Kyrion watched as the arena changed shape forming a perfect rectangle. Walls of mana encased all but two areas. Where both he and his opponent would be fighting. A boy with green hair entered the ring. A spear held at his shoulder and an analyzing gaze.

“Ander! Didn’t think I’d be fighting the strongest right off the bat.” Kyrion entered a defensive stance, hands ready to reach into his pockets.

“Wrong. I’m currently number three at the moment. Lots of powerhouses in our year.” Ander smirked as he entered a low stance.

Kyrion eyed the boy curiously. “Well. Let’s get this over with. Going to have to fight the number one after this.”

The announcer spoke. “The first to admit defeat, fall unconscious or get knocked out the arena loses. Ready? Fight!”

Kyrion started the fight by spreading seeds around the arena, which he then buried into the ground.

Ander was at his chest in an instant, moving with the wind, his spear aimed at Kyrion’s chest, a quick thrust.

Kyrion moved into the strike and pushed the boy back with a clumsy open palm.

While clumsy, it had enough force to push the spear wielder back quite a distance. Though not as much as it should have.

Kyrion began to supply mana to the plants in the arena, causing them to grow quickly.

Ander slowed his fall by thrusting his spear into the ground. “You hit hard. Guess your size isn’t just for show.”

The first of the vines had sprouted, and the battlefield slowly started to favor Kyrion.

Ander spun his spear, and lightning began to gather. This charge toward Kyrion was much faster than the one he started the fight with.

Kyrion couldn’t react as he felt a shock to his shoulder, and things started to go numb.

The thrust was followed by the back end slamming into the Kyrion’s head.

Kyrion let himself hit the ground. Pushing himself forward with a burst of wind. Quickly moving across the stadium and getting back to his feet.

Ander spun his spear again. Gathering lightning once more and dashed towards him.

This time Kyrion was prepared, and he surrounded himself with a cylinder of stone. Hiding behind a few inches of earth.

Ander stopped his charge and circled the wall, the lightning fading from his spear.

Kyrion began to summon wind and life mana, gathering it around him and whipping the area outside the cylinder with a torrent.

“That’s cowardly!” Ander jumped back, getting himself out of the attack’s immediate radius.

The wind carried life, mana restoring the plants and fueling their growth. A few trees grew from the ground roots embedded deep into the arena. Soon the wall of earth became obscure as the environment shifted significantly.

“What in the?”

Ander leaped back as a tree grew where he had been standing along with quite a few more all around. It was as though a miniature forest had sprung up out of nowhere.

The spear wielder used the new heights to get a good vantage point.

Kyrion left the cylinder and slowly moved about quietly, looking for a way to surprise his opponent. It was then he saw the boy’s open back and readied himself. Then, pressing his feet into the softened ground, He pushed off with enough power to send him careening towards Ander’s exposed back.

Ander noticed and dodged upwards with a high jump. Leaping high into the sky as he readied his spear.

Kyrion pressed his foot onto solid air and pushed off towards the boy.

Ander used a similar technique jumping a second time, avoiding the punch. The green-haired boy passed by Kyrion’s bald and shiny head.

“Hey Kyrion, I’m not the number one here.” Ander said in passing.

Kyrion’s eye widened as he twisted his body and used the momentum to kick off another platform of air, sending his body away from his opponent. Though it became apparent that Kyrion was clearly not as skilled in aerial combat as he thought.

Ander moved higher up in the sky, and, with a sharp turn, he began to plummet downwards. Lightning gathered around the end of his spear as he rapidly approached Kyrion.

“No no no no no!” Kyrion started railing against the wind attempting to use his remaining mana to get out of the way. Which led to him spinning out of control.

Ander was ten feet away and gaining when a tendril of water whipped him across his face while another struck the spear. Lightning passed between the two as they careened into the ground with a boom.

Both warriors were on the ground unmoving for an entire minute. Seeing as the wards didn’t kick anyone out. Both were still alive and had stamina to spare.

Ander got to his feet first. Stumbling a bit as he was heavily beaten and battered, parts of his body singed. Though none of the damage showed on his body. His clothes, however, were unsalvageable.

