Chapter 15 - 16 : Tournamen (1/2)

Time passed slowly as the two of them were waiting,apparently, the way they test your aptitude is by using a special kind of stone, which could pinpoint what kind of attribute you have the most affinity with and there was a second stone to see the level.

This was so because not everyone here was a mage, there were talented fighters as well, who excelled in close-combat and to let them have a chance they would all be judged by their level even if they didn't have an affinity with any attribute or couldn't practice magic.

For example, anyone who has a good affinity with the wind attribute, can't practice their magic very easily, since if their family was poor they may not know if they have an affinity with an attribute or not and that's why most talents are from nobles.

Usually, noble families have enough money to afford an aptitude stone and use it on their children to see if they have a good affinity with some attribute or not. Every being in this world has an affinity with an attribute but it can be strong or almost non-existent and that's what differs talents from normal people.

While Arthur and Lucy were waiting, a commotion broke out in a nearby line, these types of commotions happened a few times when someone with a good affinity or high level showed up.

This time Arthur was a little curious as to who was the origin of this commotion, for there is a lot of noise and exclamations and when he turned his head to look, he immediately recognized the person, it was the skinny demon who had the highest lvl among the participants, to be honest, he was not surprised when he saw that this demon attracted so much attention, after all his level was high and without a doubt he would be considered powerful and talented to these people.

In front of him was a cubic crystal which looked a little weird, Arthur had been watching it for a while and whenever a person touched it, it had a different color to pinpoint which attribute the person who touched was compatible with.

For the skinny demon the crystal glowed with yellow light and some blackish too, he was considered a dual-mage and with a strong earth attribute at that, everybody looked at him with admiration and envy, the demon just smiled but didn't say anything and just as he was going to leave the stage, someone appeared near him. It was one of the 9 people who had a high level.

Arthur heard from the people around him that those 9 people are the council of the academy and each one of them was extremely powerful, each year they picked talented people from the participants and nurture them while giving them elixirs and skill books.

The demon Molrihn who was LVL158 appeared near the skinny demon and seemed about to talk to him, as for this skinny demon, he wasn't surprised by the appearance of someone from the council for he was confident in his strength and proud of his talent, he stood there for a second before he bowed to the man before him without saying anything.

Molrihn didn't mind that behavior, in fact, he liked it, to see someone from his race with this much talent, of course, he wouldn't let the chance to rope him under his care and help him in his training slip by, moreover this young demon seemed really talented, he was a dual-mage and a high leveled one at that.

”Young-one, I see your talent is indeed outstanding, how about your become my student when you pass the entrance exam? I will be delighted to have a student such as you.”

The skinny demon smiled when he heard what the man said, he soon replied with a calm voice ”It would be an honor, Master Molrihn”, he immediately started calling him 'master' as to indicate he accepted the offer. Molrihn just nodded and went back to his seat with a happy face, after all, he gained a new student who seemed rather talented.

”Yo, old Molrihn, seems you got a nice catch didn't ya? I bet you're brimming with joy now, hehe but don't worry I've got my eyes on someone too and I hope he won't disappoint me”

One of the 2 beastmen of the council spoke with an excited voice, it was a female beastman who had a large build and huge 2 handed axe on her back. She gazed at a particular beastman who also had a huge axe on his back and seemed to be calmly waiting for his turn in the queue, in contrast to many other people who, even though they knew they were talented, weren't confident enough to be able to pass the second test.

The other members of the council also praised Molrihn for choosing a good seed and then returned to observing the crowd, looking for students for themselves as well.

Not long after the skinny demon passed the first test, another commotion came up followed by a stream of cries. This time, it was the second prince, since he too was a dual-mage, of course he piqued the interest of many. He held a smug smile on his face as if showing his might and waiting for a members of the council to come invite him, and indeed someone came. It was an elf male who was quite handsome and his LVL was 155.

Arthur frowned since he didn't expect an elf to recruit the second prince to be his student. Christian accepted immediately when the elf male proposed to him and after hearing the prince's answer the elf returned to his seat with a pleased expression hanging on his face.

An hour passed and many talents came up with several dozen dual-mages, almost all the members of the council chose a person. Even that female beastman chose the beastman she was looking at previously, even though he didn't have any good affinity, he had a lvl of 52 so she invited him anyways, for the beastman race was famous for their overwhelming strength and very few of them were talented at using magic.

Finally, it was Lucy's turn, who was in front of Arthur, so naturally she was considered before him in the queue. She walked for about 3 meters until she stopped in front a table with 2 crystals put on it. There was a person overseeing the results of the participants and deciding whether or not they pass.

