Valar didn’t look to his sides, keeping his gaze on the young scion of house Thorn, but he knew that he was being looked at. Is this how experienced warriors feel like when they know they’re being observed? I can’t see Elizabeth glaring at me in shock, but I just know that she’s doing just that.

  Faux warrior’s instincts aside, he found himself surprisingly unsurprised. He had seen his team fight, and Carla was clearly an exceptional ice mage, especially for her rank. The mere fact that the first beautiful spell he had seen had originated from her told him enough. Winter’s Bloom… I want to see that spell again. It was pretty.

  Eventually, after a long while of silence, the young woman sighed and spoke up. “Your team? Surely you don’t mean that…”

  “The team I interned with and am planning to continue working under is team Cookie Sandwich,” Valar grinned. “Carla is our mage! Well, one of three, really, but you get the point.”

  “Whoa, slow down there,” Zeke interrupted. “Who came up with that name?”

  “Arthur!”

  “And Arthur is?”

  “Our archer!”

  Valar was smiling ear to ear at this point. Talking about his teammates, seeing the looks on the others’ faces… It was just way too fun!

  Elizabeth adopted a thoughtful expression, rubbing her chin until her eyes went wide. “I met her, didn’t I? When we arrived in Rhondell for the academy, right?”

  “Mhm!” Valar raised his thumb. “I wasn’t part of their team at that point, but they left me a standing invitation because I had the life affinity!”

  “I’ve heard about the team,” Helen mused. “Rodrick Steelheart, right?”

  “Wait, how do you know who my team leader is?” Valar asked confusedly. “He’s a guardsman’s son, not some noble!”

  “Guardsman’s son…” Helen smiled slyly. “Aren’t you forgetting someone? I feel like the boy’s mother is a bit more famous, being a Justiciar and all.”

  “Ex-Justiciar. She quit,” he corrected Helen.

  “That’s where you’re wrong, young man. A Justiciar never quits. They just take a long, long vacation…”

  …

  The first fight had clearly been designed to be a flashy one. Some noble water mage of house Vitas—the noble family holding control of Vilfrost—and a commoner fire mage walked to opposite sides of the arena once the other students had been moved to the waiting rooms within the stadium underbelly.

  The nobleman sneered at the nerdy-looking fire mage, who just glared back across the arena. Both waited patiently, as they weren’t allowed to prepare any spells beforehand. That would’ve led to short and exceedingly dangerous contests, decided by who could prepare the bigger spell before the real fight even started.

  Valar didn’t expect a lot from the fight’s start, as both combatants were squarely at the start of bronze rank power-wise. He was proven wrong more swiftly than he could’ve ever expected.

  As soon as the official judge, Brynn Withers herself, let out a whistle that started the duel, both students burst into motion. Valar’s eyes widened as runes started appearing on their arms, partly hidden by their mage’s robes flapping in the wind.

  Only a few seconds ticked by until the fire mage unleashed his spell. His eyes flashed with a ferocious orange as he spoke his spell’s name.

  “Infernal Ring.”

  A ring of fire appeared around the man, circling him. The noblewoman fighting him sneered and uttered her own spell.

  “Wave of Sorrow.”

  A mass of water surged out from her hand, approaching the fire mage with frightening speed.

  “That won’t work,” Valar muttered.

  “No chance,” Elizabeth nodded.

  “Useless,” Helen grinned. “I like that guy’s style…”

  The stadium quieted down as the wave of murky water neared the commoner man. From an uninformed perspective, it looked like the young man would be in trouble.

  The fire mage used one of his hands to brush his disheveled hair back as he directed the ring of flames surrounding him with his other digit. The wheel left his side and met the approaching wall of water, cutting it into two symmetrical halves.

  The woman’s spell lost its form and splashed on the ground, but the fire mage, apparently named Loyd, wasn’t out of the woods just yet. He bolted away from the area as the woman cast another spell.

  “Watery Eruption!”

  The leftover water from her wave exploded up from the ground, forcing Loyd to use the wheel of flame once more. That was enough for the spell to lose its form, and the young man cursed loudly.

  “He definitely misplayed his hand there,” Helen commented. “Too full of young confidence.”

  “He could still win,” Elizabeth suggested. “They’re both essentially back at square one.”

  “No, they aren’t,” Helen rejected her daughter’s words. “How much mana did each party use? Who is more tired after that initial scuffle?”

  “Milly Vitas used two spells as Loyd used only one, so-.”

  “Nope. That boy used a spell that could be controlled after its initial casting. That Infernal Ring was an exceedingly inefficient use of mana, and it has left him exhausted. Mind you, he could still fight for a long while if he was in a team. The current exhaustion of the mind he’s feeling is very temporary, but it has used all the mana in his body up. The Vitas girl, on the other hand…”

  “Wave of Sorrow!”

  Oh, shit… That’s going to hit him, isn’t it?

