"Hey! What the fuck do you think that you are doing?"
Jet Kawasaki asked that question and everyone turned their attention to him; the dean and other faculty members did nothing and simply watched what was about to unfold.
A gust of blue wind suddenly appeared all around Jet's body and faster than a blink, Jet was propelled from where he stood to directly above Nick's position, a trail of blue wind following behind him from his previous position to where he was now. The trail had a shape similar to an incomplete, upside down 'U'.
Nick didn't even need to look above him to know Jet's position since Spatial Awareness already fed his mind the image of Jet attempting to kick at his head from above. Nick's right arm instantly became metallic-silver and sparked with flashes of silver light.
His right arm then moved at a speed that most of the other students had difficulty keeping up with. Nick grabbed Jet's kicking leg with his right hand firmly and Jet immediately lost control of his entire body as a result of Nick's touch. Jet was perturbed:
(Why can't I move?)
Jet's kick immediately lost momentum and within that split second, Nick used the power of Warrior Armor to propel Jet's soul away from himself; from the perspective of everyone else who was able to keep track of Nick's movements, however, it seemed as if Nick threw Jet away by using the grip that he had on Jet's leg.
Jet flew at the speed of cannon fire toward the wall at the back of the assembly hall and was thrown against it so violently, facing the stage, that his body made an imprint on the wall as his feet and arms spread apart. Jet spat out a mouthful of blood but was otherwise fine since a thin layer of blue wind at his back protected him from most of the impact. He slowly slid down from the wall and slumped onto the floor, looking at Nick on the stage with confusion.
(Where did this guy come from? He managed to halt my kick in a split second, then throw me this hard with barely any movement on his part. That spell that he's using mostly gives me the feeling of soul path. Is he a Soul Magician?)
Nick retracted Warrior Armor as he lowered his right arms so that his skin and shirt regained their natural colors. He mused:
(Stopping that guy's kick in midair was no problem since I just had to use my soul's power to restrain his soul and throwing him that hard and far was no problem either since all I had to do was to use my soul power to propel his soul towards a certain direction, similar to the principles behind Absolute Push. He was very fast and his kick would have probably hurt if it had hit but just being very fast isn't good enough to get the drop on me anymore.)
The whole room went into a commotion after Nick's and Jet's exchange:
"What? Jet got thrown like a toy. Who is Nick Capitol?"
"You don't know since you weren't in the same batch of second years as me but that guy was one of the best among the second years at that time a few years ago."
"Yeah. I remember that he beat soldiers within Never Ending Battlefield. Nick Capitol...which rock has he been hiding under?"
"He's clearly deserving of a better student ranking. Let's see what he does during the inter-academy competition."
...
Nick slightly turned to Dean Gecko and asked:
"Do you think that they've seen enough?"
The dean did not even have a chance to respond before a bright, white light momentarily flashed in the audience. Nick frowned as Spatial Awareness warned him of a fast approaching student; he thought:
(This person is faster than the wind path Magician.)
Within less than a second, a beam of white light flew from the audience, bounced off the ceiling and headed straight for Nick with William Rollins appearing at the end of the beam of light and directly in front of Nick in short order.
William clenched his left and right hands into fists, following which they both glowed with white light. He then punched them out at incredible speed towards Nick's chest; by this time, it had not been three seconds since the first flash of white light.
(Martial Light)
By the time that William's fists had reached half way to Nick's chest, Nick's right arm had already been enveloped in a metallic-silver hue once again and as it sparked with flashes of silver light, Nick drew Failed Tool from his left side's sheath with his right hand even faster than William could land his attack. Nick had already completed the laws for one of his spells and so he cast:
(Mystic Blade.)
William Rollins was a light path master but Nick was a blade path master. Light path did specialize in 'speed' but it so happened that blade path, similar to sword path, specialized in 'speed of the kill'. Both concepts were equivalent but not equal in all circumstances but at this juncture, they did amount to being equal.
William was able to use his magic sense to intuit Failed Tool's fast approaching movement towards his neck. While his two fists were about to pound into Nick's chest, he knew that his head was about to roll if he pressed forward and completed his attack.
