The Infinite Academy...the vortex of power for the entire world, the center of attention for those in the High Human society, and the mystical region for all those outside of it. It's a city floating in the sky, a Structure Cast built by one of the greatest Casters ever after the end of the War of the First Millennium. Standing proudly and stably high up in the air for thousands upon thousands of years, it exerts its influence on the greater world of Olympus Prime through the sheer amount of ridiculously strong Wave users that it pumps out every year. And now...standing at the literal bottom way beneath it all are countless Wave users from all over the world. Located on a small island in the middle of the ocean between the Eastern and the Western continent, the tropical climate gave rise to an isolated and unique ecosystem with countless Wave beasts running across the woods and high rising tropical trees with exotic fruits decorating the sandy beaches. Far above it, the Infinite Academy is all but a tiny dark dot, yet no one outside truly appreciates its grandeur and magnificence. Luckily for some of those Wave users on the island, they will be able to witness its greatness by the end of the day. At last, the day of the Infinite Academy entrance exam has arrived. "WELCOME! Welcome welcome welcome!" By high noon, the sun was already radiating its unrelenting warmth onto the sands, and an obnoxiously loud voice was put on full-blast across countless Casts dug into the rocks and trees, "For all those first-time applicants, and repeated applicants! Welcome to your yearly Infinite Academy entrance exam!" The excited announcer let his voice linger and echo on the island for a brief moment before continuing, "All of you will have received an Identity Cast, within which you have sets of special stamps. The rules of the selection are simple and always have been. You will automatically pass once you have collected twenty points worth of stamps from your fellow applicants!" Upon hearing this, the groups of people that were part of a massive crowd on the beachfront looked at one another awkwardly before the casual chatters died out immediately. Clearly, those were the first-timers. "You may use any methods of combat, but once you have collected a stamp from someone already, you cannot collect from them again, and nobody else could either! However, if you defeated someone else that has already collected points, you may then inherit their points! If you get your asses handed to you, you can still gain points by handing other people's asses, or something... 'Also, remember the basic examination you took way before this? That determined how many points your defeat is worth! Gold stamps are worth twenty, Silvers are worth ten, Bronzes are worth five, Blues are worth three, and Browns are shit. Just kidding, they are ones. But also shit. You have until the end of the day. Go crazy." With the sound of a zip, all of the Casts dissipated away, replaced by countless Scouting Eyes which filled the various corners of the island above and below. For the High Human society that has a rather refined taste in their entertainment, anything that goes on within the Infinite Academy has always been massive hits. Apart from tournaments like the Winter Wars and Summer Selections, the entrance exam is often one filled with intrigue, excitement, blood, and death. "TAKE THIS! Flaming Balls!" One of the Casters on the beach shouted suddenly, channeling his Book of Casts and blasting a large fireball to the group of other Wave users around him before a Channeler jumped onto his back and knocked him out with a single wave-enhanced kick. As his body flopped forward onto the ground, the Channeler flipped and swiftly collected a stamp from the Caster's identity Cast before a roaring Dragon Manifest bit her right across the torso and nailed her to the body of a tree. She was knocked out instantly upon impact, and her stamps were transferred to the owner of the Dragon Manifest. The crowd of Wave users rapidly dispersed, as one of the Wave users had clearly exerted his dominance in this area. Regardless of what they are going to do individually, everybody in the vicinity knew one thing right away. If they stay around, they will lose and lose quickly. The Manifester that wielded the Dragon pulled back the manifestation and left it linger over his head like a watchful guardian when suddenly, he heard the sounds of knuckles cracking coming from behind him. He slowly turned, brushing back his long black hair and taking off his expensive black and gold jacket, only to see a bald dark-skinned girl with a curvy physique walking towards him. His eyes naturally looked down, and her undeniable attractiveness captivated him immediately. She wore a white tank top, her muscular arms fully exposed and the shirt also stopped at the belly button, revealing the densely layers musculature around her abdominals. Apart from her slender waists, her busts also propped up the tank top itself. A strong woman indeed, suitable for a king like himself. "What ya looking at?" The girl asked, snapping her finger and generating a mini-shockwave. Her eyes were crimson red, and her cheekbones are high. "You looked like royalty." The Manifester said, his voice low and slow, "Care to join with me in the Academy?" "Nah." The girl shook her head, "I am only here to beat the strong." "Oh?" The Manifester tilted his head slightly, the dragon over his head surging forward, "So you are not going to submit to me?" "Seen stronger." The girl smiled, lunging back and cocking her fist as the head of the dragon dashed towards her, a breath of fire held within its mouth. Then, she locked her crimson red gaze onto the face of the Manifester. An island-rocking explosion rocked the entire island as the ocean waves were initially shoved back into the sea by a shock wave and its accompanying gust of air swept through the woods, stirring up countless tropical leaves and sending them through the woods until a few of the pieces dropped near a pair of running figures. "Lera, you know what this entrance exam reminds