It was a bright, sunny Wednesday, fitting for the grand event that was to come: The Advancement Exams. I wasn't particularly excited, but most people were, be it the contestants themselves or the audience. I sighed and sat up on my bed.

After a week of planning and training, we had at last arrived at the day of the tournament. Well, in reality, it was an Advancement Exam for us - currently only Novice Mages - to advance to the Intermediate stage, but this year the school had set it up in the form of a tournament.

No one else knew why they decided to change it up for this year, but I did. My godfather, the school principal (I am still quite shocked at the news even now, to be honest), had told me some inside information.

The true culprit of this sudden change was a man named Liu Jian. He is the headmaster of Shanghai Magic Academy, the best and most powerful magic school on the face of this planet, located in the Magic Capital of Shanghai. He is also exceptionally powerful, even as an individual. According to my godfather, Liu Jian had once fought with a Saint-stage master on even terms, when he was only an early Golden Monarch stage. That was an impressive feat, no matter how you looked at it.

In any case, there was no doubt Liu Jian was strong. It would be nice if such a powerful character is my ally, but unfortunately, he is my enemy...that's just troublesome. I don't know how, but he had found out about my secret power. None of the girls or Song Qian Long have any motive to leak my secret, so just how did he...?

What's more, this Liu Jian will also be acting as one of the judges in the main tournament. No doubt, he was there to keep an eye on me. As much as I wanted to not stand out, my magic was very unique in terms of appearance, and it would be hardly possible to conceal that unless I don't attend the tournament at all.

Besides, many people have already seen me use magic during the duel with Feng Mian, so I couldn't just claim I don't have magic anymore. I would try to hide my strength as much as possible, but I knew it was a futile attempt. Well, maybe if I didn't have to cast magic at all, and let the girls handle it...no, unlikely. There was no way around this.

Thinking this, I got off the bed and headed into the bathroom. I needed a nice shower to clear my thoughts.

10 minutes later, I was done. I began brushing my teeth, and slipped on my usual clothes in the process. I looked at the time - only 15 minutes until classes start. Seeing this, I hurriedly rushed out the door while cursing under my breath. I gave up on breakfast a long time ago, so at this point I didn't even feel hungry in the mornings. Still can't say that not eating breakfast is healthy though.

After exiting my room and locking the door behind me, I headed into the elevators feeling refreshed. However, that mood was quickly ruined by another person that entered the same elevator as me.

The door slid open, and I came face to face with another person - a boy that looked nearly identical to myself. I narrowed my eyes, though I couldn't quite describe what this emotion I felt was. Annoyance? Hatred, perhaps? All I can say was it wasn't a pleasant one.

The other boy seemed to be feeling the same way, from the way his face was turned down into a scowl. But then, to my surprise, that scowl twisted up into an evil sneer, just as the elevator doors slid shut once more behind him.

"Why hello there...my little brother," he said, tone dripping with venom.

I acted nonchalant, and replied as calmly as I could. "Former brother," I corrected.

This caused the boy to laugh. "Yes, that is right. You were driven out of the family for being a talentless waste."

He spoke these words slowly, as if grinding them deep into my heart. I wasn't affected, much to his dismay. "What do you want?" I spoke quietly, but coldly.

"You see...something's been weighing on my mind for the past few days. In fact, it's so worrying I wasn't even able to train properly because of it..." he said, a nasty sneer still painted across his face.

"Despite that, you look quite energetic," I remarked mockingly. His devious smile didn't look worried whatsoever - it was clear what he said was a lie.

"No, not at all..." he denied, though his eyes said otherwise. "Anyway...about the thing that was on my mind..."

But then, the elevator stopped at another floor, and the doors swung open with a ding. A feeble looking boy with glasses was waiting there, and prepared to enter the lift. However, Xuan Kun then sent him a glare with killing intent, and the poor kid nearly collapsed out of fear.

"E-Eek!" the glasses boy scrambled to get away, and the elevator doors shut close again.

"Now then...back to what I was saying," Xuan Kun continued, acting as if nothing had happened. My anger was boiling at his cruel treatment toward innocent people, but I couldn't let it show on the surface. Emotions were a dangerous thing. An enemy finding out your emotions was the same as them discovering your weakness. That's why...no matter the cost, I had to keep this mask up.

"The man next in line for the patriarch position of the Xuan family - that is, my father - gave me a little, but bothersome order," Xuan Kun explained indifferently. He leaned on the wall of the elevator to show just how relaxed he was. Deep down, he was acting to see how I would react to his attitude, but I remained expressionless with my hands shoved in my pockets.