(Well...I guess Victoria was right about you.)
William cancelled Martial Light immediately and shot up towards the ceiling as a beam of white light before bouncing off the ceiling and returning to his seat with a flash of white light, unharmed. The exchange between he and Nick only lasted four seconds.
Failed Tool slashed across Williams previous position, but seeing that his spell's target had returned to his seat, Nick sheathed his sword, retracted Warrior Armor and cast Space Rift below his feet to fall into an empty seat at the far left end of the assembly hall; the space gate was closed as soon as Nick took his seat. Nick had stored the gold coin into his space band long ago, before Jet had attacked him. After he was seated, Nick returned his ghost white blades to their adjacent space and focused his attention on the stage.
Everything had happened so fast that the uninvolved students had a delayed reaction. They had barely seen what had taken place; the faculty member's however saw the entire exchange clearly. When they finally recovered from their stupor, the students went into another commotion as many eyed Nick and William, who were now both in the audience and commented:
"I didn't see what happened exactly but I know that Nick Capitol managed to fend off William Rollins. Incredible."
"Bright light was fast but Nick was somehow just as fast."
"If that is the standard of the other competitors from the other academies, the inter-academy competition will be a heated contest."
"Didn't any of you notice? Nick had not used any of the hovering blades during his exchanges with Jet and William..."
"Both those guys look younger than me. Have I been living a dog's life all these years?"
...
Dean Gecko glanced at Nick, Jet, and William in slight appreciation.
(Their exchange showed the other students what they should be aiming for...well done. That Nick Capitol has grown well, his soul path skills are strangely above average and his magic powers are better than I expected they would be at this point, even with the signals emitted from the soul tag that I planted on him feeding me vague indications of his progress. I still can't touch him while he attends the academy but I can wait.)
Gecko continued his address:
"Now that you have seen the standard of some of the of the competitors, let's move on. All competitors are to report to the southern woodland clearing exactly five days from now for transport. You may take what you like with you to the competition but once you are within Large Garden, you will not be allowed to leave until the competition has concluded. Further details will be given to each competitor by email in coming days. You are all dismissed."
As soon as the dean said that, Nick cast Grey Room and vanished from the assembly hall. The other nine competitors noticed Nick's disappearance and those that wished to speak with him were forced to swallow their intentions. The other candidates except for Patrice Suez, Jessica Jones and Jet Kawasaki did move to greet each other. Within the next hour, everyone including the dean and faculty cleared out of the assembly hall, looking forward to the competition that was to come.
**************************************************
Nick cancelled Grey Room to appear within his workspace on the second floor of his building and then cancelled Warrior Armor.
(I don't need the spell active while I'm working.)
Nick sat on his work stool in front of his work table and summoned a bag of butter bread from his space band. He ate while he mused:
(The inter-academy competition is bound to be a huge event with a lineup of all sorts of troublesome characters and so I have to prepare accordingly. Most of the spells that I use are inferior in quality to what my attainment levels could help me produce right now. Just like I did with soul path and space path, the blade path spells, and rule path spells that I frequently use need to be replaced with spells of better in quality and that complement each other. Conceptualizing such spells with my foundation is not the difficult part anymore so I just have to put in the work.)
Unlike many other Magicians, Nick would always replace the spells that he intended to use in the long term with others after he improved his skills and knowledge greatly. This helped him to compete with those who had great advantages over him and this style of doing things worked to his benefit many times.
(If I had not created Jupiter and Battle Armor, defeating Harvey Nefari a few years ago would have been too unlikely. Just like then, I'm probably going to end up facing people who have had better training and access to spells and methods that have been perfected over centuries. I need to better my own arsenal of spells. People usually spent decades to become masters at a path but I practically only spent four years to become a master of two of my cultivation paths. I can't waste my advantage.)
Nick began brain storming on what his style of combat for blade path and rule path would be and knew that he needed to make major changes.