Kyrion stood second, his clothes in a worse condition as the spearhead managed to hit him quite a few times. He now understood why Everest didn’t waste too much time on clothes for him. Kyrion would fight in anything, whether nice clothes or simple robes.

“Let’s end this.” Ander said as he tossed his spear aside and ran towards his bald opponent.

Kyion engaged, and the two exchanged blows. His lack of martial arts training was made apparent as multiple hits to his body landed. Punches Kyrion threw were exploited. Kicks were dodged, and his charges countered.

Kyrion knew at that moment he couldn’t win but had to try anyway.

He charged at his opponent again. Instead of a straightforward charge, however, Kyrion used his head.

Ander met the charge head-on with a low stance to flip his one-eyed target over.

Kyrion blasted past his opponent at high speeds Missing intentionally as a few vines grew from the ground and wrapped around his opponent’s feet.

Ander’s eyes widened as he found himself unable to turn around. “You cheeky.”

Kyrion turned, pressing his feet on solid air as he boosted himself forward at his opponent’s exposed back. His head connects, shooting the green-haired boy forward quite a bit. As he landed on his stomach, unmoving.

When Ander didn’t rise to his feet, Kyrion realized the fight was over. Though he was pretty sure his opponent let him win as Ander wasn’t out of stamina, and the wards didn’t kick him out of the stadium.

“The winner of this challenge is Kyrion!” The ref stated.

Upon hearing that, Kyrion fell to his back, exhausted.

A stretcher came and retrieved the unconscious Ander. While another healer checked to see if Kyrion was able to continue.

Moments later, he was approached by an older man with Auburn hair and green clothes.

“You will need to evacuate. The arena needs to be a blank slate for each fight and we will not be able to clear it completely in a short amount of time. You seem to have done quite some damage to the foundation as well.” An older man with an auburn beard and tangled hair told him from behind.

Kyrion examined the older gentlemen. “Who are you?”

“I am Professor Willow, I teach botany and research plant augmentation. This mess here is going to be moved if you don’t mind.” He stroked his long majestic beard.

Kyrion looked at him in awe. “So you’re going to keep them alive?”

“Yes. It’s rare for roots this strong to be in plants grown from mana. Especially from someone in the fledgling rank. It takes an absurd amount of mana to be able to grow just one. Be careful many would kill to have a pool as big as yours.”

“Really?” Kyrion's eye widened.

The man nodded grimly before focusing on his task.

“Eh em! Kyrion. You’ll have a bit of a wait for your third fight. Your opponent is a bit preoccupied at the moment. So we’ll have you go ahead and take the written exam while you wait.” The black glasses man said with an evil look in his eyes.

Well, Kyrion couldn’t see the referee’s eyes at the moment, but he just knew that this would be bad for him.

“O kay…” The boy sighed.

“Again I ask, what sort of monsters did Gamodren train?” Asked the man with a goatee.

“The Tiffany girl lost to Brion. Which we expected given her first trial and experiences reported. Still she put up a hell of a fight, had she had more experience then I imagine Brion may have lost.”

“He is quite strong. Though when his rehabilitation is complete I imagine it would be a rather one sided match.”

“You’re assuming that she doesn’t get more combat experience.”

“No the opposite. By then I imagine she’ll surpass him as he has to adjust to being mobile. Growth isn’t set in stone and she is growing fast.”

“I see. Ceres is an oddity though. To think she’d last this long. She’s still fighting her opponent.”

“They have been going at it for two hours now. I don’t know If that means she’s weak or her opponent is that strong. Since he’s still a fledgling and she’s a practitioner.”

“According to Gamodren, she is a Greenhouse practitioner. She’s still learning her limits and she isn’t the worst applicant. Given what we know, she’s been growing pretty well.” Beard

“Not even the number two can match up to him. Heck, their fight lasted less than a minute. So I’ll say Ceres is pretty strong, just ineffecient which is why she’s a student. Given her apparent age is ten then it’s likely she rushed there without additional training.”

