Astra spent the next couple of days just eating, meditating, and sleeping. He would’ve loved to explore Ascelyn Academy but he was afraid of stirring up trouble since he was unfamiliar with the place.

Knock knock. Knock, knock, knock, knock.

There were more knocks than usual. Astra opened the door and Fausto appeared in a white robe.

“Have you checked the place out?” Fausto asked.

Astra shook his head.

“Why not?”

“I didn’t want to get lost.”

“Reasonable.”

Fausto turned around and signaled for Astra to follow. “Today’s the entrance exam. Are you nervous?”

Of course Astra was nervous. He was just some boy from a village who knew nothing of the outside world. The desire to gain strength allowed Astra to have to courage to follow Fausto to Ascelyn Academy.

Astra didn’t want to seem weak in front of Fausto. “No, I’m not nervous.”

Fausto laughed, “Hahaha, good. Very good.”

They came to a stop in front of the stadium.

A board near the entrance said, “ENTRANCE EXAM TODAY. ALL DUELS CANCELLED.”

“Go in,” said Fausto. “I’ll be watching from above.” Fausto gave Astra a little push.

“Wai-” Astra turned around but Fausto was already gone.

Astra walked through a long dark corridor before finally seeing light.

Rows of teenagers stood side by side on the arena grounds.

People in robes and armor were watching from the stands.

As Astra walked out of the corridor, a person dressed in a warm, red robe spoke sternly to him.

“Please line up behind a person. Do not talk until the principal has spoken or you will be disqualified.”

Astra nodded. Astra didn’t want to talk to anyone anyways. He had little interest of socializing with people. He would probably be made fun if they knew he was from a village.

Astra lined up behind a boy who was a head shorter than he was. The boy was wearing a white robe while holding a wooden wand. His robe was too big for him and the ends of it was smeared by dirt.

The boy glanced at him before turning to the front again.

A yellow flame exploded in the air. A person appeared but only their silhouette could be seen since the sun was directly behind them.

A loud voice echoed, “Welcome to Ascelyn Academy’s 96th entrance exam. This year will be a little bit different since there is an unprecedented amount of people enrolling, we will first test you in two groups. The first group will have a battle tournament. The second group will be tested on supportive elements.”

Astra was troubled. Fausto had said that he would be tested on physical attributes and mana talents. Astra had not practiced using the Sword of Gale nor any spells. He was at a huge disadvantage if he encountered someone who truly knew how to fight.

“Split yourselves off.”

Surprisingly, there were more people who joined the second group than the first. Astra did not even know what the supportive elements were so he only had one choice.

“Second group follow me. First group, follow the instructions of the battle instructors.”

The silhouette slowly flew away with a group of people running behind him.

“Ten…Thirty seven…Eighty nine…One thirty two…” One of the instructors started counting the number of people.

“Perfect, all even. You will fight against the person next to you. If you win, move to the left side of the stadium, if you lose, move to the right. The stage is surrounded by a barrier, don’t worry about controlling your spells. You win when your opponent surrenders or is unconscious.”

The little boy in front of Astra turned around and eyed Astra up and down then gave him a look of disdain.

Astra looked at himself. All he was wearing was a cloth shirt and shorts. His Sword of Gale was strapped on to his back.

The boy walked towards a stage and Astra followed behind.

Many of the others started doing the same. There were more than a hundred stages. The arena was incredibly large for it to hold a hundred of these gigantic stages.

The boy sneered at Astra, “You’re not from here, are you? I’ve never seen you before. Those clothes, where did you get them? My servant has better attire than you.”

Astra sighed. Just because he wasn’t wearing nice clothes, he was being slandered.

Astra unsheathed his three foot long sword.

“Oh? Looks like there’s something nice on you after all. Where did you get that sword? Did you steal it? No way can a poor bloke like you get a sword like that,” said the boy.

Everyone around them had gotten up on their stages.

“START!” The instructors yelled in unison.

The boy laughed, “Hahahaha. Are you really going to fight me with a sword? This is a magic academy you know? Not a mercenary camp.”

“Take a look at this!” The boy started a chant, “I command fire…”

Astra sprinted towards the boy.

The boy’s eyes grew serious. Astra was faster than he thought. He quickly finished chanting his spell, “I CALL UPON THE FLAMES SO IT MAY BLOW!”

A breath of flame appeared in front of the boy’s wand.

“Take this!” The boy pointed the wand at Astra.

This breath of flame was truly astounding. Its intensity was nothing like Astra’s fireball. With Astra lacking in spells, he could not counter it with another spell. The only other thing he had was his wind armor, but even that might not be enough.

Astra struggled as the breath came closer towards him.

He surrounded his Sword of Gale with wind mana and cleaved at the breath of flame.

An abnormally strong slash of wind emanated from the sword and dispersed the flame then immediately flew towards the boy.

“I-Impossible! What kind of sword is that!” The boy yelled in shock. The boy quickly rolled out of the way but ended up sprawling on the floor as the slash was too quick.

Astra looked at the sword. He had not intended for the slash of wind to appear after his strike. He had wanted to use the sword to extend his reach to deflect the breath of fire. Who knew that the sword would be able to enhance his wind magic by so much?

Astra appeared next to the boy before he was able to get up and pointed the sword at his neck.

“I…I surrender…” The boy whimpered.

“Arena thirty four finished!” An instructor shouted.

Astra sheathed his sword and walked down the stage. He moved towards the left side of the stadium.

The boy reluctantly picked himself up and went to the loser’s spot.

Surprisingly, over half of the battles were already finished. Many had dominated their opponents as Astra did in the first couple of moves.

Astra did not have many chances to fight against mages in his village. He concentrated on the remaining fights and observed the different battles.