured under the watch of gold and onyx rankers. Well, still kind of unlucky to get injured in the first place…

  The Wendir family sitting next to Valar was discussing the short fight. As fire mages and fire mage hopefuls, they were of course quite interested in the topic. To be honest, Valar was too!

  “... reflecting most of the power,” Valar could only hear the latter half of Elizabeth’s sentence, but he could surmise what they were talking about.

  “The effect would’ve actually been amplified by the boy’s wind spell,” Helen mused. “As you already know, daughter, wind magic tends to stoke the fire of our spells.”

  “Yeah, I know that,” Elizabeth grumbled. “But how did the spell get reflected in the first place? Harrison’s spell wasn’t weak—anything but!”

  Valar looked down at the arena, holding his chin in thought. Without even thinking about it, he spoke. “The whole spell had a lot of power, yeah, but it wasn’t nearly dense enough to resist such a strong wind spell. Harrison spread his power too thin, creating numerous small flames instead of one big one.”

  Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, a smug smirk forming on her lips. “And what do you know about fire, Valar?”

  That… is a good question, actually. What do I actually know about fire?

  The obvious answer was quite obvious: Jack shit.

  It was becoming quite obvious that the fire in his soul… Wait, should I just call it dragonfire? That would make it much easier to think about it!

  Regardless of the naming conventions surrounding it, Valar’s contact with his dragonfire had given him some insights surrounding fire magic in general. Not any actual information, per say, but something like heightened instincts regarding all things fire.

  He hadn’t known that Harrison’s fire had been too spread out, but he had certainly felt it. The individual vines had been fiery enough to harm a fellow bronze ranker, and multiple ones had been plenty to wear down their defences, but against a singular, overwhelming force like Aron’s spell they had been like candles against a mighty storm.

  “Does it matter?” Valar asked, his eyes glinting with a fierce light that didn’t quite belong. “It’s true regardless of my lack of knowledge, isn’t it?”

  Elina giggled. “He got you there, big sis!”

  When Elizabeth scoffed dismissively, Zeke interjected with a serious tone. “That’s exactly what happened. The energy in his spell was way too spread out to work effectively against a powerful counter. Harrison’s spell was fundamentally flawed, while Aron’s creation… The energy felt in sync with its element! His spell treated wind as wind, letting it blow Harrison’s spell right back at him! And to think that he created that spell on the spot!”

  “How can you be so sure that he created it then and there?” Valar asked. “I agree that the name sounded a bit weird, but that isn’t enough to prove that it was a new creation.”

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “I can confidently say that Aron Morell’s spell was of his own making,” the abstract mage grunted. “The energy was so in sync with his own visualization that it couldn’t have been another person’s spell!”

  “You’re an abstract mage alright,” Helen chuckled. “I think Elina and I will take our leave now, but do remember that you have a meeting with me on 1st day, Forger.”

  “I’ll remember,” Zeke chuckled. “Beast slaying?”

  “Beast slaying,” Helen raised her thumb in confirmation. She proceeded to practically drag her younger daughter out of the stadium. Elina’s complaints were loud and vulgar, only matched by her big sister’s cackling laughter.

  The following awards ceremony was predictably quite awkward, considering the one holding the second spot was in intensive care. Sophia Dalton ended up coming third in the whole competition, receiving a reward of 20 gold coins for her troubles. As an orphan kid who had lived through ten years of poverty, Valar was able to recognize the enormity of such a prize. Perhaps for the noble, the prize wasn’t that great, but the spectators were certainly awed.

  The gold prizes were quite massive, especially the top prize of 100 gold, but for most of the contestants, that hadn’t been the point. Their families had plenty of gold to give their children, but the recognition of higher ranked adventurers and other members of the nobility was harder to come by. Sophia would be contacted by many adventurer teams looking for mages quite soon.

  That rang true for Harrison and Aron as well, although based on the wind mage’s expression, he considered such a prize more of a punishment. He looked like he wanted to disappear from the arena, to be never seen again…

  “I’m pretty sure you’ll meet that guy if you go to any bigger bronze rank lecture,” Zeke said from Valar’s side.

