- The Next Day, Class 2-D -

"Alright...and with that, attendance is over," Mr. Wang announced. "You are now free to continue with your training now. The Magic Training Room on this floor will be open to all 2nd Year classes once again today, so use it wisely. That's all - dismissed!"

As usual, most of the class was gone within seconds of Mr. Wang finishing his sentence. My team, however...

"So? What do we do today?" Yu An Yan asked after everyone else was gone, arms folded over her chest. "Xuan Kai should have learnt enough Level Two spells now, right?"

"Uh, yeah..." I muttered. For a second, I thought about telling her what I really thought - I didn't need to learn that many spells at all - but eventually decided against it.

"Hm...the next step should be to gather information then, right?" Qing Yue asked, looking around at us.

I nodded. "For now, lets think of people that may pose a problem."

"Mm...the people on the...Magus Rankings..." Yu An Xue murmured.

The Magus Rankings. Every school had one - it ranked the top students in terms of magic power and fighting ability.

"Yeah...but do you know of any second years on the list?" I asked. I never paid much attention to this kind of thing, so...

"Let's check," Feng Mian suggested, and pulled out her phone from her pocket. After some tapping and scrolling, she showed the screen to us. "I believe there are two noteworthy 2nd Years pretty high up in the rankings...Ming Hao, rank 13, and Xuan Kun, rank 20."

I widened my eyes at the second name, and clenched my fists.

"Wait - Xuan Kun?" Yu An Yan asked, having picked up on something. She then looked at me. "Uh...do you have some connection to him, Xuan Kai? The two of you have the same surname."

I gritted my teeth. "He's...my older brother."

"Eh?! You have an older brother?" Feng Mian seemed surprised. "You never told me!"

"...You never asked," I replied apathetically. "Besides...he isn't my brother anymore."

I was exiled from the family. That automatically removed any connections I had with it, blood relations included.

"Ah...right," Feng Mian murmured. Then, in a brighter tone, she asked, "So? What's he like?"

"What do you mean?" I was confused. "Personality-wise or physical traits?"

"Um...I was thinking more about his magic, strengths and whatnot, but..."

"Oh, sorry." Apparently, Feng Mian had been trying to get information on him and analyze it. As expected, I took it the wrong way again. "Hmm...I'm not too sure myself, to be honest. We never had much interaction with each other."

"I see..." Feng Mian looked slightly dejected.

"Don't worry!" Qing Yue hurriedly said. "Just check his profile on the Magus Ranking app or whatever!"

The Magus Ranking app - it was a mobile application that could be downloaded onto our phones. It contained live stats, footage of duels, and information regarding specific people.

In order to compete in the Magus Rankings, having this app downloaded was a necessary requirement. Every person had a profile that contained information about them, though users could choose which ones to show and which ones to hide from public. However, you were not allowed to post fake information.

Information listed on a specific person's profile included the elements they had affinity with, what stage they were at in their cultivation, and also less critical things such as age and gender. However, users were able to customize which ones the public could see, and which ones the public couldn't. Most people choose to hide information that could put them at a disadvantage should a future opponent find out about it, such as the elements they mainly use, and their fighting style.

"But I doubt he will have all his information just exposed like that..." Feng Mian said with a sigh.

"Not necessarily," I interrupted, which caused her to look at me in confusion. "I said we didn't have much interaction, but...the few times I talked to him were enough to know he was a very arrogant person. He will definitely have his element affinities listed on his profile, as a sort of challenge."

Yu An Yan arched an eyebrow. "Like, 'you won't beat me even if you know my weaknesses', that kind of thing?"

I nodded. "Something like that."

"How unsportsmanlike..." Yu An Xue muttered. Indeed, it was unsportsmanlike - what he was doing was essentially looking down on his opponents.

Feng Mian scrolled through her phone while muttering Xuan Kun's name. "And...okay, here it is."

We all crowded around Feng Mian to see what was on her phone screen. Sure enough, Xuan Kun's profile showed the elements he could use. He had three - Shadow, Curse, and Void. We browsed through footage of him fighting in duels. His fighting style was quick executions, much like an assassin. All of his fights thus far have ended abruptly no more than two minutes from the start of the match.

"So...he's an assassin type, like me," Feng Mian concluded.

"Seems like it," Qing Yue agreed. "But more importantly, how do we counter him?"

