"Before we get into the second stage of this entrance exam, allow me to congratulate the thirty-two of you for getting through the first stage."

So, yeah, stage one was over. The initial number of seventy-three applicants had been culled down to thirty-two, and those who made the cut were now back in the auditorium, where we were waiting for Instructor Annika Mikhailova to give us the details of the next stage.

​​

I made the cut too, and by quite a significant margin...my seventy-nine kills earned me the number four spot, only three people had more kills than me, and not by much. The person in first got eighty-one kills, and the two in second and third were tied with eighty each.

Bytra had just about made the cut at the number twenty-four spot with her forty-five kills, Tairo had done a bit better and landed the number nineteen spot with fifty-two kills. All in all...I placed better than I'd expected, though I suppose the first stage was to my advantage since I'm strong with rapid and accurate long-range attacks. Not to say that I'm weak in close-range combat, but if I had to pick, I'd say I was a little bit better at long-range fighting.

"Now, then, let's not waste any time, I shall inform you of the details of the second stage. It is quite simple, really...you shall all be paired up and duel, the winners will pass. The pairings will be based on where you placed in the first stage, your opponent will be the mirrored number to where you ranked from the halfway point...in simpler terms, number one will duel number thirty-two, number two will duel number thirty-one, number three will duel number thirty, etcetera. And once again, you will all be divided between the fifteen training halls, fourteen of the halls will host one duel each, and the remaining one will host two duels. The details of whom you're paired up against and in which hall you'll be dueling them will be sent to your I-Watches shortly, head to your corresponding training hall once you receive the e-mail. That's all I have to say because that's all you need to know. The rules of the duel will be clarified by the instructor in charge of observing and refereeing in the training hall you will be in."

Within a couple of minutes, we all received the details of our duels. The rules were simple, we would duel with no time limit with our weapons and Manifestations in Phantom Mode. Phantom Mode was a restricted form of our XFE Manifestations in which they wouldn't cause lethal damage even if they struck you in a vital spot. Instead of taking physical damage, we would each wear a collar that would keep track of how many Phantom XFE strikes we got inflicted on us.

The collars would assign us an HP value, which would get depleted with every strike inflicted on us. The collar would also restrict the Prodigies' XFE Manifestations into Phantom Mode. To put my weapons in Phantom Mode, I just had to flip a switch in each of them, simple as that.

I was fighting the person who placed twenty-ninth, a guy with a blonde afro, blue eyes, a fair complexion and a slight mustache. He was tall and muscular, maybe in his mid-twenties, with a confident look on his face. He looked strong but not that agile...still, looks could be deceiving, I should keep my guard up.

"Hey, kid, you're a Dud, right? I'll give you props for placing fourth, but this is as far as you go," He taunted me, as we took our placed in the middle of the training hall.

"Yeah, yeah, keep talking. Let's get this over with," I replied with a shrug, before whispering inaudibly, "."

"Heh, big words...but I doubt you can back them up."

This guy's annoying, I'm gonna enjoy beating him. As the countdown began, I readied my wrist-blasters and prepared myself. Ten seconds...five seconds...three, two...one!

"!" Exclaimed my opponent, a large red energy hammer forming in his hands.

I ran my XFE into my X-Blasters and fired a few shots at him, he blocking some of them using his hammer, but I managed to land two decent hits. His HP value dropped from a hundred to ninety-five...huh, so I'd have to land forty shots to get it all the way down to zero unless I increase the output setting, but that'd consume too much XFE...let's switch things up, shall we?

I reached behind my back and took out my X-Blades, running my XFE through them to activate them. They extended out in the form of black-hued energy, and I shot towards my opponent.

"You're finished!" He exclaimed triumphantly, swinging the hammer down at me.

How painfully straightforward...I stepped off to the left to avoid it, as I simultaneously threw a rapid kick to his left wrist, destabilizing his Manifestation. I then slashed my blades at him, the left one whipping across his throat and the right one thrusting through his chest.

I then swiftly sprang back to get some distance, and had a look at his HP. He had a little over eighty percent left, as he re-stabilized his Manifestation. Manifesting your XFE required concentration, for example, if I lost focus on maintaining the stability my XFE flow, my blades wouldn't do any damage and would unstably flicker on and off like static. The same thing applied to Prodigies' Manifestations as well, they had to maintain their XFE flow and concentrate, otherwise the Manifestation would destabilize and be rendered ineffective till they could get their concentration back under control.