(Many of my rule path methods, for example, seemed to mimic blade path; methods like Dominating Splice, Sever, Big Sever were powerful helps when I created them but using actual blade path methods along with my two swords would be more appropriate. On the other hand, my blade path methods are not as impactful as methods of my other paths that perform the same function, for example, Mystic Blade is nowhere as powerful as Dominating splice and Blade Escape is not as effective as Space Rift in regards to movement. I should create spells using the most appropriate paths for their purposes. That is the advantage that I have now.)
Nick summoned stacks of papers and got to work immediately on conceptualizing spells. Since he had a firm foundation in spell creation, various inheritances, Eyes of the Fated and master path attainment levels, he had all that he needed to create high quality spells within days and so Nick begun his good work.
Four days later, Nick had his new spells ready. Nick made full use of his advantages and all of them were advanced grade spells yet had fast cast times and more than reasonable magic energy consumption requirements. He had created a total of four spells, two for rule path and two for blade path. Nick summarized his notes on them at his work table:
____________________________________________________________
Tyrant Blade: a rank 2 blade path advanced grade spell that increases the speed and agility of arm and hand movements while holding a bladed weapon by three times and increases the cutting power of held bladed weapons in proportion to the magic energy or magic power concentrated within the arms and/or weapons at any one time. This spell can be maintained indefinitely, requiring consumption of 140 magical units per second.
Tyrant Light: a rank 2 blade path advanced grade spell that produces or enhances blade light to create a devastating, ranged cleaving effect with one swing of a bladed weapon. The intensity of this spell's effect is based on the quality of the bladed weapon used and the amount of magic energy consumed in order to cast the spell at activation. The base consumption involved in activation is approximately 5,500 magical units to approximately 7,500 magical units.
Dominion Field: a rank 2 rule path and space path advanced grade spell that creates a special space for as far as the caster can project their magic power. The power of rules suppresses magic power of inferior quality to this spell's own magic power at a base rate of 5% within its area of effect but the suppression may be more based on the exact difference in the quality of magic power. The power of space allows the caster to change the position of the objects within the area of effect once every hour for each specific object; the resulting magic energy consumption is equivalent to the saturation of magical units within the object with a base consumption of 300 magical units. The base consumption involved in activation is 2,000 magical units and may be more depending on the overall size of the special space while to maintain the spell requires an additional 2,000 magical units every minute.
Saint Soul: a rank 2 rule path and soul path advanced grade spell that provides a self-healing and magic power enhancing effect, the former being based on the current magical output of one's own soul and the latter being based on the severity of the injury. The base consumption involved in activation is 6,000 magical units and may be more based on the severity of the injury. This spell's effects cannot stack onto other healing methods nor can it be used in combination with other healing methods within a span of approximately five minutes.
____________________________________________________________
Nick looked at his notes with pride. He had practically burnt himself out developing these advanced grade spells and they were all based on foundations that he had set previously through his creation of his other spells.
(Nothing really good is created without a track record of pure action trailing it. These spells will replace many of the other ones that I use frequently in battle, lessening the number of spells that I have to become proficient in casting overall. These spells simply produce higher quality magic power and have similar or lower cast times than the others. I should be able to compete with many legacy Magicians with these added to my arsenal.)
Nick then got up from his work desk and cast Warrior Armor which resulted in a faint, red aura enveloping his body and a light, magical pressure being emitted from him. He then cast Grey Room and left his building, spending the rest of the day, going to various stores to purchase rank 2 magical materials for space, soul, blade, formation and even earth path. Nick spent about £13,600,000 in one afternoon.
Nick had purely been living off the money in his bank account for four years and despite his heavy expenditure, he was still a billionaire, having over £150,000,000,000 remaining. Of course, this was mostly because rank 2 materials were relatively cheap; if Nick had required rank 3 materials, he might not have remained a billionaire for so long.
When Nick came back to his building, a man was at his front door speaking with Dewy. Nick recognized the man to be William Rollins, who he had a brief physical exchange with days earlier. William wore a black, graphic t-shirt, a pair of light-blue, straight-legged jeans pants and a pair of white running shoes.
Nick was curious as to why the 2nd best ranked student within the third year was at his door step so he cancelled Grey Room while he was still about ten meters away. William sensed Nick's magic power immediately as he appeared and pointed at him with his right index finger. A thin, white beam of light shot out of William's index finger and travelled to Nick's front in an instant. William then appeared at the leading end amidst a flash of white light and the trailing beam dissipated thereafter.