  “How so?”

  “He obviously doesn’t enjoy being with people,” the blue-eyed man shrugged. “I’m guessing he uses the private back row during lectures, being a savant and all. Secondly, he’s only sixteen. I’m guessing that he is a pretty fresh bronze ranker. You’ll see him, I’m sure of it.”

  “If you say so..” Valar drawled. “I’m going to the library to study now. It was nice seeing you two!”

  Just as he was about to stand up and leave the stands, Valar felt a grip on his wrist. He turned his head, looking at Elizabeth’s hand wrapped around his arm in confusion. “Do… you want something from me?”

  The young woman blushed, releasing Valar’s hand and smoothing her robe. “Umm… Could I come with you? I know I’m still an iron ranker compared to your bronze, but could we study together? You could loan the book from the bronze rank section and come to study with me in the iron rank one. Only if you want to, of course!”

  Needless to say, Valar was surprised by the Wendir scion’s suggestion. During his iron rank studies, the young woman hadn’t sought him out even once, although to be fair, he hadn’t tried to contact her either. Her proximity to Konrad Wendir alone had made him avoid Elizabeth like a plague. Now that Konrad was out of the school, however…

  “Sure. I haven’t tried studying in a group before,” Valar nodded. “Zeke, want to come as well?”

  “Nah, my parents are waiting for me at our residence. Have fun, you guys!”

  Perhaps having a study buddy would be nice…

  …

  The iron rank section, while not as large as the bronze rank one, was still impressive in its own right. The sheer amount of books, tomes, scrolls and the like was similarly way too much for one lifetime, but Elizabeth had a few very specific books in mind.

  The librarian for this particular section was Horas, a silver rank earth mage of significant girth. Needless to say, he wasn’t as impressive as Livira—a fact that the gold ranked librarian warned Valar about when she heard about his intentions. If he understood correctly, he was pretty sure that they absolutely despised each other. Good thing that they don’t work in the same section, I guess.

  Valar’s ruminations on the two librarians wasn’t a complete waste of time, as it showcased an important fact: The iron rank section wasn’t even nearly as important as the bronze rank one. The books were less plentiful, less rare, less valuable, and overall lesser compared to the bronze rank works. He suspected that the difference between the bronze and silver rank sections would be similar, but as he had absolutely no way to prove that, he shelved the thought for silver rank.

  “What are you thinking about?” Elizabeth interrupted Valar’s musings, poking him on his left shoulder. She had reached around, avoiding the scar tissue on his right side.

  Valar blushed, turning his gaze towards the young woman. “Oh, sorry!” When he realized he was being too loud, he lowered his voice. “I was just wondering about the differences between the sections. I never had the time to visit the library at iron rank, so this is the first time I’m seeing the iron rank section.”

  “And?”

  “It’s way worse than the bronze rank one.”

  Elizabeth’s snort was decidedly not ladylike. “Figures. What’s that book you’ve got there?”

  “The first guidebook on the bronze rank keystone for the life affinity,” Valar sighed, slamming the hefty book on the table. That elicited a furious glance from Horas, making him flinch.

  “The first guidebook? That would mean that-.”

  “There’s a second guidebook,” Valar grumbled. “And a third. Luckily, it ends there. Livira even told me that I’m quite lucky. The force magic keystone has six of them…”

  “Umm… What about fire?”

  “Three as well, I think,” Valar shrugged. “If I remember correctly, all of the basic elements have three guidebooks. They are really helpful though!”

  “That just makes me fear the bronze rank studies,” The Wendir scion muttered. “The iron rank keystone was hard enough, and it didn’t require a single guide!”

  “It’s not that bad. Ascending to bronze rank means that I can take in information much faster.”

  “So you’re smarter?”

  Valar laughed. “You know that it doesn’t work like that, Elizabeth. You’re a noble for gods’ sake!”