me of?" One of the figures had short black hair and golden brown skin, and he wore a black shirt and a black backpack as he ran. His eyebrows are medium-sized in his current disguise, and his black eyes small and ovally shaped. "Another of your weird references, Wu?" The girl named Lera is one with short black and silver hair tied into a tail behind her head. Her eyes are a beautiful gemstone-like grey, and she has her Book of Casts floating beside her as she ran. "A series called the Hunger Games." Wu said, "Where kids are placed in an isolated environment and fight for survival. Someone even made a video about how one's best strategies of surviving the games are." "Is that why we are running?! I thought the strong are supposed to stay and fight" Lera asked, as the two of them both rapidly made a sharp turn and avoided a fighting pit with bright flashes of Casts going off. "The last thing we want to do now is either draw too much attention, or get sniped by someone from the dark. It's a bit prideful to assume that fact, but the name of the game is survival, then getting points" Wu said, looking down at a brown leather gauntlet over his right hand briefly before turning around and sending out a massive orb of Wave towards another Wave user that tried to ambush them from the side. The orb flew through the air with a loud whoosh and slammed the man right in the face, sending him flying back into a tree and knocked out with a loud 'BANG'. "But aren't we supposed to collect points?" Lera asked before sending forth her counter-Trap Casts of Store/Release, springing the traps laid out in front of them and letting Wu ran right through it with her bubble bubble around his body. "Like my basketball captain said: no rush!" Wu smiled, leaping up into the air as an ambushing Channeler screamed and tried to tackle him down from the side. Wu cocked his right arm back, his gauntlet glowing once before lines of light sprung to life within it. A vortex of Wave spiraled out from his fist, and he sent it forward, clashing against the shoulders of the Channeler and breaking right through his defenses. With a semi-transparent barrier shattered by the hit, Wu landed in a superhero stance before collected a cool three points. Just by running and taking down the small frys that tried to pick them out, Wu and Lera both have gotten five points each. However, both knew that this isn't going to be enough, that's why they are waiting to take out some of the bigger fishes later in the day. "...Wu?" Lera asked, as the two of them turned a corner again and made their way towards the center of the island as the ground underneath them slowly started to incline towards the local hilltop. Depsite the vies, her eyes were fixated on the boy, "You...looked really good..." "Right?" Wu laughed, slapping against the side of his gauntlet and jumping over a rock, tapping his hand briefly on top of it for balance, "Turning the pistol into a gauntlet was such a good idea!" "I...did-n't..." Lera stuttered her words before shaking her head. She needed to stay focused, or else... That was when suddenly, the massive bang came from in front of them, and a shockwave peeled away the layers of earth and deep-rooted trees from the ground as a tsunami of earthly materials came crushing towards them. "One-Shotter! Full Gauntlet!" Wu said, holding onto the gauntlet with his left and dropping into quarter lunge. Then, a massive ball of Wave materialized right in front before it was released forward. Carrying it's own energy and momentum, it blasted right through the crushing wave of materials and continued rolling towards the origin of the blast before it was popped like a balloon. Lera stood beside Wu calmly, and she watched on when suddenly, her entire body tensed up. For the briefest moment, her Wave-sensing abilities were overloaded by the massive outputs coming out of Wu's legendary bow-turned pistol-turned gauntlet. However, when everything returned to ambiance as Wu lowered his hand, the undeniable presence from the one standing in front of her became the only thing she's feeling. As the smoke settles, Wu watched on as a dark-skinned girl with a bald cut and a white tank top slowly puts her hand down. She glanced towards them with her crimson big eyes, and a smile of excitement floated on her face. She turned to them, her bust jiggling in the wind as she placed both hands on her hips. "...Wu..." Lera murmured, her feet trying to move, but her mind telling her to stop deadly still, "She's...bad news..." "I know," Wu said. This is extremely odd, as he is never the one to sense the shift in the Wave. However, from the way the girl carried herself around, even he can tell the depth of power and skill she possessed. And that smile...that damn smile...She's ready to fight. Lera dropped into her combat stance, and she had already deployed her rapidly layering in the environment when the crimson-eyed girl traversed through the distance in between them and stood inches away from Lera's face in an instant. Her eyes shot open as sweats flooded down her forehead. Lera rapidly prepared her attacks when Wu blasted a half-powered attack from his One-Shotter Gauntlet at point-blank. The girl half-turned to look at Wu with her crimson eyes before she reached over with her hand, a semi-transparent glove of sorts wrapping around the orb of Wave and containing the blast. The explosion sounded muffled, and a jizz of hot smoke slowly escaped between the cracks in her fingers. Taking this chance, Lera rapidly leapt back when everything around the girl suddenly turned dark, and after a count of six seconds, everything returned to normal with the Wu and Lera nowhere to be found. The girl made an intrigued sound before cracking her neck and headed to the next place of battle. She had overrated the level of competition just now, and it seemed rather...disappointing. Letting go of the long-held blast in her conjured Wave gloves, she sent it flying up into the air and blew up a set of Scounting Eye by accident. She supposes...the Infinite Academy is just another place where she will dominate.