She placed her little white hand on the attribute crystal and waited for the results, but she already knew what they would be. Soon enough a bright red light came up followed by a dark light but it seemed a little dimmer than the red and unexpectedly a third color appeared, it was blue but red with some blackish in it. Even Lucy was dumbfounded since she didn't know she was compatible with such an attribute, actually that color indicated the attribute magma.

In this world there were unique people who could use normal attributes plus other ones, such as magma, ice, lightning, void, etc. These types of people were very rare and impossible to find, but almost all of them would grow up to be legendary figures, as these special attributes were many times more powerful than the normal ones. Once the inspector overseeing the results saw this he couldn't even utter a single world, for he was shocked beyond belief.

”HEY look sh-shee got affinity with 3 attributes! There is magma!!!! How amazing.”

Many cries came up from everywhere and all the participants gazed at this gorgeous girl who, not only was alluring and pleasing to the eyes, but she was apparently a wizard as well.

This word was not mentioned before, because mages who can use 3 attributes were unique; nonetheless, some existed and they were called wizards and every single one of them was by no means weak. Actually, it was rumored that the principal of the academy was a wizard but no one could confirm this rumor.

The red-haired principal who was seated lazily and watching the crowd was stunned when she saw the colors in the crystal ”3 attributes, and magma is one of them. Indeed... some of this year's participants sure are wolves in sheep's clothing” She chuckled for a second before just nodding her head in satisfaction. Surprisingly one of the 9 members of the council, the demon with the highest lvl, who seemed not interested by this test, stood up from his seat in astonishment and rushed with great speed toward Lucy, as if he was afraid she would slip from his hands at any second.

”Little girl, how about you become my student? No need to even finish the second test, you'll be directly accepted as a student in Nemia academy”. Once he finished speaking, he looked at Lucy with expectant eyes.

If she accepted his offer, not only would he treat her well and offer her a lot of materials to enhance her magic and strength, but he would also let her pass the entrance exam directly. You must know that even the skinny demon, who was considered to have tremendous talent, didn't have this kind of chance. So anyone in her place would accept this offer, plus it was Lord Zephir, the vice-principal and the head of the council of the academy who wanted her to be his student. He had a status second to only the principal and had a lot of resources, so whoever became his student was sure as hell to have a comfortable and easy life.

Not even the seniors in this academy would dare bully someone under the care of Zephir, as he was known to be very strict and would punish anyone who would break any kind of rule. Zephir didn't have any students since a long time, as he didn't find anyone with enough talent, but once he saw this girl he knew for sure she was the one, and he must by no means let her slip by, she was also a demon, so it would be easier to interact with her.

Lucy was still in disbelief when she saw the magma attribute, it would be a lie to say she was not happy, in fact, she was very joyful, but she didn't want to express her emotion in public. Only when with Arthur would she be so carefree and easygoing.

She turned toward Arthur, who was standing a couple of meters behind her and saw him nodding at her as if complimenting her. A dozen of second after she saw her results she heard the proposition of some middle-aged man who somehow was now near her, he invited her to be his student but she didn't care a lot about that, she liked this academy and liked studying and practicing magic but she still wanted to be close to Arthur and maybe being his student would restrict her movements or something similar to that, so she just shook her head towards the middle-aged man who seemed very excited.

Everyone knew what she meant when she shook her head, it was obvious to reject his offer, but only someone crazy in their mind would do that? After all, all sorts of benefits would come from being his student, so why reject him? Even Zephir didn't dare believe what he saw and only after some seconds passed did he came back to his senses and stared at the girl.

Even though her refusing him lost him a bit of face, it didn't matter, as he didn't care for face and only wanted her to be his student and have someone to pass his skills to. He didn't dwell on it much and spoke calmly ”Alright, if you ever change your mind, just come looking for me and I'll accept you at any time, as for the moment, I know for sure that you will succeed and even if you don't, I'll make sure you join the academy, consider it a welcoming gift from me” after speaking he walked back to his seat and sat down.

Zephir knew that even though she refused him now, it didn't mean she would always do, and he too had a lot of means to rope her in, such as precious skills books, elixirs and even gold. He had them all, so she would surely be interested in something and when that time came, he would give her what she wanted in exchange for becoming his student.

Soon after, Lucy put her hand on the Appraisal stone and it showed her level and race. Unlike the previous crystal, this time there was not a lot of surprises as her lvl was average compared to other geniuses; nevertheless, even with a low level, she was still a wizard and her future accomplishments will be limitless.