"Hold on," I cut in. "This may be an unnecessary precaution, but just keep in mind...the tournament is going to be a 5v5 team battle. The footage we have here are all him fighting solo."

"That's true, but we should still be able to devise some strategies based on this," Yu An Yan said thoughtfully. "For example, the spells he likes to use."

"Yeah. From all the footage we've seen so far, there are a few distinct Curse Element spells he uses a lot," Feng Mian pointed out. "They are mainly of the Maledictum spell family."

The Maledictum spell family - a group of Level One magic used for basic debuffs such as slowing, weakening, and rooting. Normally, such spells could be easily countered. However...Xuan Kun had upgraded all of his Maledictum spells to the next tier using Upgrade Runes, by the looks of it. He called out 'Mark Two' when casting his Curse Magic, and his curses were abnormally powerful for a Level One spell. In reality, the proper terminology for a spell that has been upgraded should be 'Tier II or Tier III', depending on how many times they upgraded it, but Xuan Kun chose to just say Mark Two instead. Others choose to say 'Tier', and some choose to not say the tier number at all, as it isn't necessary.

Because of this, Xuan Kun's spells had the power level of a Level Two spell, but consumed the same amount of mana as Level One magic. Therefore, he could cast his curses in rapid succession, quickly leading to quite the sticky situation for his opponents. His fights were all fairly one-sided - he bombards his opponent with curses as soon as the match begins. Eventually, when his enemies get rooted and worn down enough by all the curses, he finishes them off with the Level One Void Element Spell, Void Bomb.

The reason he uses a Level One spell to finish off his opponents? It's looking down on them. Xuan Kun had a nasty personality, and would do anything for his own gain. As for why looks down on others so much...probably just his ego.

"Qing Yue should be able to counter his curses with Blessing Magic," I stated confidently.

"But as we can see in these fights, he casts curses almost simultaneously," Yu An Yan noted worriedly. "Can Qing Yue keep up...?"

Indeed. His casting speed was so fast it was almost as if he was casting them at the same time. However...

I shook my head. "Probably not - but she doesn't need to."

"Ehh?? I don't understand, Big Brother Xuan Kai," Qing Yue said while scratching her head cutely.

I sighed. "Listen. You don't have to counter every single one of his curses. Just once every few seconds is fine."

The girls still appeared confused. So, I continued explaining.

"Just a single curse won't kill us. In his duels so far, he has been relying on multiple curses stacking up on a single target, thus wearing them down greatly. As long as you prevent that from happening with your Blessing Magic, it'll render his Curse Magic useless."

"Oh, I get it! It's more efficient for me too, since I'll be using less mana than him. And when he runs out, that's when we'll seize victory!" Qing Yue beamed excitedly.

"Correct," I replied. "You have to be very careful about the timings though. From what I've seen so far in the videos, his opponents start to weaken significantly after five or six stacks of curses."

"Five or six...okay! I got it," Qing Yue winked and puffed out her modest chest in triumph.

"Um...that is...great and all, but...we won't have to face him...until the...main tournament..." Yu An Xue interrupted gently, and had it not been for the silence at that exact moment, no one would've heard her.

But regardless, she was right. Xuan Kun was in Class 2-A, and Ming Hao was in Class 2-B. Both were characters we wouldn't have to face until much later. For now, we would have to defeat all the other teams in our class. Only then would we get a chance to participate in the main tournament.

"But...I really can't think of anyone in our class that may be a threat to us," Feng Mian muttered, deep in thought.

"Come to think of it...all the strong students of our class are in this team, aren't they?" Yu An Yan added, having realized this thanks to Feng Mian.

Class 2-D. It could be said that we were the weakest class - as a whole, anyway. The truth was, the four girls on my team all had the talent and strength to be in Class 2-A, but unfortunately the class was already full. Therefore, the only option if they want to climb up to Class A would be with the rest of the class, as a whole. But since three of them had only recently transferred in and the fourth distanced herself away from everyone, there was little chance this would happen.

And besides...most of the other students in this class were all fairly weak, compared to the other classes. Even if the five of us were insanely talented and strong, it would still be difficult to hard carry the other 20 students.

But that aside...this situation may just prove advantageous for us in the Advancement Exams. The rest of the class being weak meant we should be able to advance to the main tournament without any troubles, but even then, it would be wise to keep an eye out.

...After all, you never knew who would be plotting against you in the dark.