After the duel Ariel went back the way he came, through the gates. He didn’t sustain any injuries in the battle, if fact not even a speck of dust landed on his clothes so he didn’t need to stay in the waiting room to neither change his outfit nor treat his wounds. That’s why he simply walked passed the room without stopping even for a moment, but the gazes filled with astonishments and shock form the competitors due to his performance still followed him with every step he took.

Only when he left the room he could slightly relax and feel more at ease with no one looking at him, as he walked through the long, white and boring corridors. There were many different intersections in his path however thanks to his memory he didn’t find it difficult to find his way back and it didn’t take him that much time.

Soon he found the exit leading into the platform which had the seats of the audience on it. Walking out, he instantly heard shouts and noise made by the people who noticed him and their speechless expressions returned when remembering what happened, not to long ago. The noise from their excited and astonished voices was surprisingly much lauder than when any of his friends came here. Although most people would be happy about this attention, but to Ariel it felt more like a nuisance than something that would increase his ego.

Looking towards his seat from before the first thing he saw was Sarah standing there with worship visible in her beautiful, ocean blue eyes. Her astounding snow white skin was flushed from excitement due to his reveal and it go redder the as Ariel came closer.

Just when Ariel stepped into the conversation distance, Sarah’s soft pink lips formed into a smile as she spoke. “Why didn’t you tell us you could use magic? What’s more you’re a variant it is extremely rare talent which is desired by everybody, even I became a bit unsightly from your performance.” No matter how you looked at her it was obvious she was extremely happy finding out about Ariel’s capabilities and couldn’t hold her excitement, but who could blame her, even the other two who had much less passionate personalities couldn’t hide their emotions from appearing on their faces.

The usual casual and laid back Brendon didn’t have any of his laziness on his handsome face, as his lips were curved upwards and happiness was basically oozing from him as he tried stopping himself from shaking. His lively eyes gazed at Ariel while he added on to Sarah’s words. “You really gave us a surprise today, I always though that god made a mistake by not giving you talent, but it seems like god isn’t a fool after all.” At the end of his words he gave out a hearty laugh of satisfaction, almost as if to prove his point.

On the side, Erna still remained graceful like always, but her trembling body betrayed her emotions as she started prising him. ”Never would I have though you would hide you strength for so long and reach such a level without any ones help. I have a new found appreciation for you.” Her were extremely soft and full of amazement, but she soon noticed the slight tired look on Ariel’s face and spoke with some concern.

“However you should sit down before we start asking more questions, even if it looked easy you must have spent some of your endurance from the way you look.” From her gentle tone as she spoke and her eyes, Ariel felt that, unknowingly her affection when speaking to him increased by quite a bit, but didn’t pay mind.

Listening to her words Ariel sat down at his spot from before for some rest waiting for them to start questioning. The three people around him also sat down and started asking. The first one was Brendon as raised his voice. “Since when did you start learning magic and how exactly powerful are you? From what it looked to me your strength is way above me since I couldn’t tell a tall.” At Brendon’s words Ariel kept his peaceful expression as he responded. “I started learning when I was five and I reached the low level of Elite rank right before coming here.”

Even though his words were somewhat expected and simple, but they still made the three suck in their breaths. Difference between ranks is huge and to have reached Elite rank so young is a testament to Ariel’s monstrous talent. They wanted to as him when did he brake through into the Acolyte rank however they refrained themselves to keep some of their dignity intact.

Soon after, Erna spoke with interest visible in her voice. “Why did you hide it for so long? Wouldn’t it have been better to reveal it earlier for benefits?” It seemed she was quite curious about this so he decided to tell her. “My talent might be great, but without strength I’m nothing, if I did reveal my talent many powerful groups would either try to rope me in by many means possible, or take me out. Either of them is obviously not acceptable.” At his words the two girls showed an expression of understanding and only Brendon’s expression, who has already guessed it, didn’t change.

Their talk continued for a while, all the way until the end of the competition as he slowly answered their questions and gradually dispelled their astonishment.

Several hours passed and the announcer finally declared the end of the last duel. At that time the four young people stopped talking and looked up at the teachers who will be doing their job next.

Since the competition came to a close that means the prizes should soon be rewarded. Sarah’s small beautiful face revealed a trace of interest as she spoke. “The rewards should be quite something I wonder what you’ll get, Ariel. Your performance was definitely the best in many, many years.”

It was obvious Sarah had complete faith in him, but it was an undisputed fact that he was a variant so it was expected that he will get the best prize when no one even came close to the shock he has given.

