The first round of the competition would test the ability of the Combat Magicians in terms of their control or manipulation of the free Mana.

The arena was separated into four stages in which each participant of the country will perform one by one. Each of the country's team had sent one participant to stand at the center of their stage.

The first participant that was selected from the Zairus students was Kyla. She was there as she volunteered herself telling that it's better if she won't see others' performances as she might be affected. Although the first part of this event wasn't that difficult and only requires the most basic ability of a magician, keep in mind that the participating contestants can be said to be the best in their generation in their respective countries. She also had to perform well so that it would boost the morale of the team. As she knew herself, she would get the best possible outcome on this as long as she remained in focus.

"Hello to everyone watching this competition. The first part of this event was to test the contestant's affinity with Mana. The world was constantly producing an important source of power for everyone, which we all call Mana. Whenever it is being used in Mana Artifacts by the Magicians and consumed by all living things in this world, it's always being returned to the world as its natural cycle. Thus, it was said that we will always have an unlimited source of mana.

"Now, what if the world has an unpredictable free Mana? What if the Mana that magicians all trusted to be on their side turned to be chaotic and unruly? What if this Mana was impure? Would it change the ability of each magician to control these Mana?

"All these questions will be answered if we all watch the magicians struggle to control the 'free mana' on this first day of the competition! The Mana Resistance Examination!"

Kyla stood at the center of the stage where she was assigned to. She was well aware that the other contestants from different countries had also entered their stage but she didn't bother to check them out.

As soon as the signal to start was heard the stage was somehow filled with dense Mana. Then a ball made of foggy crystal popped out at the center of the stage. It came from the ground and floating in front of Kyla.

"I see... So they turned the whole stage into a huge formation. Then there would probably be a patterned movement of Mana within the stage." Kyla immediately understood her situation after she felt the unusual activity of mana that was previously being attracted to her. She noticed that her Mana affinity was being disrupted by the formation so she had to quickly adapt to her surroundings.

This round's instructions were simple. They had to control and contain all the dense Mana from their stage to the foggy ball of crystal.

"Whew, as expected of an absolute monarchy they control on such rare materials," Vanessa said as she was watching the proceedings of the contest.

"Rare? You might be right. The size of that stone could never be found in any market. No, I've never even seen this large stone in Zairus." Aria commented as they all recognized what the crystal ball was made of.

This crystal wasn't any simple item since it was a highly sought-after material, especially for those magicians who would like to advance their level from being Magic Engineer to Arcane Artificer, it is a Mana Stone. But to be precise the one needed for taking the promotion examination was an unprocessed Mana Stone.

After a Mana Technician was promoted to a Magic Engineer if they wanted to further get a promotion, aside from improving their ability, gaining more knowledge, having more methods in Artifact Forging, and creating original Magic Structures, they had to be capable of cleansing an unprocessed Mana Stone.

That's right because these unprocessed stones that were freshly out of the mines would have certain behaviors that only Arcane Artificer can tame and process before they can be used and sold to the market.

With such a large processed Mana Stone that they are seeing, the Arcane Artificer that cleansed the material was definitely not a simple engineer. It may have been Julian Esmeria himself.

"If I could bring that home, I might create another original Mana Artifact. It may even be a groundbreaking Artifact of all time."

"It seems that Montego was truly hiding their Mana Stone vein. Probably a vein with a large deposit of Mana Stone was found in these years. They weren't that extravagant in their hosted competitions before, right?"

"Who cares where it came from? It doesn't change the fact that any Magic Engineer that

can bring that home will have the best chance of creating a powerful Mana Artifact."

The magicians who were well aware of the uniqueness of the large crystal were already imagining the possible outcome once they used it for themselves. It wouldn't be that far-fetched if they created a powerful artifact since they will be using such rare material. Probably, any spell that was structured and powered by a large Mana Stone would create an explosive outcome. No one could deny the usefulness of such material.

Kyla put her hands at the side of the floating crystal ball made of pure Mana Stone, she didn't touch the crystal as she left a few inches gap from her palm.

She then tried sensing the dense Mana around her and felt that she was in such an amazing environment, this place would probably be the best training stage if she wanted to improve her Mana Manipulation.

'Amazing, with such a dense Mana around, the effects or spells coming from almost all Mana Artifact would probably receive an enhancement.' Kyla thought as she was genuinely surprised at the dense Mana. If Wallace was here, he'll probably remember the dense Mana he had felt at the center of Kharvatt Sierra.

Outside the stage, the audience had also seen with their bare eyes the specks of blue light floating around in each respective stage. It was as if they were seeing an ocean that was reflecting the lights coming from the sun. It was such a spectacle and they all love the beauty it exudes.

Kyla tried to expand her range of control to forcefully place the mana within the empty Mana Stone. All the magicians have a level of Mana Affinity in which they could use their minds to connect with Mana. After connecting to a dense part of Mana around her, she had found it difficult to move the Mana.

It seems that it was trying to break out of her control if she loses a bit of concentration. This was the first time it happened in her Mana Manipulation as she frowned at the difficulty. It wasn't that impossible to move the Mana to her crystal but it would be very slow. The competition would only be for fifteen minutes for each contestant. She felt that not even a fourth of the crystal would be filled if she continued her practice.

'This is probably the effect of the formation. Although it is normally difficult to control a dense Mana, it shouldn't be this difficult at all like I was dragging a car.' Kyla commented but now that she had grasped the idea and the challenge in this competition, she sorted her mind and made another attempt.

***

Wallace was still traveling on a bus and on the way to Bluefields City but he still had a chance of watching the competition due to the television that was attached at the front center within. It is very convenient for him.

His Void Phase ability would consume all of his Mana just to bring him in about 300-400 meters away. As he had to travel for about 200 kilometers, it is wise to use a bus. Also, they ought to have some entertainment within the bus aside from some stopovers. It may have probably been quicker if it was a train but the railway's transit system isn't that developed in this country.

"Ohh... Kyla was still behind even with her very stable phase. She's also using a forceful method, she had to exert more effort on this."

Wallace commented as he could watch the difference in each participant. He remembered a topic that was discussed in the Academy in his subject, Mana Praxis, and Assiduity. It wasn't further expounded as it was said that it would further be elaborated in the third-year class.

"Right, it is said that there are three known paths of manipulating mana. That would be the Forceful Manipulation, Inducement Control, and Arcane Link. I can probably switch my manipulation method to Inducement Control now with my peak Mana Affinity. Looking at it this way, the standard or instinct of all Magicians that started to control Mana was probably the Forceful Manipulation." Wallace said as he remembered his study in the academy in which they were just told to follow their instinct in controlling the surrounding Mana. Which was in a sense, they had to rely upon themselves.

He also doesn't have an idea about the Arcane Link manipulation method but he at least had a hunch that it was something that only an Adept Mage or Arcane Artificer was capable of doing so.