A figure was flying at great speeds through a tunnel of magical wind. This figure was Ray, who was on his way to the first island to check if his gamble had given any fruit. Would he get the fantastic battle he was expecting, an enormous clash of talented mages who had also gambled their scores fighting for a single checkpoint?
Naturally, Ray was not completely sure if there would be many that had risked their scores for supposedly a checkpoint that could give them seventy-five bonus points.
Ray was not that worried about his score. During his journey from the eighth island to the first, he had collected exactly thirty-five bonus points and had successfully survived in the wild, the goal of the test. Therefore, he believed that he was in the clear to gamble. He could now use the rest of the test as a way to have fun.
Of course, he was hoping that a lot of people had made the first island their goal, and specifically talented people. He would be pretty disappointed if the people that went here were just the ones that were planning to drop out. He would be forced to run in the direction of the last island just to see if he could have some fun with the beast of the last island.
That was a what Ray was gambling instead of his score, his fun. Most people making such a move were risking their score while he was risking his fun, after all, the probability that he would reach the last island in time to fight the beast there was abysmal low.
Therefore, he hoped with all his heart that at least one interesting person had showed up to have fun with him.
He was in desperate need of some after such an existential crisis there was nothing better than a good brawl, that's what he thought.
'Sleep might be the only thing that beats a good brawl in that category, but there is no rest for the wicked.'
Using the momentum of the wind tunnel, he deployed his fire magic to create an extra propulsion to fly out of the pre-determined course of the wind tunnel connecting the islands.
After escaping the wind tunnel, Ray kept using his flames to fly towards the center of the island instead of its borders. While in the air, he scanned the surroundings, looking for any presence or signs of the checkpoint.
The first island could be described as a complete wasteland. The ground was made of mostly rocks, or rather the island itself was one huge rock. The surface of said rock was littered with several cracks similar to slashes of a claw or a sword. These cracks were on average a hundred meters deep(328 ft), the bigger ones even reached the three hundred meters deep (984 feet).
However, the biggest was the one at the center of the island. A huge crack resembling a spider web, around six hundred meters deep in less deep areas (1968 ft).
Something told him that the checkpoint was there. So, he flew there without hesitation, at some point he forsook the propulsion of flames and decided to let gravity do its work pulling him down.
Reinforcing his body and using some magic, he then landed swiftly on the ground, looking around as he did so. The area, much like the rest of the island was resembling of a wasteland, the deep parts of the cracks were awfully dark, more than normal that is. With his experience, he knew that even if deep, this place should not be as dark as it was.
"So there was another person that had the same idea that I did? Tell me what's your name?"
In front of him, a young woman had just descended similarly than he did, propulsing herself with fire. She had bright red hair and radiant red eyes. She was another of the few that had caught his interest at the start of the entrance exams. What caught his interest the most was definitely her magic reserves, that if compared to his at the moment, was twenty time bigger.
Naturally, if he compared her to his peak she wouldn't even compare, around a tenth maybe, then again that was several times higher than average, no matter the era. If he compared her to Gideon, she would have around half of his mana reserves.
"Ray"
He responded. It was easy to tell what was the idea she spoke of. The gamble between the first and the last island, it seemed she had risked her score in order to aim for the checkpoint of the first island. He had no intentions of being polite to a possible opponent, that would only dull their aggressiveness towards him.
"I'm Mara Flamma. Hearing my name, you should already understand my status. So, Ray, let's do this the easy way, I let you go scott free, and you don't get in my way of the seventy-five points."
He frowned slightly.
"Are you suggesting I simply give up an opportunity because you asked for it?"
"Why, of course, don't you know who I am? I am from the Flamma family, a lineage of compromised of several accomplished fire mages. Blaze Flamma, do you know about him?"
'Blaze Flamma?'
If Ray was not misremembering things, Blaze Flamma was the one also known as the Heaven's Smith, it was commonly agreed upon that he was the greatest smith of all time, only surpassed by the gods, if surpassed at all.
According to rumors, all of that was possible because of his talents in flame magic, which was understandable. As someone with a great comprehension of the fire element, he too had some knowledge about smiting, no experience however, or interest for that matter.