From the side Erna nodded her head and added onto Sarah’s words. “It should be Ariel in first, but most likely all of us will get something since there are ten places in all so we should get going. All of the competitors will be called to the arena for the rewards and I don’t want to get caught in a crowd.”

The rest agreed to her words, got up and went towards the stadium in a quick pace. They walked past many people who were also rushing to get there as fast as possible, stumbling on each other. Fortunately tough, they all gave way for them because of their magnificent performance in the competition, giving a respectful distance and admiring them from the side. Everyone had already guessed that these four will definitely get something magnificent

Like this the four arrived at the arena without any trouble and took their places at the corner, to wait for the higher ups to finally speak. Some time passed and at last one of the leading teachers spoke using his Mana to make his voice lauder. “We are happy to see so many promising youths join our Academy this year and hope you will all improve as time passes. Through the many activities of The Academy we will make sure that by the time you leave here, you will all be Master ranked mages and warriors that will make us proud” The persons face was covered by a robe so you couldn’t see his face. But his old voice emanated power and wisdom as she spoke encouraging words.

After a slight pause of thinking, he continued. “As the regulations state, now we will give the ten most promising students a priceless reward from out very own Academy treasury. First one to come up will be the new found variant mage, Ariel Whitestone.” Declaring the start of the distribution he called out the first winner which, just as expected, was Ariel and didn’t make any of the students surprised.

With the urging of his friends Ariel started slowly climbing up towards the elevated platform to receive his unique prize. The onlookers who didn’t manage to get a good look at him before were awed by his composure and indifference as he reached the top and stood in front of the teachers.

Even the old mages themselves were surprised since most of the youth’s would always feel pressured by just being in their presence, including even the most arrogant ones who thought they were perfect. Ariel however didn’t seem to feel anything, making the teachers evaluation of him rise further with each passing moment.

The old mage who talked before smiled under his hood as he spoke. “We are very delighted that a person with such talent like you came to our school and decide to study in it and we hope you won’t be disappointed. The reward we picked just for you is this “Ice pearl”.” Ending his words the mage took out a small blue ball which was intently freezing the air around it making it look slightly bigger than it actually was.

Ariel at the moment could feel a great deal of ice Mana similar to his, raging inside the pearl. As excitement flashed in his cold eyes he trough that it is just what he need to break through his next bottleneck.

The mage didn’t see the slight change in his expression and continued speaking. “This thing can increase your cultivation by a great amount and even help you breakthrough quicker since this is a a natural treasure. It would be considered priceless for this effect, but it can unfortunately only be used by ice mages which are extremely rare. Luckily you came to our Academy and we are more than pleased to give it to you. Please take car and we hope to see your further improvement in the future” Taking the pearl Ariel gave a grateful bow to the senior mage and returned to his friends.

The distribution continued and all ten people were each given their prizes, including all of Ariel’s friends. Brendon received alight blue magic cloak with many delicate patterns on it, which gave an astonishing magic defence strong enough to withstand the attack of even a Master rank mage, what’s more it gave an amplifying effect towards water support spells cast on oneself.

Erna on the other hand was rewarded a sliver rapier that had a sword hilt in a shape of an eagle making it look outstanding and deadly unlike Brendon’s cloak that was more of a majestic object. However the sword’s uniqueness lied in it having wind and light enchantments that complimented the spells when using it to cast coupled with an extremely sharp edge which could easily slice high rank monsters.

When it was finally Sarah’s turn she got a unique acidic affinity spell that The Academy had hidden somewhere, making her extremely happy since spells was something she lacked because of her circumstances, especially ones like she got “Acid rain” which were AOE spells. This could also be called the most useful long term reward since its power would grow with the user and it can also be used by her to create more, different spells in the future.

Everyone was truly satisfied with their rewards and each of them felt content for putting some effort in their fights. The young boy and girl, who fought against Erna and Sarah, seemed to have also got in to the top ten thanks to their display of prowess, but apart from them he didn’t see anyone he remembered. Vern also seemed to have not gained anything since although his level of power was quite impressive, but his mentality was too pathetic.

However, after the whole thing was over all of the winners scattered to celebrate. In the meant time, while feeling relaxed Erna mentioned her recommendation with stunning smile on her cheerful face. “Let’s also go celebrate a little, all of us got something awesome so I think it is something worth having a feast for.” Everyone agreed to this though and happily went to enjoy some delicious food while spending the night talking amongst each other. With this, the long day of the competition finally came to a close, leaving only the lonely stadium in silence.

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If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/ I will always have an extra chapter there