"God it's intense just from watching others fight, what about when my turn comes?" thought Andrej to himself as he watched Anya nervously walking to the arena, her opponent Mateja standing stongly across from her.

"Hey you" Mateja yelled.

"Yes?"

"Are you ready?"

"Mayb--"

Then Mateja suddenly went for an attack, he wanted to pass quickly.

"Flames of destruction" he said and a sea of flames spread forward from his hands, before he gathered them in a single projectile and fired.

"Mud wall" Anya casted her spell nervously, and a wall made of mud rose from the ground and extinguished the flame attack.

"A earth magic user, this will be a small problem"

"Yes, i can counterattack now" Anya thought and put her hand on the ground.

"Stone Blade" she said and pulled a sword made from grey stone, the same as the arena floor, and quickly ran to strike back.

"This is what i waited for" Mateja suddenly exclaimed and evaded her sword attacks before jumping behind her.

"Fireball" he said and a ball of fire shot out of his hand and hit her in the back, causing her to fall back.

"Shit, all of these people are strong" thought Andrej to himself, and all his self-confidence went down the drain, but then Anya stood up with determination flaring in her eyes, she wanted to continue the battle.

"Just stay on the floor!" Mateja shouted.

"No, i am going to win!"

"Fine then, Hell Flame" he shouted and a bunch of bright flames burst out of his hands, before shooting out like a wave.

"Golem Hand" suddenly stone burst out of the ground, before surrounding Anya's right hand, and forming into a hand shape around her right hand, then she with her new rock hand jumped and punched through the wave of fire, before landing a punch on Mateja's face, throwing him back, but that wasn't enough to put him down, but it still left him in a daze.

"Take this! Stone Blade" another sword made from stone burst out of the ground and went to her right hand, which was back to normal, and she went to strike her dazed opponent, but he recovered and went to counter with his own punch, but then she used a East wind sword technique, to appear behind him with the speed of a blink, and struck her sword down in order to try and slash his back, but he managed to turn around, and she slashed him on the face insted, leaving a bloody mark, but that still didn't stop him from fighting, as he jumped in the air and suddenly shouted.

"Fireball barrage" and tens of fireballs all falled down to strike Anya down.

"Mud wall" she raised her wall again, but she didn't stop the spell completely, as some of the balls of fire managed to hit her.

"Hey, this was a good fight" Mateja suddenly exclaimed.

"Thank you" she replied tiredly.

"May this attack be the last one"

"Yes" she said and they both gathered their mana for one last attack.

"Fireball"

"Stone Blade"

The fireball managed to hit Anya straight in the chest, but not before she managed to slash Mateja's chest, and leaving a bloody wound.

"Both contestants have passed to the written exam" the judge exclaimed before medical mages came and healed both of then, then they returned back to the hall.

"Geez, when will it be Andrej's turn" Katarina said to herself while rocking back and forth on her chair.

"Is this him?" Asked a boy with blue hair and green eyes, his name was Ivan Sergejevich, Katarina's classmate, and he pointed to Andrej who watched through one of the windows.

"Yes"

Several fights went buy, most of them were uneventful, some ended right when they began, some were a little longer, but in the end, they were all dissapointing.

"Next battle, number 146 Konrad Selinski versus number 129 Andrej Antonov"

"Here he is, the idiot is finally fighting" Katarina shouted and jumped from her seat.

"He is hardly a bigger idion than you are" Ivan added.

"Really?" Asked Katarina annoyingly.

"It was just a joke"

Andrej walked to the arena and looked around him, and in one of the stands he saw Katarina who happily waved to him, and he waved back with a smile.

"So, you are the village kid with potential huh?" a voice suddenly startled Andrej and broke him out of his daze.

"Huh? Yes, i am?" he answered with a confused tone.

"How does everybody seem to know me"

"Hahaha, we will see who is better in combat" he said through a very irritating laugh.

"No! Not the stupid laugh again, why??"

"Let me just say, when i was six, i protected my town from a orc attack singlehandedly" boasted Konrad with pride.

"This guy reminds me of someone from my previous life, he was a guy from the neighbourhood who always told us his bad cowboy stories"

"Then i told them, you should eat more onions, hahahaha!"

"Again with the laugh, and unfunny jokes, they are the same person i swear to God"

"No time for small talk now, let me demonstrate my power to you"

"Finally"

"And after that, let's go for a drink!"

"Of course, but please no more of that irritating laugh"

"Okay, no problem"

"And now, let us begin!"