(Instant Light)
Dewy was momentarily shocked by William's movement but then he shook his head and returned to the inside of the building. Nick halted his movements and asked the smiling man in front of him, who now placed his hands within his corresponding pants pockets:
"William Rollins, what do you want?"
William replied genially:
"Nick Capitol, I believe that we met within Never Ending Battlefield some years ago. Do you remember? I only really came here to talk."
Nick still didn't get why William would want to talk to him but he answered his question:
"Yeah...I remember meeting you back then. I saw you waste an entire mob of students."
"Ha. I only did that because of the chaos of the scenario that you basically engineered. Anyway, I'm here because I want to discuss magic from the perspective of one master to another."
Nick slightly raised both his brows and asked in response:
"Master at what?"
William put on a knowing expression and replied:
"Don't play dumb, man. It's no secret that I am a light path master and the way that you countered my move at the assembly a few days ago suggest to me that you are a master as well. I won't ask what path you master in exactly but I'd like to know what the experience was like getting to your level when you are even younger than me. I'd owe you a favor if you are willing to share."
Nick was caught off guard by Williams request. This was the first time in his entire life that someone was actually interested in his life experiences. Most of the time, people only expressed jealousy, hatred or indifference towards him. Nick opened his mouth, then closed it before simply looking towards the restaurant across the street that Nick sometimes ate meals at. He looked at an empty table through the glass windows and cast:
(Space Rift.)
A space gate opened to Nick's left flank, like a curtain being drawn open at both ends. William looked inside and saw the scene of a restaurant. Nick motioned his head towards the inside of the space gate, indicating for William to follow him and then Nick entered through the space gate.
Nick kept the spell active so that William could follow him and only two seconds after Nick walked through the space gate, William followed, impressed by Space Rift's power. The space gate immediately closed as Nick cancelled Space Rift and William looked across the street at where they were previously standing.
Nick took a seat in the booth near them and William sat opposite to him, saying:
"That movement spell is pretty impressive. Space path, right? Where did you get it?"
"I created it."
"Huh hoh, really? I am intending to create a few original spells but the task seems difficult since I've never attempted it. Hmmm...does that mean that you are a space path master? I said I wouldn't ask but it's the natural assumption."
"You don't actually need to be a master at a path to create a good spell. It just takes time, practise and consuming as much information as possible about the concept that you're basing your spell on."
William noticed how Nick dodged his question but replied simply:
"Noted."
Nick then called for someone to take his order. Normally, people had to go up to the cashier to order, but the cahier new that Nick was willing to tip big in these instances. The female cashier also took William's order while she was at their booth, then returned to have their food prepared. William remarked:
"You move like a real tycoon. I happen to know a little about your normal background...sorry, fact checking is just what rich people do. You seem to have become wildly successful after becoming a Magician as opposed to me who has family money. I can only assume that your apparent wealth has something to do with your magical skills. What do you think is the best way to cultivate?"
Nick answered honestly:
"Decide what you want to do, ignore the opinions of others and the conventions of society and complete the work that you have to do...alone."
Both William's brows raised when he heard that; he thought:
(That might be the realest answer to that question that I have ever heard.)
Nick went on to discuss with William some of his early difficulties with magic like having no money to afford quality materials or methods and some of his solutions to those problems like doing a ridiculous amount of self-study.
William responded with his own stories of difficulties in developing his skills and how he overcame them. Although William was from a wealthy family, even wealthy people had their own troubles and shortcomings.
Nick found William's company pleasant since he did not attempt to gossip or create drama so Nick indulged him for another hour. During that time, the two ate and spoke about what they had each discovered about various principles involved in cultivating magic as well as what magical paths that they had the most trouble in dealing with.
William lamented:
"I would have to say that wisdom path is kicking my ass. It hardly matters how fast you can move if your opponent has already schemed you into a corner ahead of time."