“Ugg. Now we have the last applicant. So far he’s shown high levels of strength for his age, a monstrous mana capacity, and has yet to reveal what his spirits are. I’ve seen elements thrown around but nothing finite.” Beard

“What makes you say he has that much mana?” Goat

“If his showing in the first found wasn’t obvious then, then look at his fight with Raven.” Beard

“Raven’s abilities cause mana to leak from what we know.” Goat

“Exactly, someone with a small mana pool, like Tiffany there. Would be downed in two hits from those birds. Given that they are both of the same rank.” The old bearded man said knowingly

“Continue.”

“Someone like Ander has an average capacity when it comes to mana. His perceived limit for birds was four before he’s exhausted of mana.”

“I don’t like how you said perceived.”

“He took two at the start and kept moving forward with enough energy to evade a flurry. Then he hit Raven and took five head on. That would drop some practitioners and most of everyone else in the first year class.”

“That much huh?” The goateed man gulped.

“We both know he can heal and given that he had the time to do so, it’s possible he slowed the damage though he wouldn’t have time to regain all the mana he lost. Still Raven hit him with five more of those birds and he still had the mana to make an attack that knocked out his opponent with a mere glancing blow.”

“That is scary to think about. And when you think about it he wasted so much of it getting hit. If he wanted to be scary then I’m sure he could do so very easily.”

“The forest on the stadium floor. I’m not sure what Gamodren is after but I’m sure he knows how much mana the boy has at his disposal.”

“Kyrion, whose combat potential was said to be very low, beat two of our strongest fledglings. I was expecting a supporter or healer. He seems to be an all rounder.” The goateed man put down a clipboard and sighed.

“That or the boy has been through some heavy training. Which I guess is why Gamodren’s trying to create a new curriculum. One based solely on exploration and real world experience. Like a mercenary group that goes around the continent and spreads our influence. Only they don’t get involved in murders or politcs.”

“The Drisil Guild us what I intend to call it.” Gamodren said as he sipped a hot cup of tea next to a man with black hair and dark glasses.

“When did you….”

“It’s plainly obvious Ander let him win. That boy has a bad habit of trying to hide his strength. Especially when he’s trying to overtake someone he deems as a rival. Wouldn’t surprise me if he wanted to see someone with a wind affinity fight against the strongest of their class.” Gamodren interrupted.

“Kyrion will lose to our rank, one that’s a given. He wasn’t taught his family’s fighting style, nor does he have one. It will be a good show I bet and… looks like Ceres barely won. Good on you, making our number one lose.”

“Huh, thats new. Didn’t know she could do that. Girl cost me fifteen gold.”

“You bet against your students?”

“I bet Kyrion would lose two out of three of his fights. I oughta hit that Ander upside his head for that.”

“He did push Ander past his perceived limit. As in, we haven’t seen him show that much power before. I could see that he didn’t intend to show much more to an audience before he’s prepared to snatch the number one spot.” The sunglasses-wearing man said.

“Amadeus needs to rest and heal for about thirty minuets. He’ll be ready to prove his strength by then.”

“We’ll need to stall for time then. Amadeus will need to be at full power for that one and even then it may be close if Ceres could pull off a win.” Gamoden said.

“Time for the written exam then.” The sunglass-wearing man said.

“Are you some sort of Devil?” Asked the man with a goatee.

“Why?”

“Most fail that test. I don’t think anyone is prepared for that test.” The man with a goatee sighed.

“Most children fail that test. We are looking to stall for time.” The sunglass wearing man said.

“Is that the only reason?”

“I also find it hilarious.”

“You’re a sick sick man. But it should do.”

“Wait. Kyrion’s gotta be hungry by now he’s probably starving right now.”

“He has a bunch of those food bars that Thalia made. So I’m sure he’ll be fine.” The sunglasses-wearing man said sarcastically.

“Thalia made bars…How many did he eat?” Gamodren scowled.

“Around two dozen. He didn’t show any signs of sickness so far so they should be fine.”

“Let me proctor the test this time. I swear I won’t do anything to sabotage the boy for that test.”

“Fine, fine. Give him the general knowledge test after as well.” The sunglass-wearing man said.