Spear and sword clashed atop the sand with spells being released with every blow.

“Wind Blade!”

“Iron Spear!”

While the two students were fighting, Oliver casually walked over to his friends.

“You shouldn’t expect much,” he said dismissively. “These are just the normal exams.”

In fact, the actual tournament would start after these duels. The Academy’s students needed to be examined for their skills, but not all of them wanted to fight for the title.

As a way around this problem, an option was introduced of having a single battle, one on one, based on which they would be graded. Needless to say, the students who chose it were usually those who didn’t think they had a chance in the actual competition.

After being pushed back for a while, the spear wielding fighter pulled out a red pill and ate it. His mana suddenly turned black. His skin started emitting smoke, and he began to lose his reason.

“Is this some sort of a joke?” asked Ethan. Never in his thousands of years had he seen a magic tournament, or an exam for that matter, where the examinees were covered in weapons, armors, pills, and scrolls. “How is this supposed to be a test of strength when they’re doped out of their minds and relying on gear?”

“Coins are strength too.” said Arthur from the side. “Do not forget what I told you Ethan. This tournament is nothing more than another way for the nobles to flaunt their power. And, they will use any tools in their arsenal to do so.”

Basically, the nobles allowed all weapons, scrolls, and pills, since they had a monopoly on them. As such, the tournament was less a test of individual strength and more a reflection of the family’s prowess.

“Does this mean we’re friends again?” Ana asked cheekily from the side.

In return, Arthur scoffed and looked away. “After I beat you, sure.” he answered a moment later.

His mother and grandfather noticed this little exchange and gazed at the girl curiously. She was in good enough relations with the boys to join the family in their area, and while Arthur didn’t admit it outright, it did seem like he acknowledged her.

“Interesting…” muttered Samuel, the Hunt family’s former head. “Little girl, have you prepared accordingly? It will take more than just strength to win this competition.”

“Of course.” said Ana with big innocent eyes. “I got this.”

The old man lifted an eyebrow, shrugged, and turned back towards the fight. In truth, Ana’s bracelet was filled to the brim with mana cores of at least rank two. However, among the numerous lessons her excursions in the forest had taught her, one of the most important was the element of surprise.

“Do you want my ring?” whispered Ethan.

“No need... at least for now.”

After the sword wielding mage got pummeled into the sand, tens of fights followed one after the other. On several occasions, the teachers had to intervene, and in one instance, they were too late. By midday, much of the arena was dyed red, and it was finally time for the tournament.

“Congratulations to all the brave warriors who've passed their exams!” announced the host. “To the rest, better luck next time.” Basically, regardless of how well you did, if you lost a fight in the normal exam, you were done. The teachers simply did not care about skill or fairness.

“Now finally, let us move on to the main event. Please applaud our first contestants: Ethan Masalis vs. Kai Spencer!”

The entire coliseum rumbled and cheered. After watching what they considered to be boring fights all morning, the competition was finally beginning. It started with the peasants' duels as always, but no one would dare enter the youth tournament without some sort of trump card up their sleeves.

Below one of the snakes above the crowd, all eyes were on a certain someone.

“You’re going?” asked Oliver upon seeing the boy’s grin. Slight worry began washing over him.

“Hey Ana, isn’t Kai one of the guys who kicked you?”

“Yep.” The girl answered honestly. “Though, I wonder why we haven’t seen him in the forest.”

He didn’t look like one of the big families, so maybe he was a smaller noble like Autumn Hayes?

“May I have him?” Upon hearing this question, a slight twitch was seen in Arthur and his brother’s eyebrows. They knew full well how one fight could lead to another.

“Sure.” answered Ana as if distracted. “Just, leave Charles to me.”

With an evil smile, Ethan stepped forward. Behind his back, the younger Hunts were cursing under their breaths while the older generation looked on curiously.

“Let’s have some fun!” he yelled at the top of his lungs before jumping like a rocket from his spot. A few seconds later, Ethan landed on the sand just a couple of feet away from the host. The crowd went silent and even Kai, who was making his way towards the center, stopped in his tracks.

Feeling the tension in the air, the host quickly flew up and prepared to ring the gong.

“Are you ready!?” he asked more to the crowd than to the contestants themselves.

In response, a murderous black aura poured out of Ethan. It was so thick, that even his rank one opponent could tell something was horribly wrong.

“Fight!”

With this, the first duel of the tournament had finally begun.