Inflicting pain was a good way to break that concentration, especially attacking the hands or wrists. Most Prodigies Manifestations appeared in their hands, though there were exceptions like my sister's full-body armor, so inflicting pain to their hands was a no-brainer. This guy had a lot more brute strength that I did, but I was a lot faster and more agile, this shouldn't be too difficult.

I shot forward again, firing a couple of quick shots from my X-Blasters as I closed the gap. He lost his balance a bit as he narrowly evaded them, before I got in close and slashed both my blades upwards at his chest. His HP dropped to less than seventy percent, before he swung his hammer down at me with some serious force.

I sprang back to avoid it, the edge of the hammer clipping my right foot. Huh, so that's how a Phantom XFE strike feels...my foot felt a bit numb, but hadn't taken on any physical damage. My HP had been depleted by nearly ten percent though...it had barely grazed me though, were Prodigy XFE Manifestations that much more powerful than my X-Weapons?

It doesn't matter, I won't lose.

This time, I let him come to me. He was charging in blindly, with a loud battle cry and his hammer raised high.

"!"

Flames began sprouting around the end of his weapon, however...those flames were also in Phantom Mode, they may do more damage to my HP, but just like before, he wasn't going to be inflicting any physical damage.

He swung the hammer down with all his strength, I crouched and stepped forward at the last second to avoid it, positioned almost directly under him. I swiftly dropped my left blade, placed my left hand on the ground, and sprang up off of it like a jack-in-the-box with my right foot pointing straight up, slamming a rapid rising kick square onto the bottom of his jaw.

He stumbled back with a dazed expression, his Manifestation completely disappearing. Unfortunately, physical attacks didn't do anything to his HP...but no matter. I dropped my other blade as well, before increasing the output settings on my X-Blasters to maximum, springing up and landing on his shoulders. Before he could react, I fired a barrage of shots at his face from point-blank range, depleting his HP completely.

The maximum output setting took five times the XFE and had five times the power that the minimum output did, and given that he had less than seventy percent of his HP left, I just needed six solid shots to finish him, but I ended up firing about double that amount instead, using up about a third of my XFE in that last attack alone.

Well, the details were a moot point, bottom line was that I won, and pretty easily at that.

Still, I used up close to half my XFE, I need to be more careful on how much I use in a fight. Hm, my physical attacks definitely did some damage, his chin looked bruised from my kick. I might be able to rely on my physical strength more than I'd initially thought, this guy had been strong in terms of brute strength, but my own strikes had undoubtedly done some damage, my kick to his wrist had also been pretty effective.

It might have been an easy win, but nevertheless, I realized some pretty useful information about my own abilities, this was a valuable learning experience.

"What do you know, looks like this is as far as YOU go, huh, Prodigy?" I remarked, as his shoulders slumped in defeat.

He didn't say anything in response, his expression one of frustration and disbelief. His initial underestimation of me only made my victory all the sweeter...

...

So, these were the sixteen applicants who passed, huh? The winners of the sixteen duels of the second stage had passed the entrance exam and were all back in the auditorium, including myself, of course. From my former classmates, two had made the cut...Tairo and Bytra.

Unsurprisingly, I was the only one of the sixteen who wasn't a Prodigy. I had to say, the entrance exam went a lot smoother and much easier than I'd initially expected, I didn't have to use my Save/Load ability even once.

I noticed that Tairo was avoiding looking at me, he averted his gaze before he could stop himself when I happened to glance in his direction...what, had he been looking forward to gloating when I failed? I wouldn't be surprised, I mean, this was the guy who had masterminded the whole thing with Bytra just because I retaliated when he tried to burn me with coffee by splashing it back at him. Ugh, now there's a unpleasant memory.

Instructor Annika Mikhailova then began addressing us...

"Congratulations on making the cut, the sixteen of you are officially the next batch of Level J students. Your classes will start next Monday, which is, let's see...the third of January. Make sure to arrive at 9 AM in the morning, don't be late. Well, my job for today is done, so...you can all go home now."

Blunt and straight to the point with no small talk, I like her style. Well, then...guess I'll go home.

And just like that, I'd passed the entrance exam. Well, that was easy. But it was just the first step, I still had a lot of work ahead of me before I reach my goal...

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