"Oh? What might that be?" I asked casually, in order to not let him grasp my true intentions.

"Hmm...nothing much, just..." he suddenly brought himself closer to my face to stare at me in the eyes with a flash of killing intent, and continued. "...To crush you in the Advancement Exams."

I glared at him right back, not bothering to contain my killing intent either. "...I see. Well then, I wish you the best of luck."

"Hahaha!" Xuan Kun backed away and covered his stomach in laughter. "My goal is to kill you, and you're wishing me luck? How amusing!"

It was at that moment that the elevator reached the bottom floor, and I decided to get out first. But when I passed Xuan Kun, I patted his shoulder and whispered something into his ear.

"Hey, big brother. The luck I wished you...it wasn't for you to succeed in killing me. Perhaps I should rephrase. I wish you the best of luck..."

Seeing his brows furrow, I smiled devilishly, and finished my sentence.

"...On surviving the upcoming exams."

And just like that, I walked out of the elevator, leaving my former brother both shocked and speechless.

*****

- Shenzhen Magic High School, Class 2-D -

"Alright, class! I'm sure you all know this already, but today marks the beginning of the Advancement Exams. Throughout this past week, you have all trained diligently and planned wisely in preparation for this day. And now, it is time to show your skills - in the arena, that is!"

Cheers erupted in the classroom, and the excitement of everyone was evident. Mr. Wang made a hand gesture for everyone to calm down, and once it was silent again he continued.

"Now then, here's how the exams are going to work. First, there will be a single-elimination tournament within each class to decide the representative of the said class. The representative team will then proceed to the main tournament, which will be taking place at the Outdoor Arena tomorrow. The winner of that tournament will be the champions, and receive corresponding rewards. There will be more details about the main tournament tomorrow, but for now let's focus on the intra-class tournament."

The Outdoor Arena - just as the name suggests, it was a massive outdoor battle stadium, used only to host massive events like this. It was superior to the school's indoor arenas in every aspect possible. However, constructing such a site costed far more too, so there was only one in all of Shenzhen - and that was where the main tournament will be taking place.

As for the class tournaments...there was a slight problem. Each class had 25 students, meaning five teams of 5. So then, how would a single-elimination tournament work...?

"I know some of you might be wondering - there are five teams in each class, how will the tournament work? Well, the answer to that is a strength test beforehand."

This made everyone confused, but luckily Mr. Wang continued explaining.

"Each team will choose one representative to take part in this strength test. What you will have to do, is hit this-"

He dragged out a trapezoid-shaped tall stone slab from behind the teacher's podium.

"-with all of your strength," he finished.

The stone slab didn't look interesting in particular, but I could feel the mana emitting from it. However, by the looks of it, no one else was able to sense this mana, and all looked at the stone slab with skepticism. I assumed this was because I was able to read powerful people's auras, so I should be able to detect mana better than normal people to a certain extent.

"Don't look so skeptical," Mr. Wang sighed exasperatedly. "This may not appear like anything special, but it is in fact a very valuable Magic Artifact for strength testing."

Now that I looked closer at it, there were some horizontal lines etched onto the face of the stone, separating it almost as if there were different levels. And as expected, I was right.

"When you hit this artifact with all of your strength, these bars here will light up according to your power level. There are six bars in total, meaning six different strength categorizations. For the record, the average 2nd Year should be able to at least light up two bars. And obviously, the gap between each level is larger as you go up," Mr. Wang explained.

After looking around to make sure no one had any questions (it was literally hitting a piece of rock with all your strength, how confusing was that?), Mr. Wang clapped his hands together and announced, "Alright, every team, choose your representative!"

I looked at the four girls, all to my right on the back row, and waited for an answer.

But surprisingly enough, they all pointed at me. I immediately shook my head, signaling that I can't do it. The last time I did something like this, I destroyed the artifact (the Awakening Orb). I wasn't about to cause such a commotion again. In a panic, I randomly pointed at Yu An Yan, and she widened her eyes at me in shock, as if saying 'Eh? M-Me?'.

I shrugged, but soon enough the other three girls also agreed with this idea. I mean, it was a valid decision, since she was our main attack force (myself excluded). And so, albeit against her will, Yu An Yan was chosen as our representative for this strength test.

Mr. Wang, after seeing everyone finish selecting their representatives, nodded firmly.

"Good, seems like you are all done. Now then, who's up first?"