Chapter: Hot Spring

The Test had finally ended, a lot of people had failed this task, but that was to be expected as it wasn't an easy task, but for those that did pass they were all exhausted. Most of the students that passed either fell asleep straight away when we got back to the hotel, or they went to eat as I'm sure they would be super hungry after three hours of destroying combat robots, and others decided a bath was the best way to relax.

The top three students who scored the highest were.

1.Claire: 25,000

2.Eldrin: 24,800

3.Yurei:23,100.

Mira decided that once everyone is rested we should all come for a celebration party, to celebrate all of the RisingSun members passing the test, everyone agreed to meet at seven.

Hanako was back to her sweet and kind personality, but she was avoiding me. Every time I tried approaching her she would walk away from me, and when I looked at her, she would look the other way. Mira told me to just give her some space, and try approaching later on when everyone is relaxed, with no other choice I agreed.

I made my way back to my dorm, and only Tatsuo was there, sharpening Shunsetsu, which was the name of his top Katana. It also looked like he had something cooking on the stove, and I could tell it was something good due to the tasty aroma.

"Mannnn I'm so drained from that test!" I complained as I jumped onto the couch face first

"I don't blame you, red lightning is a strong type of lightning, and using it in a spell does take its toll on the user. I'm surprised you didn't faint after casting a spell as strong as yours" Tatsuo replied before sheathing his katana

"Yeh, I guess...what are you cooking by the way?

"Its herbal soup, it'll help with recovering energy quicker"

"Oh great, can I have some?"

"Ahh I feel like I'm feeding both you and that elf...but sure help yourself to it" Tatsuo sighed, Tatsuo walked into the kitchen and filled a bowl with the herbal soup. "May I ask where you learn to use red lightning?" Tatsuo asked walking back with the bowl of soup and taking a seat on the opposite chair from me

I got out of the couch and stretched my back before saying "I learned it from a friend when I was younger" I walked into the kitchen to go help myself to the soup

"is that so, well your friend must be one powerful being" Tatsuo replied

"Yeah he really is," I said before taking a seat on the couch I was previously laying in. "He taught me a lot of stuff," I added, before taking a sip of the soup. "Oh man, your cooking is so good!".

"Hmm, that's interesting," Tatsuo said before standing up and drawing his katana(Shunsetsu). "I see you as a worthy opponent". Tatsuo pointed his katana straight at me with the tip of the blade only a few inches away from my face. "So you better not get expelled before the StarLight Festival".

"Starlight Festival?" I asked before taking a big sip of the soup. "and no need to tell me, I wasn't planning on getting expelled anyways"

"Right your new to this academy, the Starlight Festival is a grand festival where people from all over Elenora participate, and during the festival, there is a giant tournament held, hosted by our academy" Tatsuo explained before sheathing his katana

"Woh that sounds insane!" I said genuinely excited. "You can bet your ass I won't be expelled, I'll graduate as a top mage" I claimed as I sprung up from my seat.

"I hope you stand by that" Tatsuo replied "But for now, I'm heading off to the hotel hot springs," Tatsuo said before walking out of the room

This hotel has a hot spring? Wow, when I'm done with this soup I should go take a bath in one, my body is super stiff right now" I quickly finished up with the soup and I could soon feel my strength and energy coming back slowly

Tatsuo sure is one amazing cook and I can tell he is an even better mage and swordsman, I shouldn't let my guard down around him. I cleaned up my eating area before making my way out looking for the hot spring.

I asked around for the location of the hot spring and soon found it, but unfortunately, there was a long line for the male's area, and according to Aunty Edna it's not normal for boys and girls to see each other naked, I've learned that first hand from seeing Hanako naked.

If I was to wait in this line I'd be here for hours, guess I'll just go take a normal boring bath. I make my way back to my room disappointed.

"Oh hey Ken why do you look so disappointed," Eldrin asked carrying a small bag

"Oh hey, Eldrin," I said before falling onto the couch face first. "Well I was really hyped to use the hot springs but the line was too long" I continued to say as I turned around on the couch facing the ceiling. "And I don't have the patients to wait in the line" I sighed

"Yeah there is no way in hell I'm waiting in a line like an idiot," Eldrin said as he opened a window leading outside. "I wasn't going to tell anyone but I guess I'll tell you" Eldrin jumped out the window. "follow me," Eldrin said before running off

"Hey wait up!" I called out as I jumped out the window which was four stories high. "Where are we going!?" I shouted as I ran after him

I ran after Eldrin, through the forest not knowing where he was leading me, but the deeper we got into the forest I could feel a fresh warm breeze and by the smell, I was able to put the pieces together, and figure out that he was leading me to a natural hot spring.