  Elizabeth giggled, muffling her voice in order to avoid Horas’ ire. “Yes, yes… Advancing through the ranks makes you able to take in new information much faster, but it doesn’t improve general intelligence. My father had drilled that into my head for as long as I've been able to talk! But seriously, is it that much worse?”

  “How do I explain this…” Valar grabbed his chin, looking down at the book. “My iron rank keystone is a rune in the shape of a single leaf, and it’s plenty intricate. The bronze rank rune is a small branch with three leaves, making it just about ten times more work than the iron rank version.”

  “Three times more leaves and ten times more work?” Elizabeth grinned.

  “It isn’t about the number of leaves…”

  “I know, I know,” the fire mage giggled. “Do you want to know what I’m working on?”

  Valar moved his gaze down to the book on Elizabeth’s lap, but the girl covered it with her hands. ”No peeking!”

  He groaned, then got to thinking. “You are wearing your mage’s robes, which means that you’ve already learned your keystone and a few other runes. If I’m guessing right, you’ve cast Flaming Bolt.”

  The red-haired woman raised one delicate eyebrow. “And how did you come to that conclusion, pray tell?”

  “Your house member blasted me with it,” Valar deadpanned.

  Elizabeth’s eyebrows looked like they tried to make out with her hairline, and she blushed like crazy. That got a laugh out of him.

  “Silence is mandatory within the library premises,” Both Valar and Elizabeth froze when Horas’ magically enhanced voice reached their sofa. They gave the earth mage apologetic glances, returning to their discussion. This time, it was whispered...

  “I.. I’m sorry about Konrad’s actions,” Elizabeth sighed. “I do wish he would just let it go though.”

  “Do you mean that the guy is still angry at me?” A frown appeared on Valar’s face. “He cast a spell at me in broad daylight. Of course he would be kicked out!”

  “That’s not really how the nobility in this country functions,” Elizabeth scratched the back of her neck in seeming embarrassment. “He’s definitely still pissed. Recently, Konrad has mostly been wandering around the artist’s district, seeking places to have a drink at. I’ve seen him a couple times at the estate, and he has always been drunk and insufferable. What I’m saying is… Just be careful if you see him, okay?”

  “Careful? I’m bronze-.”

  “Careful that you don’t accidentally kill him,” the noblewoman sighed. “That… I’m not sure if killing a noble—even in self defence—would be good for you, okay?”

  Images of the guard’s barracks he and Viktor had delivered Alyssa to flashed in Valar’s mind. And that would be getting off light…

  “I’ll be careful.”

  The Wendir scion smiled. “Thank you. Now, what spell am I learning? You can just guess the rune if you want to.”

  “I don’t know, a shielding spell?”

  “Really? Do you think I would be hiding a book about shielding spells?” Elizabeth snorted. “What is my father’s title, Valar?”

  Oh… “Is your spell related to phoenixes?”

  “Spot on!” Elizabeth slammed her book down on the table. The book’s name was Practical fire magic two: Spells based on magical creatures. “The spell I’m learning from this book isn’t strictly a phoenix-related spell. Bronze rank is pretty much the earliest level where I can start working with phoenix-related stuff…”

  “How so?”

  “Were your iron rank spells complex? Like at all?”

  Valar chuckled. “I think I see your problem. I’m guessing that iron rank runes and an iron rank mind aren’t enough to visualize anything related to onyx rank beasts?”

  “Yup. It’s really hard at bronze rank too. That’s part of the reason our house considered Lindon such a big talent…”

  Valar visibly cringed at the mention of Perfect Strike’s fire mage. I wonder if Elizabeth knows about Lindon’s final spell…

  “Yes, I know…” A sad smile appeared on the young woman’s lips. “Tell me this, Valar: Was that spell at least a strong one? Did my cousin try his best until the very end?”

  “Lindon’s Phoenix Descent was a mighty spell, Elizabeth,” he nodded solemnly. “He died as a warrior, fighting his heart out until the very end.”

  “That’s good to hear. Thank you, Valar.”

  “No need to thank me for speaking the truth. It’s the least I can do.”