Mara continued to speak.
"If you don't step away, my flames will swallow you whole, ruining your chances in the entrance exams. So, I'm being merciful here and giving you an opportunity to survive."
"Be careful, Mara."
Being addressed by her first name without any type of pleasantries irked her, making her frown.
"Be careful to not have your own words directed at you."
"You believe you can defeat me?"
"More specifically, I believe my flames can swallow you whole, as you had put it."
A grin formed on Ray's face as Mara's hand shot forward, conjuring an absurd amount of mana and turning it into fire that spiraled in his direction. Without much thought, he copied her movement and also conjured a stream of spiraling flames that rushed to meet her own flames. Although possessing smaller mana reserves and being close in mana control, there was something about flames that Mara could never surpass Ray that allowed him to use the same firepower with fewer amounts of mana.
Boom
Flames scattered around the dark area deep into the web-like cracks of the first island, illuminating everything around in an almost blinding way.
From between the flames, Mara's figure jumped forward, prepared to deliver a powerful kick by extending her leg, flames dancing around it. Ray didn't spare much thought to it, replying to the attack by simply covering his arm in flames and blocking the strike. His own flames mixed with her flames before receiving a sudden influx of mana, exploding.
Her flames were dragged along with the action, also exploding, forcing her to step back.
Gritting her teeth, she extended both of her hands in finger gun like shape and started firing flaming bullets.
Without changing his stance a single millimeter, a wall of flames surged between himself and the bullets. The flames merged together, becoming a single fire.
Ray extended his hand in its direction, his hands shaped in a claw like manner, before twisting his wrist. The flames started convulsing and rotating in various fireballs. Without any word, the flames shot forward in beautiful arcs in Mara's direction.
Creating explosions under her feet, she started dodging the flaming projectiles that flew after her. Ray didn't bother changing their trajectories.
Mara was absolutely surprised. When she first saw Ray, her first thought was to check his mana levels. They were above average, of course, but she didn't believe it to be a threat, specially since she didn't feel much aura either.
So she was comprehensibly surprised to find Ray to be the stronger mage. His flames felt hotter, fiercer and more destructive than her own. Not only that, judging from her senses his mana control was just a little above her own, so how was he able to achieve so much power with so little mana?
She couldn't understand.
"You must be thinking, how is he able to achieve so much power with so little mana?"
She narrowed her eyes. It seemed she was about to have her answers.
"When evaluating one's capabilities, there are several criteria to analyze. Mana reserves, mana control, affinity and last and less known, element insight."
Mara brows frowned deeper.
She had heard the term before, but she and everyone else around her never gave much importance to that criteria as, according to them, with the era of information it was easy for everyone to know a lot about a specific element.
"That's right. My mana reserves are just a little above average. My mana control is one of, if not the best in this academy. And I clearly have a strong affinity with fire. So surely, the difference between both of us must be in my insight. And if you truly are the descendant of Blaze Flamma, then that is definitely the reason of my superiority."
That made sense.
"So, what about I give you a little course about flames?"
"Huh?"
That caught her off guard. A course about flames? In the middle of the Practical Test, scratch that, in the middle of a battle?
"Why?"
"As things are, you are the only one here to entertain me, therefore, I will impart some knowledge that will boost your power the moment you finish processing it."
"Such a miraculous thing is possible?"
Becoming stronger from hearing a few words? Since when were things that easy?
"If you are thinking on the lines of, "Since when were things that easy?", then let me tell it's not. Only someone that has already reached high levels of the other criteria can see fast improvements, others will still have a hard time, even if they get their hands on the knowledge."
'Is he calling me talented?'
Mara took a step back in surprise. Although he didn't express it directly, she felt that was what his words implied, and that felt weird. The Flamma family's only interest was firepower, wealth and weapons. There were several powerful mages that had been expelled from the family because they weren't proficient in flame magic.
Mara was the granddaughter of the current head. Her mother had been married into the family, her father was the future heir of the family. However, her mother had no talent had flame mage, and therefore her worth was completely linked to Mara's own worth. She had to be a talented flame mage, otherwise, his father would get rid of her and her mother in order to have better chances to get the position of head of the family.