Nick responded:
"I know something from stumbling and that is: there is no strongest magic and only strongest Magician. Once you improve yourself drastically, it hardly matters what path your opponent is using."
William laughed in response to Nick's brutally honest remark and asked seriously:
"Speaking of paths, at the student assembly a few days ago, you dealt with Jet Kawasaki using soul path and then you countered me with what I assume to be blade path; I've even seen you use space magic multiple times. What is your most proficient path? Surely you don't mind answering because every Magician has to declare a specialization when they become licensed."
Nick thought for a moment before he replied:
"I am most proficient in soul path but I dabble in other paths too."
Nick told the truth since he was indeed a soul path scholar while only a master at his other cultivation paths.
William nodded in understanding. Nick then announced:
"I still have to get ready for the travel to Large Garden tomorrow so this is where I will have to end our conversation."
William replied to Nick, indicating his positive outlook on the inter-academy competition:
"The competition is bound to be a blast. Don't lose to anyone before you end up facing me."
Although different academies were set to face off against each other, Dean Gecko also said that only one person would come out on top. The implication was clear.
Nick cast Grey Room and quickly disappeared, making his way back to his commercial building. William left the restaurant on foot before disappearing as a flash of white light.
Nick went to his bedroom on the second floor, cancelling all his spells and for the first time in a long time, he went to sleep without any anxiety about research results, his cultivation or his past. Nick's growing power had evidently begun to put him at peace.
During the next morning, Nick showered and when he was done, he got dressed in pair of dark blue jeans pants, a neatly tucked in red dress shirt and a pair of black, laceless, leather dress shoes. He made sure that both Failed Tool and Pressure Piece were sheathed at his left and right sides respectively and that his badge that housed his Blade Works magic formation was clipped to his right side, its silver emblem of a dragon's claw shimmering with dull light at this time.
Nick cast Warrior Armor, then Grey Room and left his commercial building and headed to the academy's southern woodlands.
***************************************************
By 10 am, within a clearing located somewhere in the Richter Order Academy southern woodlands, eleven people stood in close proximity at this time. Two stood out from the rest as they were the only ones wearing magician's robes; one of them appeared to be a man wearing a grey robe, who kept a hood over his face in order to conceal his identity and the other was a man who wore a light-green robe with a sword attached to the left side of his waist that had a black and silver sheath and a silver hilt. The latter man was tall, burly and had short, black, wavy hair; his expression remained carefree.
Thompson Varrow yawned while adjusting his sword. He stood beside the gray robed Magician, facing the nine students in front of them. He explained:
"As soon as the last person arrives, we will enter Large Garden."
Jet Kawasaki observed the other students, then replied:
"It's that bastard, Nick Capitol, who is outstanding. Isn't it just typical for someone so arrogant to hold everyone else back."
Victoria Nelson remarked:
"Be careful, if he hears you, he might throw you again."
Jet sneered at Victoria, then remained silent. William Rollins, who stood close to Victoria with both his hands within his pockets, observed all the competitors one by one. William, himself, was wearing a light-blue, fitting pair of jeans pants, a zipped up, light-blue leather Jacket and a pair of black Kickers.
Victoria beside him wore a pair of fitting, dark-blue jeans, a long sleeved, dark-blue, buttoned up, silk blouse and a pair of light, white running shoes.
Jet Kawaski wore a pair of fitting, a pair of black jeans shorts that reached to his knees, a white, buttoned-up, collared shirt and a pair of white sneakers.
Calder Wright was a relatively short, white man, about five foot, six inches tall, he had a head full of neatly trimmed, black hair complemented by mutton chop side burns that reach to the base of his face. He wore a pair of dark-blue jeans pants, a white t-shirt, a dark-blue, opened, denim jacket and a pair of black, leather combat boots.
Pearl Wiles wore a white and red spotted, frilled skirt that reached to her knees along with a long sleeved, fitting, red, cotton blouse and a pair of slightly raised, red heels.
Jessie Auburn wore a pair of dark brown, fitting, cargo pants, a black graphic t-shirt and a pair of black combat boots.
Jessica Jones wore a pair of straight legged, light-blue jeans, a short sleeved, buttoned up light-blue blouse and a pair of black and blue sneakers.