After passing the first test Lucy didn't go upwards toward the place where all the people who passed the first place were, instead she moved a little to the left and waited for Arthur as if she was unwilling to go without him.

Arthur walked toward the table but he was not calm, in fact, he was anxious, after all he had an affinity with 5 attributes, with wind being the weakest one. His level and race would also be exposed, so he wanted to find a way out, because if people saw his level and especially his race, a race never seen or heard of before, they would probably accuse him of being an alien of some sort. When he put his hand on the attribute stone he heard a notification 'ting'.

An aptitude stone is appraising your body and checking what attribute you are best compatible

An aptitude stone is appraising your body and checking what attribute you are best compatible with:

Dark On/OFF

Wind On/Off

Earth On/Off

Ancient Fire On/Off

Void On/Off

Confirm

In the beginning, he didn't know what it meant by on, off but he soon judged that if he put them all on off, then the crystal would not show any light, which meant that he didn't have any affinity with any attribute. Of course, he didn't do that, since he wanted to enter the academy, so he turned them all off except his dark magic.

Dark magic was similar to darkness magic, but in the same time different, usually, darkness magic is for curses and is rarely used for attack, while his dark magic had a strong attack and defense power, with incredible penetration power. It was like nothing could withstand it and it would go through steel as if it was nothing. When he checked if he turned off all except magic a second time, he finally confirmed and a light began to show on the crystal.

This light was very special, it was dark but it wasn't just light like the other people had, since it was the same shape he saw on the door when he first entered the cave leading to Zodiak's tomb. The symbol was really creepy and would send shivers down anybody's spine. The skull head which showed up on the crystal was really terrifying, especially with its third eye.

The inspector who was in charge of overseeing the results and deciding who passed and who failed was shocked, since it was the first time he encountered something like this. The council members and the principal were stunned as well, they had continued observing the line which Lucy was in, because they noticed that the black-robed man was with her, since they were very close to each other and seemed like companions.

When they saw the strange skull head, they didn't know what to do, no one had ever seen an aptitude crystal show such a thing and none of the known attributes would show something like this. They tried to think of it as a darkness attribute, but even a person with a strong affinity with darkness, such as the demon lord, would not have such results when touching an aptitude crystal.

The inspector didn't know what to do, so he just waited for Arthur to put his hand on the second crystal and see if he could decide the result depending on the level. Arthur noticed the surprise and strange gazes of everyone but he didn't mind, he wanted to gain some fame because the holy church was on his tail and having some backing wouldn't really hurt, especially if that backing was from a strong power like the Nemia academy.

Soon enough, he put his hand on the appraisal crystal. Actually, there were 2 kinds of appraisal objects: the appraisal crystal and the appraisal stone. The former was for showing the general information, like level and race, while the latter showed more detailed things, like which attributes the person used or even his name and age. Appraisal stones were very expensive and the academy would not just use them for an entrance exam. Arthur wasn't particularly anxious anymore and by the time his hand touched the stone he heard a notification ”ting”.

An appraisal crystal is being used on you , do you want to show your level and race ?

yes / no

After some pondering, he said 'no' because if those information was to be known, it would be a catastrophe and everyone except Lucy would regard him as an enemy. Just when he clicked the 'no' the crystal stone broke, it literally shattered, which caused Arthur to panic a little but surprisingly the inspector didn't seem bothered.

In fact, appraisal crystals sometimes brake from excessive use, so seeing one brake now wasn't very unusual. He soon retrieved one from behind him and put it in front of the participant, but Arthur was sure that the crystal broke because of him, so he didn't know what to do. He just put his hand on it again and refused to show his information and 'poof' the crystal shattered once more. This time there was a little shock in the inspector's eyes; nonetheless, he picked another crystal, after all, it might be coincidence, but the 3rd 4th and 5th crystals also broke, so he stared at Arthur in disbelief and suspicion.

Even the other participants in other queue lines were dumbfounded by this turn of events. The inspector didn't know what to do, after all, he couldn't judge the results, for he didn't even see his level, he so said hesitantly ”emm, unfortunately, you have no...” before he could finish, there was another calm voice which spoke:

”He can pass the first test”

The inspector was startled by this voice, but he soon snapped out of it and nodded toward the origin of the voice, which was unexpectedly the principal, who didn't speak since the beginning of the test.

She let him pass because she was curious about this individual, first the aptitude crystal showed a strange symbol and then the appraisal crystal broke many times It was by no means mere coincidence and she considered him worth paying attention to; moreover, if her judgment was false and he was weak, then he would just lose in the second test.

Arthur was happy since he somehow managed to pass the first test, without revealing his information. Nevertheless, he wasn't grateful or anything to the principal, since even if she didn't let him pass, he had other means in store in case of emergency.

