POV ALICE RIVIDEN
"Sylas, sixteen years old. He scored 5/5 on the first test and 4.75/5 on the second test."
"Sylas, please make your way to the arena."
I heard the voice amplifier roar; it was a little too loud for my taste.
Sylas, it was an odd name. And a commoner? Or maybe he just chooses to hide his noble lineage.
But I doubt that.
I don't think I've ever heard of a Sylas among the nobles in Rividen; perhaps he's a bastard.
No, that seems even more outrageous. But what kind of commoner scores 9.75/10 stars? I received 9.45/10, and I'm royalty.
I watched as the man, appearing to be five ten, maybe five eleven at most, walked towards the arena.
He had striking black hair with a single piece of purple running through it, and dark eyes to match; he had straight eyebrows that seemed like swords, and eerily white skin.
Matched with his muscles visible through his clothes and his scars littering his body, he had quite a striking figure.
He seemed to be in very good shape; perhaps he was a guard?
But he's too young; nobody would want a guard below sixteen.
The most intriguing part was the scars; his body seemed to be covered in scars, at least the spots of open skin were. Especially that X-shaped one on his shoulder, it was huge.
Perhaps a mercenary.
He stood in the middle of the arena and unsheathed his sword, which was chipped, even the handle seemed to be falling apart.
The Professor in charge of the trial handed Sylas a new sword.
He's certainly not a noble; no noble would have those scars, let alone carry a broken blade. The instructor spoke once again before an older student volunteered to fight him.
He was a second-year student at the bottom of the pack in ranking.
In other words, a weakling.
The man who decided to fight him was an elf. He was of similar height, maybe a tad taller, with blonde hair and green eyes.
He stood tall and said in a loud voice.
"I don't care what rating you got on previous tests; you better brace yourself for the beating you're about to receive."
How naive.
Sylas just nodded, seemingly uninterested.
This only served to piss the elf off more. The crowd instantly got loud, taunting both the elf and Sylas, trying to get a reaction out of somebody, but before they could say anything, the instructor waved his hand and said.
"You may commence."
The elf instantly used a chant to shoot a strong gust of wind right away at Sylas.
Sylas seemed interested in that process and watched it unfold.
"Roaring winds with mighty gust, answer my call for in you I trust."
Sylas was smiling?
"How stupid."
I heard him mumble, even being at the edge of the arena with my ears enchanted with mana, I barely heard it.
The elf seemed inclined to believe the wind would throw him off since he instantly followed it with his sword in hand.
Sylas waved his hand straight forward, and the gust rushed past him.
Shattering the wind, the elf summoned with his chant.
Nobody here missed what he just did; after all, we are all magus; it was the ease with which he did it that surprised everyone.
And the lack of chant.
He created a stream of wind that cut through the middle of the elf's spell in that split second.
It pushed the elf's mana to each side of him and dispersed it calmly, which was very impressive, to say the least.
Especially with the difference of twilight to dusk rank in strength, the elf's spell was at least three times stronger than his, maybe more, and yet he countered perfectly.
Snapping out of my inner monologue, I focused on the fight.
The elf was already upon Sylas, striking at him with his sword.
Sylas seemed prepared; he side-stepped the strike and swung his sword directly at the elf's side. It seemed like an easy strike to block as it was telegraphed very noticeably, but as the elf attempted to adjust his footing and block the sword, he suddenly lost his balance.
Sylas had manipulated the earth below his feet and causing him to lose his balance.
Hmm, smooth elemental manipulation.
I wouldn't have done that, though. I would've just beaten the elf with sword technique alone to show my superiority, it looks like he could've too.
Sylas stopped his sword just as it was about to strike and then lunged with his left fist directly at the elf's chin.
He hit it cleanly, and the elf got knocked out instantly.
Silence.
No cheers erupted for Sylas on his victory; they were, after all, second-years. It was a bad example to lose.
The announcer spoke.
"Sylas, congratulations, you have received 14.7/15 stars, you are ranked first among the first years as of this moment."
First ranked, Interesting.
I thought this academy would be boring for the first year, but at least somebody here will make this fun.
And then it was my turn.
Let's see if I can take first ranked.
"Miss Alice Rividen, age 16, received 4.725 on each test, totalling 9.45/10 stars."
"Please make your way towards the arena."
End of chapter 11