8 Chapter 5

The sun was high up in the sky, its usually gentle flames now transformed into a blistering heat. The temperature in the area surrounding the Dusk Academy was abnormally high. Such heat was a rare occurrence since the academy had a barrier in place that regulated how hot or cold it could get inside. Today, however, this barrier was turned off completely. Headmaster Anansi was an interesting personality, and if you didn't know him or his motives properly, then you'd think he was a psychopath or relished in the pain of others. He had ordered for the barrier to be put down for the day, as he wanted to push his students to the limits in their battles today. Not only would it make sure that every student would be able to learn something from today because of the different weather condition than usual, but it would also mean that only the best of the best would advance to represent the Dusk Academy at the Inter-Academy Competition.

Currently, all of the first year students were seated by a massive field. The field was roughly the size of six football fields, and had roughly 30 areas separated by a magical barrier. Each of these areas was where the students would be fighting each other, meaning that 30 battles could be held at any one moment. Even though each battle was one on one, the students didn't need to wait too long for their turn. It would only take a maximum of 5 minutes for any battle to finish. With roughly 500 first-year students still at the academy, this meant that the day would run smoothly.

"It's my turn to go Favian, I'll see you at the other side," Licht said. Her name had just been called to go into battle. Her opponent was a no-namer at the academy, which meant that he wasn't powerful enough to pose a threat to Licht.

"Good luck!" Favian replied as she strutted away, her heavy plate armor clinging together. 'I pity the person who has to go up against her,' he thought.

'System, scan for the strongest students currently in my vicinity.'

[DING! Initializing request… Scanning complete. Two extra high quality individuals found and one excellent quality individual found. Licht has been barred from this request as per the user's instructions.

Individual 1 - Extra high quality. Strength 9, Constitution 8, Agility 9, Intelligence 9

Individual 2 - Extra high quality. Strength 6, Constitution 6, Agility 10, Intelligence 8

Individual 3 - Excellent quality. Strength 5, Constitution 5, Agility 5, Intelligence 15]

Favian had been intently spectating the battles when Elon finally computed the raw data into empirical statistics. The contents of this notification left Favian gob-smacked. 'What? Since when have there been such powerful people in my year group,' he thought in confusion. It took Favian a while to realize that he'd missed these people as he didn't spend any time with a person other than Licht, and even then the amount of time he'd spent with her since Dunkel's kidnapping was minimal. These three individuals were all Level 1 Mages, and therefore must have had a huge increase in their stats after they'd reached that level, he concluded. 'I mean the same thing happened to me when I advanced. There's no need to be so shocked Favian. But seriously 15 intelligence? That's just insane,'

Favian wondered what these three individuals looked like, especially the person with 15 intelligence. This was even higher than Favian's own, and he was unsure if he'd be able to win against this person in a match of wits.

Favian spent the next 30 minutes waiting for his match to begin. Licht had already come back from hers, not even breaking a sweat whilst pummeling her opponent to the ground. Her match lasted for less than 2 minutes, and could probably have been quicker had her opponent not been very good at running away. A thing that Favian was able to notice was that the temperature seemed to bother quite a few of the students. Many lost their battle even before it started because they weren't able to adapt to the heat, and Favian was mentally preparing himself to battle against this once his own match started. In theory it would take him about 8 matches to be crowned as the number one student, but he didn't care too much about that. All he needed to make sure was to get into the top five rankings so that he could attend the competition and also help complete his favor to Aria.

"Favian! Your battle commences in five minutes. Your opponent is Jerry," Professor Mildred said as she pointed towards a rather bulky looking individual.

'Guess it's my turn now,' Favian thought as he walked towards his allocated part of the pitch. His opponent was already stood inside the barrier that surrounded their combat area. Favian was able to notice that Jerry was a dwarf. He was short and had a brown beard that almost fell to the floor. This was a trademark of the appearance of any dwarf, as they prided themselves with their beards. A longer, more voluminous beard was a sign of status in their culture.

The moment Favian entered the barrier that connected the outside world and his area of battle, he felt a huge change in the atmosphere. The heat was smoldering from inside this area. The distance between himself and his opponent was around 20 meters, and the surroundings seemed to not be affected by the temperature. It was only himself and Jerry who were being bombarded by this insane weather condition.

"Begin!" Mildred shouted, as she flew above the two. She would watch and judge the match from about 30 meters in the air, and make sure that nobody got injured. If Favian wasn't completely concentrated on his battle, then he would probably have laughed himself into an early death because of the appearance of an old lady on a broomstick in the air. 'Could it be any more cliché,' he would think.

Only moments after Mildred's shout, the Jerry the dwarf sprinted towards Favian with his large hammer held by his hands. The way the dwarf ran was very unique, as the hammer he used was almost double his size, and he had to hold it high up in the air, which hindered his mobility and speed. It looked like he would trip and fall any moment, but somehow he was able to keep his balance.

Jerry chanted a spell quickly, and a shimmering brown light encased his hammer. The hammer now looked like it was a rock in the shape of a hammer after having been bolstered by his magic. Its weight also increased greatly, but the dwarf was still able to easily keep it lifted due to his high amount of strength.

BANG

Soil was flung into the air and a crater was now visible where Favian was just stood. Jerry's hammer was currently planted almost 4 meters into the ground, his swing having been brought down with such a great amount of force. However, Favian was nowhere to be seen, to his dismay. "Where did h-" Jerry shouted, but his sentence was cut short with a punch to his neck, his vision turning completely black, after which he collapsed onto the ground.

"The winner is Favian!" Mildred shouted, after which she quickly checked up on Jerry, and covered him in a bright cocoon of magic particles which quickly healed him.

"Well done Favian!" Licht shouted, having watched the whole battle from the spectating area, which was just a a stretch of grass to the sideline of the battle areas. Fortunately, the barrier surrounding the areas protected spectators from the battles inside.

"Thanks," he replied as he walked towards Licht. He hadn't been challenged in the slightest, and didn't even use any magic to defeat his opponent. All that Favian had to do was dodge his opponents slow and heavy strike, and attack him with all of his force.

'That wasn't challenging at all. If it keeps on going like this, I won't even have to use any magic,' Favian thought. This thought of his was proven correct after his next six battles ended as quickly as his first. Favian was able to suss out exactly what his opponents' weaknesses were, and attack them with his own strengths. For instance, his second battle was against a human girl who used her hands to shoot magical bullets at him. However, her downfall was that she needed to focus all of her energy into casting her spell, which took almost 5 seconds. 5 seconds was more than enough time for Favian to use his spell Decoy, which projected an image of himself into the mind of his opponent. Like this, he disoriented her by making her think he was stood right behind her, and in her confusion she stopped casting. After that Favian was able to knock her out rather quickly.

After seven rounds of battles, there were now only eight individuals left in the competition. Only one more round would determine whom the group representing the academy would consist of. Licht and Favian had both been able to make it this far without too much hassle. However, their luck seemed to be running low now. Licht's next opponent was no other than the individual Favian's game system stated to be 'Excellent quality'.

"Licht, be careful with this one, she's got a really oppressive aura," Favian said as he looked at his friend's opponent. The girl that Licht was up against was relatively petite, but despite this gave off a terrifying energy. Her blond hair was tied up in a bun, with a single streak of green being found within it. She had eyes as green as an emerald, and smiled at Licht as she approached her.

"Let's have a nice go at it Licht," the girl said, her voice silky smooth. She currently wore a skin-tight latex bodysuit, revealing her amazing physique and curves.