The day had finally arrived, and Jude headed out of the inn off towards the location for the gathering of the magic user’s competition. The town was full of news about the contest, so Jude knew exactly where to go.

In his inventory was the brand new upgraded staff. It attained a new name after Jude was done with it, it was now known as Prima Elementa. He kept it hidden, not only because of its glowing effect, but it also had each of the primary elements floating around its end.

Prima Elementa

Spi +100

HP +100

MP +200

Mana Regen +30/sec

Prime Elements +50%

Item Skills (hidden)

When building the staff he hadn't been thinking about the stats, but they ended up being pretty good.

He and Ellie had been staying in the exterior city. This was the city beyond the last walled section. The city itself was divided up into several sections and each section divided by a wall. The main competition would be held in the innermost part of the city known as the City Core. To get past each wall, there would be a series of tests that all the applicants had to deal with. Unless of course, you were already in one of the deeper parts of the city.

To pass the first wall, Jude would have to get through the Morning Gate of the exterior wall. But the closer Jude got, the more crowded it became. Soon he came to a standstill in a very wide street that led to the gate. From this distance, he could barely make out his destination. But the crowds here weren’t spectators; they were all contestants.

It deeply surprised Jude just how many people were here to contend. He felt like he was a drop in a sea of wizards and mages.

There wasn’t a line, just a swarm of people pressing together. Jude didn’t act rashly and decided to wait patiently and observe the people around him. After all, Wizards and Magic users were supposed to be rare, but gathered here together they didn’t seem rare at all. It was then he realized the distinctness of the people around him. Riwa itself was already a huge Kingdom with millions of inhabitants, but these people didn’t just come from Riwa, they also the surrounding kingdoms as well.

Jude reminded himself that these weren’t all Wizards either. People like Valice the Shaman were contending as well. There might even be guys like him who had a unique class. There was no telling how many were Wizards and how many were not.

Being in a large group of magic users was a rare opportunity for Jude, so he made sure to keep active over his natural vision. Overlaying both visions was disorienting for Jude the first time he tried it, especially since was a three hundred sixty-degree view. But now Jude could keep it active for long periods of time with only a minor discomfort.

The more Jude observed the casters around him, the more fascinated he became. About three-fourths of them had a similar ability made out of pure magic. But what surprised Jude even more was that they didn’t use any chant or keywords to activate the magic.

It wasn’t a powerful magic by any means, at best it could pick up a pebble and throw it or trip someone trying to push their way through the crowd. The magic came out of the caster like a rope that could be manipulated. It wasn’t visible to the naked eye and Jude may not ever have noticed it if it had not been for .

More often than not it was used to stop people from pushing up to the front, but it was also used to play pranks on the surrounding people. That was when Jude noticed that some people covered themselves in this magic like armor. Each person’s manifestation of the skill was different, and this difference widened even further when it came to defense. Some were armored like knights, and others formed it like regular clothes. There were plenty of unusual ones as well, people covered in barbs or hooks and many other strange things that Jude wasn’t exactly sure how to describe.

After observing for a while, Jude got the rough idea of what they were doing, so he tried it himself. Instead of inputting mana into a spell, it was releasing it into the air and controlling it. It didn’t take long before Jude got the hang of things and was rewarded with a new unique skill.

Telekinesis Rank I

The ability to move objects with your mind. You can move objects as if you had the Str equal to 10% of your Spi stat.

Jude thought it strange that it was actual telekinesis. He was moving it with his mana, not his mind. But the more he thought about it, the more he changed his mind. If one didn’t have it really was like telekinesis; it just took mana to fuel it.

He also guessed that at Rank X he would have the strength of 100% his spirit stat which would be monstrous. But for now, he enjoyed playing around with the new magic. Of course, doing this ended up raising the rank of the skill quite fast. He was probably the only person who could see the telekinesis at work and was able to improve on the flaws he saw quickly. He also had the advantage to see others people’s telekinesis which only improved his even quicker.

It wasn’t long before he was joining the game of swatting, hooking, and pranking the other people. His advantage at being able to see the magic worked great in his favor. Most of the others didn’t seem to know who did what, so he was able to not only defend effectively but also get revenge accurately!

