"Begin."
The moment the word escaped the instructor's mouth, the entire area erupted.
Mana flared in every direction as students instantly started fighting for the limited nodes scattered across the area. Spells ignited, and students were already getting eliminated, as sigils were brutally shattered.
Ronan didn't move.
Not instantly.
He took a second and scanned the battlefield. He was in the back, so all the nodes — and the fighting — were happening in front of him.
Way too fast.
His eyes couldn't keep up.
He saw a boy lunge for a mana node only to be blasted away by a slab of earth before his hand even touched it. The student who had cast the earth magic instantly lunged for the node and poured mana into it without hesitation.
The first boy had his sigil shattered mercilessly.
Exam? Ronan thought. This is more of a culling than an exam.
Ronan took a step back.
And then another.
He turned around and moved away – away from the nodes.
➜➜➜➜➜
Aura didn't move.
Not because there was something restricting her – those days were far behind her.
No, Aura didn't move because she simply did not need to.
With a sword in hand, Aura gazed at the battlefield coldly, amethyst eyes reflecting the carnage unfolding in front of her. Her pitch-black hair fluttered in the wind as she channeled mana into the node.
Aura frowned as she looked at the sword in her hand.
Using a sword… felt wrong. She wasn't used to using it.
She was a magician.
But she didn't have much of a choice. Ronan had brought up good points. Most of the spells she knew relied on using demonic energy – not mana.
And while she knew how to control mana as every mage did, she didn't know many spells that utilized it.
She could, however, augment her body.
And that was why Ronan had suggested she enter the close combat exam.
However, when she looked at the battlefield in front of her, all she could feel was boredom.
Suddenly, an attack came from behind her.
Aura effortlessly dodged it and augmented mana into her fist, driving it into the girl's abdomen, sending her flying against a tree.
The girl yelled out in pain, and her wrist bent into an unnatural angle.
Her sigil broke from the impact.
A figure came and grabbed her from the shadows, removing her from the battlefield. An examiner, most likely. Aura assumed they were assigned to limit the casualties.
"Humans…" Aura muttered under her breath.
They were so fragile.
Aura looked at the node in her hand.
She already had one, and that would for sure guarantee her survival in the exam.
But Aura didn't settle for survival. She was a highblood.
Perhaps I can gather a few more.
➜➜➜➜➜
The first 5 minutes could only be described as chaos.
The next 15 weren't any better.
Ronan wove through the battlefield, his breathing steady and his mind sharp.
A fireball exploded to his left as a student cried out in pain and heat brushed his face as a student cried out in pain and heat brushed his face.
"Get out of the way!" A student yelled.
Ronan didn't hesitate, nor did he retaliate.
A blade of compressed wind sliced past him, barely grazing his clothes as it struck another student.
But Ronan didn't look back; he kept running.
His mind was clear, and he was navigating through the battlefield perfectly while avoiding danger.
But that wasn't enough.
He couldn't just keep running.
A tall figure stopped him in his path.
"Move," the figure growled.
Ronan didn't argue.
He stepped aside instantly, letting the tall student pass.
Ronan didn't have anything worth taking. If he had a mana node near him, that student would have definitely not let him go, but right now, Ronan wasn't worth his time.
Ronan turned around and watched the battlefield silently.
Spells were being thrown, fire, ice, water, earth, light – elements of all kinds.
Faster than his eyes could even process.
It was pointless.
Even if he got a node, he wouldn't be able to hold it, let alone channel mana into it.
Ronan ducked under a stone pillar.
His mana was still mostly full.
Mostly because he had almost never used it. Only a bit of mana augmentation – which came naturally to him despite never doing it. It was like imagining your body getting stronger, but with mana.
Ronan's hand gripped the sigil in his hand as he hid.
Pathetic, he thought. How boring is this?
He had known he was weak. But this was far beyond his comprehension.
He wasn't even a part of the competition at this point. If he joined the fight like them, all that he would accomplish would be getting his sigil shattered instantly.
His eyes lifted.
Across the field, students were already forming groups, the strong sticking together.
The weak students were almost all gone.
If this continues, I won't make it into the Academy, and my plans will have to change drastically.
No, he couldn't afford that. The Academy was where he would be able to exploit his knowledge to its fullest. This was where he would be able to have the most fun.
Ronan exhaled.
And his brain started working.
He thought of all the variables.
Direct competition is impossible in my current state.
Time is limited.
Nodes are limited.
Groups are monopolizing nodes.
He looked at a group of students.
They were the strongest amongst all the students in this area, all with rank 2 cores, and they had 12 nodes among 4 people.
No one was challenging them.
The others had noticed as well, it was just that they couldn't.
Whenever someone tried to get close, two of them would instantly intercept the attack, while the other two would farm 6 nodes each for points.
It was brutal, efficient.
All the students with rank 2 cores had a silent agreement. They would not fight each other, because there was no reason to.
But he could tell – they were getting tired. They were running out of mana, and physically, they were getting weaker too.
Ronan's eyes suddenly widened in realization.
He didn't need to win.
He just needed to get last place.
➜➜➜➜➜
Ronan's eyes scanned the battlefield.
Students were fighting over the nodes like starving animals.
If he had to guess, over half the students were eliminated by now, and there was clear desperation on the students' faces.
Burning mana, fighting desperately for one node amongst each other, while the stronger students with rank 2 cores monopolized multiple nodes for themselves.
Ronan exhaled slowly, and his thoughts sharpened.
400 nodes. 2500 participants.
Even in a perfect distribution, most would end with nothing.
But this wasn't perfect.
It was worse.
The strong monopolized while the weak disappeared.