  The young man’s initial spell had been a positive surprise for Valar. His instincts had told him that the spell was actually quite powerful. Compared to the candle flame Konrad Wendir had shot him with, the fire of Loyd’s Infernal Ring felt more right. Still wrong, but more in the right direction. As of now, the best fire magic he had seen had come from Lindon, another member of the Wendir family. While his Phoenix Descent had inadvertently led to the death of almost half an expedition, the brief glimpse of flames he had seen had been magnificent. It hadn’t provoked the same apathy as Konrad’s Flaming Bolt, or to a lesser extent, Loyd’s wheel of fire.

  Come to think of it, house Wendir seems to have a lot of fire mages, even more than a house like the Thorns.

  “How come the Thorns come up so often when people talk about fire mages? Practically all of the fire mages I’ve encountered so far have been from your house,” Valar wondered aloud.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “It’s mostly a result of them being a larger house,” Helen explained. “They have more influence and commoners seem to be much more aware of them than us. In my opinion, their fire mages have been lacking for quite a while, however.”

  “Fire mages, sure,” Elizabeth ground out. “Valar’s teammate seems to have ice magic handled though…”

  “That she does.”

  Loyd, the fire mage fighting in the arena, was not faring well against the Vitas water mage anymore. He had been forced to use quick, inefficient spells to defend himself against the waves of water that Milly Vitas kept sending out. When he finally resorted to using shielding spells instead of multi-use constructs, Valar knew that he was at the end of his road.

  Milly evidently agreed, as she didn’t send another wave his way immediately. Instead, she opted to finish the young man with a bit of extra flare. The water mage channeled a new spell for a good fifteen seconds, dodging Loyd’s exhausted attempts at retaliation, grinning all the while. When she finally finished her spell, she announced it to the whole stadium with a proud voice.

  “Watery Grave!”

  Water rushed out from the woman, catching up to Loyd’s scrambling form in only a few seconds. He was wrapped up in a ball of water, unable to escape. On top of the crushing water, the outer layer started freezing over, truly creating an inescapable prison, although slowly enough that the spell could only really work as a finisher against an exhausted opponent.

  “Ooh, that’s a nice spell for such a young water mage,” Helen cheered. “She’ll have a lucrative career ahead of her, especially if she wants to start adventuring.”

  “How come?” Valar asked. “That spell seems relatively easy to break out of if you still have energy. Not for me, obviously, since I’m a life mage, but for someone like Loyd.”

  “It isn’t really about the spell’s efficacy,” Elizabeth shrugged. “Mother is trying to say that the tournament is a good chance for young mages to show off their skills, and since that spell is quite complex, Milly will be approached by quite a crowd in the coming weeks. As for escaping it, I don’t know…”

  “I could escape that,” Zeke muttered almost to himself. “Easily.”

  Every pair of eyes moved to the dark-skinned man, who blushed. “What? Did I say something strange?”

  “How would you escape that spell?” Elina asked inquisitively. “Now you have to tell us!”

  “Well… Uhh…” Zeke scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “That spell’s energy is quite spread out, you see. I could probably disperse the prison relatively easily, even now at iron rank… That tracks for all the other spells from the fight too, though.”

  He’s absolutely broken in magical combat, isn’t he? Valar was sure of it. The next year’s tournament would have a terrifying combatant indeed..

  …

  Even though it was tournament week, Valar wasn’t going to laze around all day every day. After the first day of the tournament wrapped up, he trekked down to the library once again. He had a lot of spells to study, and honestly, he was itching to start learning the runes as soon as possible.

  “Livira?” Valar asked nervously. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “You sound like that question will be a difficult one, but ask away,” the gold ranker smiled. “It’s not like I’m going anywhere anytime soon.”

  “Could you help me get started with the bronze rank rune of life?” When the old woman raised her brow in surprise, Valar rushed to explain. “I know you’re not a life mage yourself, but I thought that general knowledge on keystone runes would be good enough to start. I have the book on bronze rank runes already borrowed, so I could start learning, but I want to avoid any major mistakes before I get a life affinity tutor. I thought that… that…”

  “That I could help because of my higher rank?” Livira asked, her tone flat. “First, let me start by saying that while I don’t have your affinity, I could help you get started relatively easily. My general understanding of runes allows me to help someone like you in the basic stuff, but I’m hesitant to agree.”

  When Valar opened his mouth to retort, the old woman raised her hand and continued speaking. “I said that I was hesitant, not that I was going to deny your request outright. Let me ask you this: Why are you in such a rush?”

  “In a rush?” Valar frowned. “I have teammates that are waiting for me in Kilras, so getting out of the academy as fast as possible should be my utmost-.”

  “They didn’t say that to you, did they?” Livira interrupted him. “They probably said that you should take your time and hone your skills as far as possible before moving out once more, am I correct?”

  “Yes…”

  “Then I ask again: Why are you in such a rush?”

  That’s… a good question, honestly.

