I later found out that my match ended right after I became unconscious, and that Breezer lost to a tag user in the next round he was in. After checking out of the infirmary, I headed down to the gymnasium to check what class I had been placed in before I went to the arena.

"Class 10E, the lowest spot available. Pathetic, not even being able to use my own affinity...". Barely catching the elevator for the next arena, I made a mental note to head to the infirmary and ask the head nurse about my affinity. It was the normal color for a fire affinity, but it had a strange red hue to it. I shouldn't get excited, I'll just get let down again...

The match in front of me was coming to a close. The wind using quickly blowing away any water sent towards him and propelling his punches with wind made it for a quick match against the inferior water user. The next match, however, strangely excited me. It was the last one, Ruck, who was given a B rank, versus a C rank Earth user. The girl he was up against seemed petite, not very fitting for an Earth user. Wouldn't that normally be some big bulky guy? Well, that only fits for fairy tales I guess. Lightning versus Earth should be over quickly, but she got up to this point somehow.

"Let the match begin!" shouted the announcer. Ruck stood still, not even fazed by the spikes of earth headed his way. Lightning quickly tore through them, trailing back towards the small girl. Suddenly, she threw up 3 large pillars of rock, barely keeping the lightning from hitting her. Out of surprise, Ruck parted his lips. Normally, lightning should tear through the earth, but this time it didn't. It must be the ground we're on. Earth controllers use the environment around them, thus they could be strong or weak depending on where they are. The ground here isn't normal, since it's specially made to withstand attacks and not get too damaged. Some might call that a cheat, which I partly agree with, but it's just using their environment to their advantage.

A loud thud snapped me out of my thoughts, causing dust and to fly into the crowd and block our view. As the dust subsided, I saw the girl smacked up against the wall, cushioned by the Earth she summoned around her. Bleeding heavily from her head, anyone would expect her to forfeit the match. However, she sent another wave of rocks as she surfed on top of them using what looked to be like a large plate of stone.

Ruck evaded the rocks sent towards him, and threw a lightning bolt towards her. Noticing this, she opened a hole in the ground and covered it, negating the blow entirely. Creating a pillar right before Ruck to distract him, she popped up from the ground right behind him, smashing his right side with a large rod made of stone.

Losing his balance, Ruck continued to receive blows, until his entire body was encased in electricity. Pivoting on his back leg and raising his left, he kicked right through the stone rod and made contact with her head, causing her to go flying to the side of the arena while continuously getting shocked.

I glanced over at Ruck, wondering what he was going to do next, when I saw a smirk appear on his face. Suddenly, he dashed towards where she was, ready to do a flying sidekick.

"And that concludes this match! The winner is Ruck!" the announcer yelled, before Ruck could get a finishing blow. The audience was quiet, not sure how to react. My mind was riddled with both curiosity and resentment towards the girl. She was able to put up such a good fight against someone as gifted as Ruck, but in the end, pure strength won over.

Heading to the infirmary, I was reciting the material I needed to remember for tomorrow's quiz. What are qualities and where did they come from? Qualities are special abilities that are rarely obtained at birth. Until recently, qualities only had a few powers linked with them: Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, and Lightning. Ever since the population increased, however, new qualities seemed to pop up that were more diverse and unique. For example, some people can turn invisible, but for how long depends on how compatible you are with it. Someone in the E ranks could only turn invisible for around 10 to 15 seconds, but someone in C rank can turn invisible for a few minutes. If you aren't born with a quality, like myself, you are required to have a tag. A tag is a small bracelet around your left arm which can bring out your affinity, but only a weak version, setting it automatically to E rank. What makes up qualities and what powers tags? The power in the very air around us of course, called Quintessence. This allows us to use our qualities and tags. Strangely enough, no one has ever been able to create or destroy quintessence itself, only manipulate it.

Opening the door to the infirmary, I headed over to the desk of the head nurse. "Hello ma'am, I have a note here from my teacher. Something about my affinity is wrong." I said, handing her the note.

"Hmm, all right. Let me get out my checker." As she was rummaging through her drawers and cabinets, I looked around the room some more. A large painting of the archmage hung above her chair, making the room look larger then it actually is.

"Aha, found it!" said the nurse, with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Place your hand over the orb and I'll take a look at it." Nervously, I placed my hand over the orb, waiting for something to show. "The orb is orange. You have a normal fire affinity".

"Please move out of the way!" someone shouted from behind me. Ah, they're carrying the girl from the tournament into the infirmary. ...She looks really fucked up; completely battered and bruised. Still, she knew damn well what she was getting herself into after she got up from being hit down by Ruck. With the bell signaling the end of the day, it was time to head out.

On my way home, I thought back to my fight. What could I have done differently? He was too fast for me to read and my fire didn't even come out. Is there seriously nothing I can do unless I have a stronger affinity? To my surprise, I felt someone tap on my shoulder. "Friar?".