Edward Keslow was a man of eastern European descent that had tanned, white skin, dark-brown eyes, a straight nose and a head full of spiky but well styled dark-brown hair. He wore a pair wore a fitting, white, denim pants, a green baseball t-shirt, a black cap on his head and a pair of light-green and white running shoes.
Patrice Suez wore a loose, long sleeved purple dress that reached down to her forelegs and an open toed, flat but raised pair of women's shoes.
All nine students remained aloof at this time and only waited for things to get started. At this time, a brown young man with white hair and strange eyes that had blue spirals appeared near to the group like a phantom; the faint red aura present on his body and the slight pressure that he radiated was apparent. Everyone noticed the use of space magic and looked in his direction.
Thompson Varrow complained:
"Space magic is very useful for movement so aren't you ashamed to be the last one to arrive."
Nick shrugged his shoulders, asking:
"How do you know that I wasn't the first person to arrive here and just waited to appear now?"
Everyone except the grey robed Magician, Patrice Suez, William Rollins and Jessica Jones sneered at Nick in unison in response to his question. Nick smiled and said:
"It's good to see you, Sir Varrow."
Varrow replied:
"Hmph! Little rascal, I have still yet to reprimand you for the stunt that you pulled at the student assembly a week ago. Keep in mind that if it was not for the academy rules, carelessly upstaging a Regular Magician would probably have gotten you killed."
Nick maintained his indifferent expression and replied simply:
"Understood."
Varrow squinted his eyes, suspicious as to whether Nick really understood. In any case, Varrow spoke to the grey robed Magician at his right side, saying:
"Aright, all the competitors are here. Send us to Large Garden."
All ten competitors focused on the grey robed man the moment that Varrow finished his instructions. The man explained:
"I'm about to use a space path magic formation to send you away. Be aware that you will not be sent to a sub-formation within Large Garden but you will be sent to a marked spot where you will be transported to the competition site."
After the grey robed man said those words, he clasped his hands and exuded magic energy. All the candidates were then able to tell what level the man was at. Nick nodded his head, thinking:
(Of course the academy would leave the operation of a teleportation formation to a Regular Magician.)
Within a few moments, a silver, circular magic formation appeared above them, having about a nine-meter radius and shone down with intense silver light that enveloped the vision of all present except the grey robed Magician. When the silver light dissipated one minute later, the grey robed Magician was clearly the only one left within the clearing.
********************************************************
When Nick's eyes were finally free from the influence of the silver light, the view of a vast water body appeared in front of him along with ten large, metal ships that lined up along a metal and wooden dock that jutted out from the shore over the water body. Nick looked behind him and saw that to their backs was an expanse of trees closely grouped together for kilometers across while the area where Nick was standing had clearly been cleared and was just bare, dark-brown, dirt ground.
Besides the ten competitors from Richter Order Academy and Thompson Varrow, there were about twenty other distinct groups of ten students and one older, robed Magician that supervised them. Varrow explained to Nick and the others:
"Large Garden is a realm that is about the size of Australia but it is filled with all kinds of magic materials and magic beasts so it is a valuable, resource producing realm which is why magic sub-formations connected to main magic formations on Grand Earth are not commonly placed here. The realm's access rights are held by the royal family. Take a good look at the forest behind you. Notice anything?"
Nick and the other nine had already looked at the forest when they arrived but humored Varrow anyway. Nick soon turned again to focus on Varrow and said:
"I don't notice anything."
Most of the students turned back around gradually, there expressions indicating that they agreed with Nick. Patrice Suez, however, turned back around and said:
"I vaguely sense many powerful life forms beyond those trees."
Varrow maintained his carefree expression and replied:
"The fact that most of you did not sense anything means that the barrier between that forest and this part of the shoreline is working. Since Patrice here cultivates wisdom path, it might be different for her but there is indeed a barrier at the border of that forest that repels and guards against the magic beasts behind it which are mostly rank 3 and rank 4 magic beasts. See that huge lake in front of us; it is rife with the same ranks of magic beasts except that they will not leave the water for very long, if at all."