It didn’t take long for all the pranks to stop around him. No one could get the better of Jude and most didn’t even know that it was him. It was a little disappointing; the little competition had pushed his rank up to VIII in . But he didn’t stay disappointed for long; he also wanted to try out the armor some people had made. However, before he could start an announcement was being made.

“Magic contenders of the Elitist Competition! Hear my words as I voice this year’s rules.” Said an old man on top of the wall over the Morning Gate. His voice was being magically broadcast

“The rules are as follows: no Elite Classes are allowed to compete; this tournament is to find the upcoming people who will one day be in the Elite Class. That means there can be no Archmages, Wild Druids, Shaman Chiefs, or Saints. If you have a Unique class and it is found to be ranked in the Elite category, you will be disqualified.

“Next is the gate tests. You will have to pass each gate test to enter the actual tournament. Each gate will have its own set of rules, and you will find out about them when you take the test. If you fail, you will be disqualified, but if you succeed, a score will be given to you. Your final score will determine your overall ranking, and there will be rewards based on the rankings

“The last thing you need to know is the fee. There is a ten platinum entry fee that will be collected here at the first gate. If you cannot afford this fee, give up now. There will be no refund if you fail a test. That is all.”

Jude had already heard of the entry fee and had prepared his money accordingly. It had taken almost all his and Ellie’s money combined to accomplished it as each platinum piece was the equivalent to 100 gold.

He also wondered how they would grade unique classes as he wasn’t sure what grade his was. Back in Longdale, he had tried to determine this, but the only information he found was that the grade dealt with how many times the class could be upgraded. For example, Ellie’s class was considered Elite because it could only be upgraded once. If Jude’s class couldn’t be upgraded or advanced to a new tier, then it would be graded either Elite or Titled.

There was a stage setup for testing, but Jude was still too far to make out any details, so he ignored it for now. Instead, he tried to emulate the armor he saw the others using with telekinesis.

Jude’s was already at Rank VIII and was now incredibly easy to manipulate not to mention absurdly strong. Simply winding it around himself gave him the unique magic . But this didn’t satisfy Jude, as he had seen other people’s armor actually look like armor.

He tried bending it, molding it, flipping it and all kinds of other methods. Slowly, the skill raised from Rank I to Rank II. By the time it got to Rank V, it finally looked like armor. Jude was quite satisfied but wondered what the last five ranks would be like.

However, he put it to the side for now as he could finally see in detail what was going on up on the stage. The first gate’s test seemed pretty straight forward. It tested defense, attack, and manipulation.

The test itself was simple enough that for the most part, Jude ignored it. Instead, he was more interested in the different classes that went up to try it out.

The majority of people where some form of Elemental Mage. Most of them seemed to stick with a single element seeking to maximize the effect as best they could. The elements seemed to follow the primary elements of Fire, Wind, Water, and Earth. He had yet to see metal, but maybe mages couldn’t use it, or maybe metal wasn’t considered a primary element. Jude’s experience in this world was still too small.

There was also a flashier kind of magic user called Summoners. They were similar to the Elemental Mage’s when it came to being tied to the elements, but that’s where it stopped. Summoners primary attack was calling forth elemental monsters and command them to attack or defend. They seemed to do better at attacking and defending than the Elemental Mages but lacked the flexibility that the mages had.

Enchanters were another marvel to Jude. He hadn’t seen Cairfray do much magic with her new class, and these people already had it to level 30, so there was a bit of a difference. The offense was terrible, but at defensively they were quite amazing. It wasn’t that they could soak up a hit like a Warrior, rather they made it so that they were never hit. Attacks made against them never seemed to be aimed right and would miss. But from Jude’s perspective with , he could see why.

There were only a few other classes that Jude could pick up clues on. A few classes used nature magic, and Jude could only assume that they were either Druid or Shaman classes. There was at least one Priest, but he couldn’t make it through the trial. If there were any other classes, Jude couldn’t tell them apart from the ones he already saw.

Jude had neither been late or early, so when he arrived at the registration area, there was still quite a crowd behind him. There was a long row of desks with scribes behind each one.

