The teenager walked up to Astra and asked, “That was a fun fight. What’s your name?”

Astra had not forgotten how the teenager interrupted him while he was trying to say thanks. But then again, they were in the middle of a battle.

“Astra.”

“Astra, huh? Never heard of you before. I’m called Watson. I’ll come back for you after I win on the loser’s side.” Watson grinned.

Astra watched as Watson strolled off to the loser’s side, not minding the fact that he had just lost. Astra walked to the winner’s side and waited for the battles to end.

As the final battle ended, the instructor spoke, “Arena sixty-two finished! All battles complete! The tournament is now over!”

“Everyone on the winner’s side has passed. The ones that have lost twice, please leave. If you are discontent with the result despite losing twice, please come to the reevaluation exam on a later date.”

The instructor heaved a long sigh. The principal had given directions for the instructors to host only two battles. So many young talents were disqualified just because the principal didn’t want a day-long battle tournament.

There was a bit of protest from the teachers, so the principal told them to host a reevaluation exam at a later point by themselves.

Astra was relieved. He had passed the enrollment test. The first fight was a breeze and was a complete opposite to what he faced in his second fight. If there were another fight, Astra would probably lose since he had just run out of mana.

“Everyone that has passed, please follow me onto the golden platform.” The instructor walked on to a stage that had a shiny, gold floor. There were tons of lines and words marked up on the stage and were dazzling bright.

“This is a teleportation formation and will lead us to the next stage of the exam.”

Everyone converged onto the stage.

“Psst!” Someone whispered from behind.

Astra turned around. It was Watson.

“It was a shame that the tournament ended so early. I was about to win all the matches on the loser’s side then come back to face you.” Watson said with a cheeky grin.

Astra was about to say something when a bright light appeared beneath him. Space distorted around him and he was reminded of when he passed through the castle door of Ascelyn Academy.

Astra took a look around him. There were around two hundred pillars of light appearing beside him. Astra looked in front of him; there was a huge stone pillar surrounded by hundreds of crystal balls.

The instructor spoke, “Everyone here has passed. We will now test your mana. Place your hand on top of a crystal ball and inject as much mana as you can. Your names will appear on the pillar. The top fifty ranks will receive merit points. Each rank above rank ten will earn much more.”

“We will give you several minutes to recover your mana pool from your battles.”

“Merit points?” Astra mumbled.

Watson was right next to Astra, “They’re the currency for Ascelyn Academy. To prevent wealthy nobles from dominating the commoners, they’ve implemented merit points that can only be earned through quests, discoveries, selling potions, and more.”

Astra nodded.

Everyone got off the stage and went in front of a crystal ball.

Watson continued, “You can use these points to buy spells, books, potions, weapons, receive tutoring, and so on. Anything you would do with money, you would do with merit points.”

Astra was delighted with this currency system. He would have a chance to acquire new spells and armor even though he had no money.

Astra put his hand on top of a ball. Watson chose the ball right next to his.

“Begin whenever you feel like it, I will give a warning when there is one minute left,” said the instructor.

Everyone started injecting their mana onto the board.

“Ahahah! I knew I was the best!” Someone exclaimed.

The person in first place was named Dewey Bean.

“No! What’s happening?”

Dewey’s name was no longer in first and was skyrocketing downwards to the hundredth place.

The list of names kept on changing. Everybody’s names were scattering and switching spots. Anxiety could be seen all around. Grunts and screams could be heard as people injected all the mana that they had.

Astra kept his mind calm and at peace. He looked over at Watson. Watson seemed to be glancing all around, surveying the people around him.

Astra closed his eyes and focused on meditating.

The rankings started to stagnate and stabilized after several minutes.

“Here’s my chance!” Astra heard Watson whisper.

“HA!” Watson yelled.

The space around Watson seemed to tremble as he infused an enormous amount of mana all at once into the ball.

“Whoa! Who’s that? He’s going up the ranks like crazy!”

“Watson Whitley? If I recall correctly, he comes from one of the middle noble families!”

The crowd watched in shock as Watson’s name soared through a hundred ranks and placed at seventh place.

Watson looked around and was pleased with the reactions that he had gotten. He looked next to him and noticed that Astra wasn’t injecting any mana at all.

“Psst! Astra! What are you doing?” Watson whispered towards Astra.

“One more minute!” The instructor bellowed.

Astra opened his eyes.