Nick now understood why Varrow was here to supervise them - to make sure that they didn't die from magic beast attacks.
(My Warp Sense spell cannot get past the supposed barrier but somehow Patrice Suez's methods can. Wisdom path has its clear advantages.)
Varrow continued:
"Those ships docked over there are what we are going to use to get to the competition site which is an island situated at the middle of the lake. The journey will take about five days because the ships cannot move too quickly or else its magic qualities will not be able to repel the magic beasts lurking below it."
Jessie Auburn frowned and suggested:
"Why don't we use flying devices to get to the competition venue?"
Varrow shook his head slowly, answering:
"Because this realm has some fairly troublesome flying magic beasts that won't usually approach the lake."
The ten students could guess what Varrow meant by 'fairly troublesome' so they accepted the fact that they had to travel by ship to their destination. Varrow then said:
"We are assigned to boat number 1 so we will embark now but let me say a few things first. I will be busy most of the time while in my room so don't come looking for me unless a life will be lost. Also, there are no rules about fighting the other students but if you kill anyone, you will be executed by the supervisor appointed by their academy. Just keep those things in mind and you can do whatever you want while on board so long as it doesn't interfere with the ship's operation."
After saying that, Varrow then turned around while motioning the ten students to follow him. Nick walked silently along and soon Pearl Wiles moved close to his left side, saying:
"It's been a long time, Nick. Have you gotten any stronger since I last saw you?"
Nick shifted his eyes towards Pearl and replied:
"Pearl Wiles. You did see the things that I did at the student assembly, right?"
Pearl mockingly remarked:
"Hmph! I only saw you throw a light-weight and repel a flash of light."
Jet Kawasaki, who heard Nick and Pearl's conversation, cursed at Pearl:
"Who the hell are you calling a light-weight? I bet I could take you out with one spell, girly."
Pearl chuckled at Jet and replied:
"Only in your dreams."
Jet sneered and became silent, turning away from Pearl. Nick internally sighed, not interested in Pearl's reckless talk. William Rollins's expression remained neutral in response to be called 'a flash of light'. Pearl continued speaking to Nick as if the others were not around:
"So I saw you use a pretty interesting space path spell to arrive on stage during the student assembly. Even that method that you used to summon blades above the audience reeked of space path. You know, I am not aware of one Space Magician that uses cold weapons for combat. I'm curious, why do you bother using weapons?"
Nick was a little annoyed by Pearl's prying but he did not let it show, his expression remaining indifferent. He replied simply:
"Because swords are cool."
Jessica Jones discreetly laughed at Nick's childish answer while Pearl creased her brows, saying:
"But you can't possibly be all that proficient in wielding the sword if you also have to spend time studying both space and soul magic."
Nick was instantly fed up with the conversation and said:
"You'll see my skills during the competition, until then, just keep your doubt to yourself."
Pearl lightly smiled and remained beside Nick as they boarded the closest ship to the shore using a metal ramp that led into the ship's lower regions. Many other groups followed behind Varrow's group. Varrow led the ten to a hallway of doors that led to corresponding private rooms below deck, where they would be staying; he then said:
"These rooms will be your home for the next five days. They are identical so just pick one yourselves. I'm leaving."
Varrow instantly vanished amidst a gust of pale-green wind. Nick didn't ask the others for their opinion and simply walked towards the closest room and entered through the door, locking it behind him. William Rollins and Victoria Nelson went to look for the way to get on deck while the others chose their rooms and locked themselves inside.
Nick sat on the small bed within his room at looked out of the circular, glass port window that was position on the wall, above and adjacent to his bed. He saw the beautiful lake waters below and stared at it for a while before taking out a bag of butter bread and mused:
(Five days...that gives me enough time to do some experiments.)
Nick summoned three vials of magic beast blood from his space band and placed them onto the bed. One had red colored blood with uniform silver spots visible in it, one had blood that was a mix of dull-grey and green and the other was pure dull-purple.
(These three vials are filled with the refined blood that I derived from the DNA of three rank 2 blade path magic beasts. I am going to see if it's possible to raise my blade path attainment to scholar level.)