It didn't take long before we finally reached the hot spring which was surrounded by thick bushes and long trees hiding it from plain sight. We jumped onto one of the high trees surrounding the hot spring to get a better view, and I'm glad to say the view was not a letdown, I was amazed the hot spring here was way more amazing and bigger than the one on Zen Island.

"Woh this is an awesome spot," I said amazed before jumping down onto a large stone that was surrounding the hot spring

"Yupp and I'm the only one that knows about it, so we can take our time and enjoy" Eldrin chuckled before jumping down from the tree

"Can you two please keep it down?" Tatsuo said before raising his head off of a rock within the hot spring. "And elf boy your not the only one that knows about this place seeing as I was here before you," Tatsuo said in a relaxed voice

"Oh horn boy I see you also know about this place?" Eldrin said, undressing. "No wonder I felt something weird when I was coming here" Eldrin smirked before walking into the spring

"I think it's great that all three of us are here," I said, undressing. "we need to get to know each other a little more" I added on before walking into the spring

"Not to be rude but I'll pass" Tatsuo sighed

Before I could start trying to convince Tatsuo to change his mind about not wanting to get to know each other a little more, a loud voice shouting "CANNONBALL!!" Came from the sky

Tatsuo, Eldrin, and I looked up towards the sky as soon as we heard the shouting. There was a human silhouette curled up into a ball falling from the sky like a meteor.

The three of us quickly took cover clearing out of the spring. The silhouette finally fell straight into the hot spring causing a huge water explosion upon impact.

"The hell was that!?" Eldrin shouted looking at the silhouette within the water explosion

"Looks like this place isn't as secret as you thought!?" Tatsuo said keeping his guard up

"That voice sounded familiar!" I added on looking at the silhouette

"That was an A+ cannonball!!" The silhouette shouted. The water and hot steam cleared out revealing the silhouette to be none other than Falera standing on a rock. "This hot spring still looks the same as it did back when I was a student!!" Falera Shouted while flexing his bulging biceps that looked and probably were bigger than Me

"Falera? what are you doing here?" I asked amazed by his incredible physics

"I should ask you three, what are you three doing in my hot spring!!?" Falera asked as he took another pose flexing his muscles

" own this hot spring?" Eldrin asked

"Yes, young elf, I am the one that created this hot spring back when I was still a student!!" Falera shouted before striking another pose

"Is it even normal to have muscles as big as that?" Tatsuo asked a little weirded out

"Of course it is, as a master earth mage I need to make sure my body is naturally as strong as a rock!!" Falera shouted before sitting down with his legs crossed on the rock he was standing on

"Wow! That's so amazing!" I said still amazed by his bulging muscles. "Never thought it would be possible, but your muscles are way! bigger than my grandpas!" I said more amazed. My grandpa is in his 70s now and his body would put world champion bodybuilders to shame, but Falera makes grandpa look like a chump in comparison.

"Right your Ken Granfold the kid that broke the barrier that was put up around the mock town!!" Falera laughed out loud. "I gotta say that's really impressive!!"

"well thank you, but it uses up a lot of mana at once" I replied with a cheeky smile

"Yes but impressive nonetheless, in fact after seeing the three of you in the recent test I can tell the three of you are really talented...but if you want to graduate as a great wizard you're going to have to get stronger!!" Falera shouted clenching his knees with his hands

"How strong are you talking?" Eldrin asked

"Hmm let me see....how about I show you instead!!" Falera shouted

Falera took in a deep breath then exhaled, relaxing his entire body. Falera looked at the three of us then released an intense wave of his mana, his mana release was so strong that the spring water started to ripple and the very ground started to shake. Falera's mana release was so intense that the air started to get heavier as if gravity was trying to crush us.

Birds started to fall out of the sky unconscious, due to them not being able to handle the pressure of Falera's mana release. I see what he's trying to do, his trying to see if we can withstand his mana release. Tatsuo, Eldrin, and I stood strong not letting ourselves loose to his intimidation.

