Over the next few days, the girls and I continued to gather information, devise battle strategies, and train diligently in the Yu family training field. However, the information we gathered...it was mainly for the strong students in the other classes, not our own. We were confident we could make it to the main tournament without any difficulties, at the very least. That's why we set our sights on the other classes instead of our own.

In the end, we narrowed it down to a select few individuals' teams we would have to watch out for:

From Class C:

- Liao Fen (ranked 31 on the Magus Rankings of our school)

From Class B:

- Ming Hao (ranked 13 on the Magus Rankings of our school)

From Class A:

- Xuan Kun (ranked 20th on the Magus Rankings of our school)

We decided Liao Fen was the weakest among the three, and also bad at fighting as a team. He was generally known throughout the school as 'The Solo Devil', which more or less confirmed our suspicions at his lack of efficient teamwork skills.

Xuan Kun was my former older brother, but I didn't know too much about him. However, most of the important information about his battle capability was publicized on his Magus Ranking App profile, and we concluded he was an assassin-type like Feng Mian, except he is extremely proficient at Curse and Void Magic unlike Feng Mian's Ice and Poison.

As for Ming Hao...we couldn't find any information on him. He had a Magus Ranking App profile, but it was a blank slate - no information was shown whatsoever, from the elements he specialized in to even his gender. At first, I just thought he was simply a very careful person...but when I saw that there wasn't any battle footage of him either, I began to get suspicious.

Ming Hao was ranked 13th on our school's Magus Rankings, yet there isn't any footage of him fighting...? Such a thing was impossible. The only way for this to happen...was if someone contacted the IMF (who invented and managed the Magus Rankings) personally and asked them to manually remove the clips. However, who held such power that they could get even the IMF to approve of their request?

Come to think of it, I've only interacted with Ming Hao once so far, together with Tang Jia Yi (the school council president). It was during the Magic Training Class incident, when I destroyed the Awakening Orb. I faintly remember Tang Jia Yi ordering him to 'solve' the issue with my mana - the black and red energy - fluctuating inside the Magic Training Room. However, my mana was far stronger than any normal person's...not just anyone could disperse it.

I never was told whether he succeeded or not, but since the Magic Training Room was open the next day like usual...it was almost certain he did. Even I didn't understand just what this energy in my body was and why it was so much more powerful than other people's, yet he was able to get rid of it easily. As expected...he was someone I would have to be careful of. There were too many mysteries and unknowns surrounding him.

In any case, it was Friday morning, only two more days until the Advancement Exams - or should I say, tournament - began on Monday. On Wednesday, the main tournament would take place, and by evening the champions would be decided. By now, we had thoroughly finished the planning phase, and began the training one. But just training on the Yu family training field wasn't enough. It was time to move into the Magic Training Room.

"Eh? We're going into the Magic Training Room?" Qing Yue perked up after I announced what we were going to do today.

Mr. Wang hadn't arrived in the classroom yet, but most of the students already were. I motioned for Qing Yue to lower her voice a little, and responded to her inquiry.

"Yeah. By this time, most of the people who've rushed to train as much as they can in the past few days should be getting ready to formulate battle strategies and plans."

"I'm not against the idea," Yu An Yan joined in. "But aren't we doing fine training on my family's training field?"

I shook my head. "It is a suitable surrogate for the Magic Training Room, but in the end it's only a substitute."

"I agree," Feng Mian concurred. "The richness in mana of the Magic Training Room is perfect for training - there is no better place in this city."

Yu An Xue remained silent as usual, but nodded slightly at Feng Mian's words, showing her approval with the idea.

I clapped my hands together just as Mr. Wang walked in the room. "Alright...it's decided then - we'll train inside the Magic Training Room today."

*****

- The Magic Training Room (2nd Years) -

I pushed open the familiar winged white doors (having been here twice before) to the Magic Training Room. As expected, it wasn't crowded at all. There were still some students here, and I expected there to be more to come after us, but even then there will be plenty of space to spare within this massive room and its 21 separate element-respective dimensions.

"Huh...you were right," Yu An Yan murmured quietly, almost as if she didn't want to admit it.

I grimaced. "...Why do you look so surprised?

She laughed cutely, and gave me a flirtatious wink. "Teehee! I'm not surprised, just slightly in awe you were so accurate."

...Isn't that pretty much the same thing?

I wanted to say that, but decided against it. Letting out a loud sigh, I began heading to the Fire Element dimension...but was stopped by Feng Mian with a hand on my shoulder.

I turned around. "Uh...what do you need?"

"I was just wondering...which elements will you be using for this Advancement Exam?" she asked with worried eyes after scanning the area to make sure no one else was listening in.

I grinned at her in reassurance. The truth was, I had thought about this and came up with my solution a long time ago. "I'll try my best to only use the elements I used against you in our duel, of course."