Which meant–
Some wouldn't even get the chance to compete.
Ronan's eyes narrowed as he got out of his hiding spot behind the fallen debris.
Why was he trying to compete this early?
There was never a requirement.
Not the strongest.
Nor the fastest.
Ronan had originally thought that this exam was designed against his skill set, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
If you let go, your points reset.
Which meant–
Only those still holding nodes at the end truly mattered.
Ronan's lips formed a small curve.
"...I see."
Winning was irrelevant to him.
All that mattered–
Was still holding one when the timer hit zero.
Ronan took a left and started walking along the edge of the massive area. There were still around 1000 students active, which meant he could find an opportunity somewhere.
What was the point in hiding? Where would that get him? Ronan internally cursed himself for making such an inefficient choice during the chaos.
But more importantly, he cursed himself for picking such a boring choice.
The timer went down.
25:00.
20:00.
15:00.
It was at the 12-minute mark that Ronan finally found what he was looking for.
It was a single rank 2 student fighting off against two rank 1 students.
He only had one core, but that was because the others had likely been stolen. Ronan looked at the young man, battered and beaten, nothing like a noble.
The young man's green hair was dirty, and his arms and chest were full of cuts. He was clearly a noble, but he looked like a commoner at this moment.
The other two students weren't doing much better, however, teaming up to take down the stronger opponent.
Didn't they realize only one of them could benefit from defeating the rank 2 mage?
Ronan activated [Stealth].
Whether they realized or not was relevant to him.
The two students charged towards the noble.
One of them conjured a sickle of ice and shot it towards the rank 2 mage's face. He swiftly dodged and sent an arrow of fire back at them.
Rank 2 magic, Ronan assumed.
It shot towards the two rank 1 mages, and they both leapt out of the way, causing an explosion where the arrow made contact with the ground.
"You're running low on mana!" One of the rank two mages – a girl – yelled. "While we may also be low on mana, we are two people. You are only one! Without mana, do you truly believe you will be able to defeat us?"
"Give up," the boy next to her said, a cold look in his eyes.
The green-haired rank 2 mage gritted his teeth as he glared at the two rank 1 mages ambushing him.
"Do you have no shame? I had 3 mana cores at the start of this, and now I have only one, and you want to shamelessly steal this from me? I am a rank 2 mage! The Academy needs me, not some lowly rank 1 mages like you!"
The rank 2 mage was clearly very angry, but his words didn't make his situation any better, as the rank 1 mages simply got more furious.
"Then prove it," the girl gritted. "Or are you nobles all talk?"
The rank two mage moved again.
It wasn't an elegant gesture, no, it was desperate.
A wind blade shot forward towards the boy while he attempted to physically attack the girl who was closer to him.
The male rank 1 mage quickly dodged the attack.
However, that wasn't what the noble was going for. He cocked his fist back and was about to drive a fist into the girl's stomach.
But the girl simply sneered.
He was too slow with all his injuries.
She raised a hand and shot a sickle of ice directly at him, piercing him in the stomach. The rank 2 mage cried out in pain, clutching the ice lodged in his abdomen.
Ronan watched as the scene unfolded.
Patient.
His [Stealth] ability was still active, allowing him to hide behind a tree near the battle, avoiding detection.
It was draining his mana slowly, but Ronan had fully replenished it while he was hiding.
The girl's ally slowly walked up behind her, and he threw the rank 2 mage a mocking look.
"You nobles act like you're so superior, but it looks like you're just pathetic after all."
The girl spoke again.
"Drop the node, you cannot even stand."
She didn't move closer, though. This was still a rank 2 mage. If they let their guard down, the defeated mage could still take them down with him.
He laughed, his voice croaking.
"You think I'd let… trash like you take it?"
The boy behind her scoffed.
"Then we'll just take it."
He moved closer to the rank 2 mage.
He raised his foot, aimed at the noble's hand that gripped the node.
Ronan moved.
It was now or never.
He raised his hand.
And launched a fireball.
Not at the fallen noble.
At the boy.
BOOM!
Without an opportunity to defend, the fireball impacted the boy on the side of his chest. He was instantly sent flying to Ronan's right.
"–What?!" The girl yelped, snapping her head towards the explosion.
Ronan was already moving.
His body felt light, full of mana.
He instantly closed the distance from her blind spot, his hand shooting forward–
And he grabbed her throat.
The girl instantly started forming a sickle of ice in her palm, ready to stab Ronan in his abdomen–
But no time was wasted.
He activated [Fireball].
Not in front of him, not in his other hand.
In the hand grabbing the girl's throat.
BOOM!
Flames erupted point-blank.
There was no distance to react, no time to defend.
All of it had happened in seconds.
The girl's body convulsed violently as the explosion detonated against her throat.
It wasn't strong enough to kill her — that would disqualify him — but there were severe burns all over her throat and upper body, her shirt was ripped.
A figure swooped in and grabbed her.
Ronan turned to the boy now, who was slowly getting back on his feet.
He instantly started conjuring mana into his palm.
"You bastard–"
[Fireball].
A fireball exploded against his torso again, sending him crashing into the dirt. The sigil in his pocket slipped out, and Ronan quickly stomped it under his foot.
There wasn't much time left — he had to end this.
Ronan turned to the rank 2 noble.
He could see numerous emotions when their eyes met.
Fear.
Understanding.
Recognition.
"Ashbourne…?" Ronan could hear the boy mutter, but he paid it no mind.
The noble tried to move away, but there was still a sickle lodged in his chest, making him groan out in pain.
Ronan was in front of him now, his foot raised.
CRACK!