Using wind magic sonic wave to magnify his voice, a professor gave his warm greetings to everyone, starting the ceremony. After a brief introduction, the headmaster took the spotlight and started to give her welcoming speech.

“Today is an auspicious day everyone as I welcome these new bloods joining the ranks of our valiant knights, magicians and warriors! There has never been a New Blood Ceremony as grand as this one. Indeed, we can see that this generation is one of the best that we ever had. The rise and fall of an empire lie within the talents that it’ll be able to develop and nourish. But most of all, this rise and fall depends on not just talent, but dedication and hard work of this fledglings. Complacency will achieve nothing, but a goal with real intent to move forward will bring prosperity and wealth. Just like strength with real purpose, to shoulder the protection of those who are weak. To bear the responsibility and become the rays of hope in dark and desolate times. May we witness another glorious and triumphant era of our empire from you, noble seedlings! Again, welcome and may the goddess of fate be ever in your favor.”

After the speech, a thunderous round of applause rang everywhere. Claud, who’s used living in a quiet and tiny village is a little bit irate with the commotion. He wants peace! And he was like that because he’s been dozing off. He just realized it when he was suddenly awoken by the noise coming everywhere. Poor kid. Rising up early then falling asleep in the middle of the ceremony. But he was not alone! He noticed someone with a sour expression as well. This… She seems a little bit irate as well. Looking at Ceska, he’s quite amazed and confused at the same time. This girl seems not that good being around with many people! Maybe because of her high status and upbringing, it turned out that she is not used to this kind of gatherings or any sort of occasions.

Many thought that it’s over and stood up but to their surprised, the same professor spoke about having a friendly duel and each class needs to select one from their ranks and compete to establish the start of this year term. The heck! And here I thought having a nice nap in the classroom since this was the first day. I need to stay here for longer and watch.

After this announcement, everyone looks at each other and like having talked mentally, they stared at princess in unison. No one seems to notice Claud sitting a few seats from this royal. This is good! This magic is really useful! Well the reason why no one was able to feel his presence is because he is using blur, a dark attribute magic for concealment. Though it can’t hide your appearance it can help you escape notice in crowded places. The princess, able to get what they mean, slowly stood up and made her way to the field. Not only her, but each selected contestant, one from the other two departments, moved forward, stood next to each other, waiting for the next command.

Hearing the following words, they were surprised! Never thought it’d be like this! Thank goodness, no one made fun of me. Thinking that he’d been lucky, if anyone from this group have witnessed Claud’s performance during those past exams, he’ll surely be put in a tight spot. Crushing opponent with one move, having a peculiar reaction with the ­affinity stone and making the magic tablet explode, anyone who witnessed it will be curious. And that might lead to lots of chain reaction!

Silence. Everyone paid their attention to the professor as he gives the details for the competition.

“The rules are simple. Each of you will face a junior from the previous year! You only need to beat your opponent into submission but irrecoverable injury is prohibited so even though anyone does not admit defeat, if the referee deems it, then the match will be over, understood?”

“Yes!” Everyone replied in unison.

The whole crowd exploded!

“It’s the New Blood Ceremony’s main event!”

“Now, that’s the highlight!”

“Who do you think will win?”

“It’s the juniors of course! Did you see that? It’s no doubt coz’ they already got better equipment and they got advantage with their one-year gap in learning.”

“Yes, and what’s worse are the knight mage juniors! There’s no rule prohibiting the use of soul rings so it’ll be difficult for apprentices to win no matter what.”

It’s more like a Pride-Crushing Ceremony than New Blood Ceremony. Sighing, this bits of information from the crowd made Claud realize the subtle reason behind this competition. These new apprentices, despite of just joining in, because of being considered a genius, a noble background or talent, they are too prideful and sees their selves on a higher level than everyone.

The first match was of course between the martial department. Compared to the hopeful yet pitiful look of the apprentice, the junior facing him is full of arrogance. What a sight indeed! I hope there’s a healer nearby. Everyone’s focus was on the two contenders facing each other. This apprentice has a large build, almost seven feet in height with a huge battle axe strung behind his back, is a sight to behold! His bare torso rippled with bulging tanned muscles with gladiator skirt and sandals, coupled with his fierce and terrifying appearance looks terrifying and barbaric. While on the other hand, the junior is a foot lesser in height but has this elegant and cultured to him. His scholarly and pale-sick face in contrast with his shiny silver plate armor looks dazzling. But the most eye-catching part is his two-handed great sword. That crimson color with fiery pattern and inscriptions is not a laughing matter!

It’s a fire-enchanted weapon! Artifacts are really expensive so we can infer that this guy is not of humble birth. Having the money to buy and wield it requires someone with stable financial backing, good talent and teacher as well as magic potions for body strengthening. With his sickly appearance and lean build, without rigorous training, how long will he climb up with these methods alone?

“Rhus Thamud versus Wilfrid Rosenburg. Are you both ready?” Said the referee.

“Grrrrr.” Rhus Thamud.

“Come!” Wilfrid Rosenburg.

“Fight!” Burst of cheers sounded everywhere.

Like a raging bull, Rhus gripped his axe with his right hand, made an explosive charge and directly rushed at his opponent, kicking dust in his wake. Seeing this display of savageness, Wilfrid shook his head and readied his sword, waiting for the right moment. Just as Rhus was swinging his axe downward, Wilfrid seems to have anticipated this move and made a quick side step to the right and gave a powerful thrusting kick to his opponent’s left side making him tumble and roll over for a few meters. This will be a one-sided slaughter. This big fellow boasted great strength that his opponent is not worth mentioning but when it comes to movement and skill, he’s far below by a huge margin. Claud’s analysis was spot on. With just a glance, he was able to determine the gap in skills, as well as the pros and cons of the two.

It’s just the first clash. Rhus immediately got back to his feet and seems not hurt by the kick.

“Oh, your tough huh? Not bad!” Wilfrid smirk and made a come-at-me finger gesture.

And the fight goes on. Every clash is like the first one, with Rhus eating a loss. But with every blow he takes, he seems to become fiercer. Little did he know that barbarians like Rhus has an innate bloodline skill, battle rage. Battle rage is a unique skill that stacks up damage taken and converts it to power. Though it’s a great advantage to a fight, the stress and damage that was dealt will not be diminished in the slightest so it’s like a dual-edged sword.

Time went by and the winner has not been decided yet. The crowd is getting impatient. They started yelling and cursing at the two combatants. Well, what can we say? With their skill gap, this should have been over already. But it’s been a while and the two were still fighting endlessly.

It is not just the crowd. Wilfrid is getting impatient as well. He should have already finished the battle but it seems that it’s not the case and might be the other way around. So he decided to land a finishing blow to end the show. Gripping his sword tightly, he started channeling his mana to it. The inscription started blinking and the sword was set ablaze! He swung the sword down, hitting the ground, sending off an explosive slash. Rhus used planted his giant axe at the ground and used it as a shield in a hurry but too bad. Despite his big physique, he was blown off and was sent flying to the other side. He loses consciousness letting Wilfred win the match.

“Halt! Rhus Thamud is down and cold. The winner is Wilfrid Rosenburg.”

Another silence. The crowd got what they want but after seeing that final blow, many thought that it was a bit excessive. Claud had known it will happen after seeing Wilfrid’s weapon before the start so for him, it was surprising. On the other hand, the sorcerer apprentice almost pisses his pants and Ceska just knitted her brows. She seems to know Wilfrid.