"This sure is intense but I won't fall!" I said holding my ground

I store directly at Falera and released my mana, making it collide with Falera's mana release causing the earth to shake even more. My mana release started to put pressure on Falera but it wasn't enough to beat him. So I released more of my mana to compete with him.

"The pressure of your mana is awesome but I won't lose either!" Eldrin shouted

Eldrin began to release his mana, making it clash against Falera's mana. With both Eldrin and my Mana clashing with Falera's mana, we were able to slowly push back Falera's mana and take control of the situation.

Falera smirked then released even more mana to pressure us. The rocks within the hot spring started to break and the air got even heavier, but Eldrin and I were able to withstand it due to us having released our mana.

"Let's see if you can handle all three of us!" Tatsuo said taking a step forward

Tatsuo finally released his mana, clashing it with Falera's Mana. With the added mana pressure of Tatsuo, we were able to completely overtake Falera and take control of the situation. All the Mana being released was so intense that the ground around us started to crack open, and nearby trees started to fall. The mana release was now so strong that anyone with a weaker mana release would be crushed by the weight of the air alone.

"Well done you three, you have done well being able to withstand and overtake this much of my Mana release" Falera praised the three of us without shouting for once, which was surprising.

"But now I'll show you what true magic feels like" Falera added on before standing up straight towering over us with his massive build.

Falera clenched both his fist and released an insanely large amount of his mana. Falera's mana pressure was now so devastating that the entire forest was shaking vigorously, the ground was splitting open like a huge earthquake was passing through, the air was now so intense that it was suffocating as well as heavy enough to crush large rocks and create craters in the ground. Tatsuo, Eldrin, and I were completely shocked at the terrifying amount of pressure Falera's mana was hitting us with.

Apart from my grandpa, I've never felt such an awesome Mana release before! My whole body started trembling with both fear and excitement, at this point my body had given up the only reason I'm still standing is because of my willpower not to lose. I slowly turned my head looking at both Tatsuo and Eldrin, who were also trembling but with the expression on their faces, I can tell they were just as excited as I was.

Falera's mana increased more to the point where the three of us were being forced down to our knees due to the sheer pressure of his aura. The ground underneath us started to break slowly, digging us into a crater. My body felt completely frozen with sweat running down my body, but I didn't let out for a second. I held my ground and so did Tatsuo and Eldrin.

"Alright, that's enough!!" Falera shouted before his manna faded away. "Man I gotta say...you three sure are strong, being able to stay conscious after being hit with that much pressure!!" Falera chuckled. "Most mages would have fallen unconscious long ago!!".

"What the hell just happened!?" Eldrin asked trying to comprehend the raw pressure of Falera's mana

"The three of us stood no chance at all," Tatsuo said completely devastated with sweat running down his face

"Why does it feel like he was holding back," I said panting heavily

"Cheer up, you three have incredible potential!!" Falera shouted before walking up to the three of us. "Keep practising and the three of you will grow into awesome mages!!" Falera shouted trying to keep our spirits up

From the distance, footsteps could be heard marching towards us, by the sound of it the person was not happy. "Faleraaaaa!!!" Ian shouted with anger, running through the forest toward us. "You big idiot, what do you think you're doing releasing that much mana in a place like this!!!".

"Well looks like I better be off, if Ian catches me I'm dead meat!!" Falera shouted, "Don't let what happened earlier stop you, let it be a driving force for you to overcome and become stronger as well as better yourself!!" Falera shouted before running off in a hurry

"Falera, if the grandmaster hears about what you did to Zeless, we're all dead! So come back and fix everything!!!" Ian shouted running after Falera

Eldrin, Tatsuo, and I sat there in silence still trying to overcome what we just went through. I finally see why grandpa and the others wanted me to attend this magic academy, I can grow so much here.

"That was awesome!!!" I shouted with excitement finally breaking the silence

"Yeah I agree, but next I won't lose!!!" Eldrin shouted agreeing with me

"Next time the outcome will be different for sure!!" Tatsuo added on

The three of us quickly got our spirit back and spent two hours in the hot spring relaxing and getting to know each other a little more.

Next Time: Start of the Final Task