  Valar slumped down on a sofa that was at the entrance of the library, right next to the librarian’s workstation. “I’m not sure, really. It’s just that when I think of slowing down or stopping, my anxiety rockets to new heights. I don’t want to stagnate; I want to grow!”

  “You’re untiring, aren’t you?” Livira notched an eyebrow, chuckling when she received the confirmation she needed in the form of Valar’s hesitant nod. “That changes things a little bit.”

  “How so?”

  “It changes things because I’m halfway sure that you will start training either today or tomorrow, regardless if I decide to help you or not!”

  “What? I would never-.”

  “Yes, you would,” Livira grinned. “You’re itching to start, and I can’t stop you. Trying to do so would just hinder you anyway. So, I’ll help you get started!”

  Valar’s eyes widened with excitement and a grin spread on his face. “Thank you, Livira! I won’t forget this!”

  “Stop with that,” the old woman scoffed. “Just study hard so that my time isn't wasted on assisting you. Now, let’s get to work!”

  The old librarian led Valar to a couch in the very corner of the bronze rank section of the library, carrying his loaned book on life magic in the crutch of her arm.

  “I’m not a life mage,” she started. “But there are some major similarities between all the affinities when it comes to keystone runes. Do remember that I’m in no way the optimal teacher for you, and the only things I can do for you are giving you some starting pointers and pointing out obvious mistakes. That being said, I’m fairly sure you won’t progress enough to warrant any other attention during the week. After that, your tutor will handle any problems specific to your affinity. Do you understand?”

  “You can help me get started and point out big mistakes, but I’ll still need a tutor on life magic,” Valar condensed her words and repeated them back to her.

  “No, wrong,” the sound mage admonished. “I didn’t say I could point out big mistakes, but obvious ones. If you end up making some huge mistake but it’s hard to notice for a non-life mage, I won’t be able to correct you. That brings us to our first and only rule: Do not try to draw the rune with anything but pen and paper.”

  Valar shivered at the gold ranker’s tone, feeling her voice being matched with a flex of her aura. No sketching the rune on air. I can do that…

  “I understand.”

  “Do you? Other people I’ve instructed during the years have always questioned me on that rule, as they had been taught that drawing runes in the air was essentially harmless.”

  He shrugged. “I kind of just assumed that you have a good reason for telling me that. I’m not going to try and lose my chance at some early learning if the only thing I have to do is follow a simple rule from a gold ranker.”

  “Good kid,” Livira smiled. “But the reason is good to know too. The reason why you won’t draw the keystone rune on the air when you study under my tutelage is that it builds a bad habit. When people usually start drawing runes on the air with their magic, their understanding of the rune in question is already at a decent enough level. The mistakes they have to sort out are minor ones, and those are easy enough to get rid of. If you start drawing the rune of life on the air with who-knows how many mistakes, it’ll be much harder to teach you out of those errors.”

  “So I’d essentially lose a lot of time? That sounds bad.”

  “That it is!” the old woman chuckled. “Trust me, you could lose months…”

  Sketching the rune on air is a no-go!

  …

  Surprisingly enough, Livira seemed to enjoy the process of teaching quite a bit. Some of her rough edges seemed to disappear, revealing a patient and strict teacher.

  Her strict demeanor wasn’t a big surprise to Valar. From the very first day he had visited the library, he had thought that the woman seemed like she really cared about her job. That extended to her side project of teaching him.

  The more surprising aspect of Livira was her endless patience, although it could have been expected as well. She was a librarian, after all.

  “That structure of the leaf is wrong, I’m sure of it,” she pointed a gaunt finger at Valar’s latest sketch. “It shouldn’t bend right; It breaks the symmetry between that point and the stem.”

  “Oh, thank you!” Valar smiled up at the woman. “I didn’t notice that.”

  It was the second day he was studying under the old woman, and he was learning fast. Sure, the academy tournament had eaten some of his early afternoon, but every hour before and after that had been even more efficient than he could’ve expected. The librarian seemed to be an expert at gauging how much learning he could take before he became inefficient, and always encouraged him to work more and more until even his untiring attitude faltered. Then, she would tell him to take a break. That was repeated hour by hour, and soon, day by day.

  That same routine continued through the third day as well, although the escalating tournament festivities forced him to take longer breaks during the matches.

  The third day quarter-finals had all been interesting matches—so much so that even less enthusiastic spectators like Valar got excited. That was for a good reason too, as two very clear frontrunners had emerged from the sea of combatants.

  One was Harrison Thorn, of course. He had beaten his every opponent with raw speed and power, primarily using spells that created and manipulated thorny vines made of fire. Really original, that guy…

  The second star was a more surprising one, although he shouldn’t have been. The young wind mage, a commoner man named Aron Morell, dominated every single fight with relative ease. His speed and practically invisible blades of wind were simply too hard to resist. Valar was even pretty sure he had more up his sleeve, but hadn’t been forced to show his cards just yet.

  Why was he so sure? Well…

  Aron Morell was a savant.