He walked toward Lucy who was waiting for him, he couldn't help but smile when he saw her. He felt warmth and happiness to have someone such as her love him, she was truly a maiden, especially with the red dress she was wearing today.

When he was close enough, he took her hand and continued to head upstairs toward the area were the accepted participants were. Although she was surprised by his sudden actions, she neither was mad or disgusted by his action, quite the opposite in fact. She also held his hand firmly and walked cheerfully beside him, you could notice a small smile hanging on her pretty face.

They found a quite spot and sat there waiting for the first test to finish. Since they had time and there was nothing to do, Arthur decided to spend the remaining time chatting with Lucy, since he liked talking with her and felt happiness when he did. Even when they sat on the stone chairs which were neatly put in a big square, Arthur didn't let go of her hand for even a second.

”To think you got a magma attribute, good, good! You should try to practice with it!” when he mentioned the magma attribute, Lucy seemed to become excited. While looking at her other free hand she replied ”En! I didn't believe it either, last time I used an aptitude crystal I only saw 2 attributes, I wonder how I got the third one”

”hehe no use bothering to think hard about it, the good thing is that you got it, so you will become even more powerful! And when the time comes, if you want I'll personally take you to take revenge, I promised you didn't I?” While he said that, Arthur used his remaining hand and patted her head gently while smiling towards her. His face was close to her so she could clearly see him smiling and looking at her with soft and caring eyes. She could feel his honesty when he spoke and knew he would sooner or later take her to end the unfinished business. Lucy's eyes seemed to contain some tears but she wasn't sad; on the contrary, she was happy, to have someone who would care for you to such an extent was rare and she wouldn't want to be separated from a person like that.

Arthur was shocked when he saw some tears and he thought he reminded her of her tragic past, he regretted what he said immediately and with an apologetic said ”I'm sorry... I shouldn't have reminded you of your past..” he looked down, not daring to look at her face for he felt guilty in his heart but surprisingly, he felt a warm feeling on his chest, and was surprised to see her hugging him.

There were some nearby people looking at him with eyes burning with jealousy and hatred but he ignored them and stared at this girl who was hugging him. To be more exact Lucy was considered a woman, she told him her age when they were traveling, even though she didn't like the fact he asked her about it. She was 28 this year and even though she was petite, she was a fully matured woman, she may be petite in size but her chest was well developed and her face looked more like an adult woman than a little girl.

Lucy was crying but smiling, so he quickly realized she was not sad, but instead happy and blamed himself for being this stupid, since he couldn't even understand the emotions of his lover; nonetheless, he hugged her back and closed his eyes as if enjoying this precious moment. It was the second time they hugged and even though they were lovers, Arthur didn't cross the line, only either patting her head or holding her hand and she didn't seem to dislike that. It would be a fat lie to say he didn't want to hug her whenever he wanted, or even kiss her, but that would be too much for her to bear right now, since it could even remind her of those beast like men who used her body and never in this life would he want to do that. He could even stay like this forever and only hold hands rather than harming her and causing her to be sad or angry with him.

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes before Lucy let go, but unexpectedly she leaned on him and seemed to close her eyes as if wanting to relax. Of course Arthur let her do as she pleased, he wrapped his left arm around her shoulder, to let her lean more comfortably and she didn't refuse it or anything, instead she just looked more relaxed and carefree.

Time passed and the first test seemed to be still going to take some time, but Arthur didn't mind as he stared at Lucy who was now asleep. He was rather happy to see her sleeping face, which was breath-taking, also he felt warmth because she, who felt disgusted with men and loathed them, managed to sleep while leaning on his shoulder and having his arm around her shoulder. He felt like he made a big accomplishment and his heart was beating like crazy, with every second that passed, he would fall in love with her even more.

After 2 more hours, the first test finally came to an end and the final participants who passed the first test was truly shocking. From the thousands of people who came, only a hundred or so were accepted, the Nemia academy seemed to be very strict in choosing talents, of course, there were those who protested but they were slapped by the inspector and sent flying hundred meter or so from their previous location. In this island their status and power had no effect, the inspector could do whatever he wants with cocky brats like them.

The hundred or so participants who passed the first test were gathered in the big square which was accessible only by going several steps up from the previous square where they passed the first test. This square was much bigger than the previous one and there were many fighting arenas, so Arthur guessed it must be where the tournament was going to be held in. Lucy seemed to have woken up a dozen or minutes ago, but she still remained in the same position, lost in thought and didn't realize the second test was about to begin.