Blessing, Fire, and Light. Those were the three elements I had used against Feng Mian in our duel. From the perspective of clueless onlookers, I had gone from being a powerless waste straight to a mighty Tri-Element Awakener. Of course, my real power was far more impressive than merely three elements, but there was no reason for me to show that. If anything, it would only bring unwanted attention to myself and cause troubles for both me and my allies...just like what happened with Liu Jian, the principal of Shanghai Magic Academy. I still haven't figured out how to deal with him if he confronted me directly, but it was something I would have to come up with a solution to soon enough.

"I see. I had a feeling you already thought about this a long time ago, but I just wanted to make sure," Feng Mian replied with a bright and beautiful smile.

"Yeah...thanks, but uh..." I laughed awkwardly. "...When are you going to let me go?" She had been gripping my shoulder all this time, and it was starting to ache a bit.

"A-Ah! I-I'm sorry!" Feng Mian hurriedly apologized and let go of my shoulder, blushing furiously. "Erm, I-I wasn't trying to c-cling onto you excessively, or a-anything!"

I sighed. "I-It's fine...I know."

And with that, our exchange ended with the other girls staring at us with...envy, was it? I didn't understand why they were feeling that way, but...

I headed to the Fire Element dimension, this time without any interruptions. I noticed Yu An Yan following me, after making the excuse that she also had a Fire Element affinity to the other girls.

Entering the fiery orange barrier of the Fire Dimension, it was like I opened a whole separate world. I looked around at the lava river, crimson sky, and burnt trees all around. At last, my eyes settled on where the 'volcano' used to be. I winced at the memory of blowing it up and decided to just forget it completely.

I headed over to a black burnt log lying on the tar-colored ground near the lava river. I sat down on it, closed my eyes, and prepared to begin meditating...but then opened my eyes once more, remembering a certain someone who had followed me here.

"What do you need?" I asked, glancing at the gorgeous purple-haired girl who had just walked through the barrier.

"Oh, I just wanted to train here as well. Is there a problem?" she asked, walking closer to me purposefully and staring at me with her pretty amethyst eyes.

I averted my gaze since had I stared back for any longer I would have been drawn in to her eyes too much to look away. "N-No. Do as you please."

"Okie-dokie!" she said happily and plopped down directly next to me.

"U-Uh, I said do as you please, but do you really have to be this close to me?" I asked uncomfortably. There was no way I could meditate like this...the temptation is too strong!

The best environment for meditating is a quiet and peaceful place that is also rich in mana - the more so the better. Meditating required the cultivator to close his or her eyes and purge any other thoughts from his or her mind. In doing so, the body could benefit from the rich surrounding mana, slowly absorbing it while increasing the cultivator's maximum mana capacity and power.

Once the meditator reaches a certain point in mana capacity and power, they break through to the next stage by meditating in the same way. However, starting from Golden Monarch and up, merely sitting still and meditating isn't enough to break through anymore. It required a certain enlightenment to be able to use Mythic-Tier spells and break through to the Holy Emperor stage...something like a battle with a strong opponent, from what I've seen with Song Qian Long. He had originally intended to use the battle with Ghosteye to advance to the Holy Emperor stage, but unfortunately Ghosteye was too weak to provide him with the enlightenment.

Still - the meditation method was a simple and relaxed way to get stronger, and that's the reason why so many people use the Magic Training Room. Places rich enough in mana to meditate in were rare and expensive, after all. A free place like this provided by the school was a great benefit of studying here.

Of course, meditating won't be as fast as practical training in terms of getting stronger. Real battles, where mages cast spells with the intention to kill, were the best for progressing to the next stage. Then came mock battles - the training we did on the Yu family training field - they are quite efficient for getting stronger as well. Eventually, once the mages found themselves strong and profound enough to use the next level of spells, they would be promoted to the next stage after passing a test given by the IMF.

That was how training worked - but even if the meditation method was slow, many people still use it, just because of how easy and relaxing it was. And right now, I was trying it out as well...well, no. That was a farce. My real goal in coming to the Magic Training Room and pretending to 'meditate' was...

"Yep! I'm sitting right here," Yu An Yan beamed, but then her tone turned serious. "By the way...you didn't come here to meditate, did you?"

"Hmph, so that was your real intention in following me," I muttered.

She merely smiled as brightly as ever, and I sighed in defeat.

"Fine. You're right. I came here...to absorb this place's mana."

"Eh, so that's what it is. I see!" Yu An Yan clapped her hands together, but then frowned in confusion. "Wait, but couldn't you just get us to cast some spells for you?"

"That's what I've done for the past few days, but unfortunately we won't be able to do that in the real tournament. The mana your spells provide...it's too small," I answered with brutal honesty.

She pouted, and appeared a bit angry at my words, but I didn't apologize. I wasn't in the wrong. After staring at each other a bit more, she retreated and stood up.

"Well, glad you actually answered. Normally you're all mysterious and stuff, not telling us anything, so..." Yu An Yan murmured.

Uh...was I like that? Hmm, I would have to pay more attention in the future...in order to not let them find out I was hiding things.

She began walking back towards the barrier, and prepared to exit the room. She turned around one last time with a flirty wink at me, and waved me goodbye.

I exhaled. Finally...I was alone. Now then...let's get to it.