A boy about Jude’s age sat behind the desk that he walked up to. He placed a highly polished and beautiful stone a size larger than a palm down on a blank piece of paper.

The boy said, “10 platinum please.”

Jude handed him the money.

After receiving it, the scribe continued, “Place your hand on the stone and insert your mana into it. It won’t write out your full status, but will list out your classes, levels, and titles.”

Jude obliged and found out that the stone wrote out Jude status on the page below. The boy picked up the page and began to read over it. It didn’t take long before his brows furrowed. Jude could only hope that his class wasn’t graded too high.

The boy signaled to an elderly scribe who came over.

“Sir, please look at this,” said the first scribe.

The elder took the sheet and read through it quickly, “Interesting.”

The younger asked, “It doesn’t state the grade of his unique class, so I’m not sure what to make of it.”

“It is relatively rare, but it’s not a problem either,” the elder told the young scribe. “Have you seen a grade for the Wizard class?”

“No, those are also blank--Wait! does that mean this is a base unique class?!” The young scribe said startled.

The elder chuckled, “It is true.”

Then the elder turned to Jude, “You may participate in this tournament. Normally I would warn someone with such a unique class from competing. But after seeing your list of titles, I doubt you will have much of a problem.”

“What do you mean?” Jude asked.

“You can tell a lot about a class by its name. Spell Analyst doesn’t sound particularly powerful, but looking at your titles, you must have found a way to make it work. I hope you will be able to get to the main competition; I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do.”

The way the old man said it made perfect sense. Jude smiled at the old man and gave him a nod of appreciation.

The elder scribe left, and the younger scribe took out a red coin and placed it on the paper. The coin then absorbed the paper like water and a strange luster could then be seen on the coin, like that of a soap bubble.

“Keep this token with you at all times,” the scribe said. “It will identify you as a competitor, keep your score, and help the other officials with everything else.”

“Thank you,” Jude said, and with this done he was led to the next line of those going up to the stage.

The coin Jude had been given had the crest of Riwa on one side and Jude’s name and class on the other. Riwa’s crest was an eagle with its wings spread with two lightning bolts in front of it. Jude felt that it looked strangely German.

This wait became a little unpleasant as the contestants behind him started making snide remarks about the people on stage. They seemed to criticize their every move. Jude found it incredibly annoying but was surprised to see that they were mostly right.

It wasn’t long before it was his turn. Jude handed the token over to the official handling this area; then he stepped onto the platform.

“The first test is defense,” the official said.

Something that looked like a large Tesla coil stood on the far end of the stage. There were numerous glyphs and runes written both on it and the ground surrounding it. As soon as the official's voice faded, the coil came to life. Jude only had a few seconds to cast a defense, for most people this was not enough time to defend against the strong lightning attack. But to Jude, it was almost too long.

Instead of casting a chant immediately as everyone else did, he just stood there. He didn't want to look too flashy, so he kept his staff stored away and decided not to use .

"Whats wrong with him?" one of the snide contestants asked another.

"Ha! He completely froze! He must not be able to stand the pressure of being on stage. Young ones like this often think more of themselves than they really are."

"That type always freezes in the wrong moment."

"," Jude cast his bracer item magic at the same time he used to bolster the spectral shield, fortifying it in a honey comb pattern.

Many of the others who had successfully passed this test hadn't been able to block this first strike from the lightning rod. The first strike was the most powerful and could easily overwhelm defenses. But Jude's shield took the full brunt of the attack without even wavering. The people below were incredibly shocked at the result of this quick spell casting's defense.

"Spectral Shield?" the ones down below were surprised. These contestants were at a much higher level than the people of Longdale and some of them knew of . But no one had ever seen or heard of one being this strong.

After the first strike, a dozen other strikes hit his shield as well. Jude neither dodged or refortified his defense, allowing it to fully absorb all the hits with ease.

What they didn't know was that Jude actually was fortifying his shield. But since he activated it with an item and was bolstering it with telekinesis, he didn't need to say any chants or keywords. Event he keyword he said at first wasn't necessary, he just didn't want people to know that he could cast spells like that just yet. That he would need to save for just the right moment.

The judging official picked up his jaw off the floor and cleared his throat. "You pass the first test. Full score."