The elf was lying on the dirt unconscious from my punch to his temple.
I was breathing loudly, not from being out of breath, but my heart was pumping.
That was easier than I thought.
He used a fucking chant at the start of the fight, what a retard.
His magic was strong, much stronger than mine.
But his use of it was mundane and easy to read, not to mention his swordsmanship skills were crude, subpar at best.
He didn't compare to Alaric in the slightest. What a waste of a dusk mage.
The announcer appeared out of thin air beside me and picked up the elf, still unconscious on the ground.
While holding the elf, he vanished, and then once again came back by himself to continue announcing.
I couldn't tell if it was teleportation or pure speed that let the magician vanish like that.
I wonder how long it'll take me to get to that stage.
"Sylas, congratulations, you have received 15/15 stars, you are ranked first among the first years as of this moment, but that could change at any time."
First, huh, I don't think this is good news, to be honest, the fame can only be annoying.
I just have to hope it's not that rare for someone to receive 15/15, or that somebody else passes my score.
"Miss Alice Rividen, age 16, also received 5/5 stars on each test. Please make your way towards the arena."
Speaking of a perfect score, what odd timing.
Not seeing any point in standing here any longer, I started to walk out of the arena, but on the way out, I locked eyes with the girl walking into it.
Alice Rividen.
Received 5/5 on each test.
She had a fierce look in her eyes, and she was looking directly at me with what seemed like battle intent. Or maybe bloodlust, I can't tell.
Hmmm, her name sounds familiar, I can't put my finger on it though.
She had silver hair down to her lower back and silver eyes to match, her body was exceptionally fit and slim, she looked very flexible yet strong.
She was a good-looking young woman, for sure.
She had a proud walk, almost noble like…
Wait a fucking second, Rividen….. like the Kingdom of Rividen.
Oh my fuck I'm retarded.
She's a godamn princess! No wonder she got a perfect score; she's probably been trained since she got out of the womb.
That also explains her noble aura.
Walking past her, she still held eye contact with me.
And then she spoke.
"I'll win with swordsmanship alone."
It wasn't loud, really; it was quite quiet.
But I heard it as clear as day, it was a statement.
She wanted to one-up me?
A princess wanted to one-up me; that's certainly something you don't see every day.
We were still holding eye contact, and I decided on what to say pretty quickly.
"Good for you, I don't care."
I don't give a shit if she's a princess, I've never met this bitch in my life.
Who does she think she is…well, other than a princess?
I saw her jaw drop a little before she adjusted herself and walked away.
I didn't care after that and left the arena, but I did stay to watch her fight.
I made my way out of the mana barrier that circles the arena and found a seat in the front row. I wanted a good seat to watch the fight.
I mean, if she has that much arrogance, she has to have some skill, right?
She walked towards the middle of the arena and stopped. She waited patiently for her opponent to appear.
Eventually, someone volunteered; it was an Orc.
Standing at about six feet three inches give or take in stature, he was large, not just tall but very muscular as well.
A bad matchup for a tiny princess.
"I'll crush you, princess. Nobility means nothing here."
Surprisingly enough, I could hear what he was saying, but it was for two main reasons.
I was actively enforcing my ears with mana to hear better, a little trick I was taught on my first night at guard duty.
Well, Alaric explained that I could enchant my senses, but never really went into specifics, so I have Gloria and Wick to thank for that one.
The second reason was that he was just fucking loud, I mean, he practically screamed.
But I've heard that's just how most Orcs talk; hopefully, it's not a recurring problem.
Alice smirked, but she didn't reply. At least not that I could hear.
But..that only seemed to enrage the orc more.
"You may commence."
The orc wasted no time, he had a giant stone hammer as his weapon of choice.
He charged right away with frightening speed, the mana augmentation made his body nimble and quick, despite his body being built for strength.
And by the giant two-handed overhead swing he started the fight out with, I could tell he had plenty of strength.
He didn't use any spells to cover his charge, just pure mana augmentation.
But Alice didn't give any resistance either, she shot no magic at him, even with his blind charge.
I guess she was serious about the no spells.
Earlier, by pure swordsmanship, I guess she meant just body augmentation.
After all, if she didn't reinforce her body with mana, she simply wouldn't be able to keep up.
The orc finally brought his hammer down on Alice, and the dirt from the arena came up in a flurry.
The Orcs' strength was frightening.
But through the dirt with my mana-enhanced eyes, I saw Alice side-step and instantly lunge at his waist, completely ignoring the dirt flying all around her. Alice's weapon of choice was a rapier.
The school allows real weapons because of the teachers' governing over the fight.
The teachers can cast advanced healing magic because they have to be second-circle magicians to be announcers.
Not to mention the pure power difference, they have plenty of time to spot fatal injuries with their advanced minds.
So with real weapons being allowed, real blood was spilled.
And in this fight, it was spilled very quickly.
Although the orc managed to twist his waist and swing his hammer to counterattack, the rapier was too quick and skimmed his side.
Which sprayed blood from the open wound.
He attempted to side-step but was quickly pierced in the same spot with the rapier, digging a little deeper this time.
He jumped back after his swing missed again, and he had a pensive look on his face.
Blood was still leaking from his side, yet it wasn't that deep.
If anything, it seemed like Alice gave him a warning slice.
Which pissed him off greatly.
Meanwhile, she was standing still with her rapier still dripping blood.
He seemed like he was going to speak, but before he got the chance, Alice smiled.
And then she dashed, while still not using any magic other than body augmentation, she ran directly at the orc.
He countered her straight dash with a two-handed overhead swing directly at Alice's head.
Stopping right before the edge of its reach, she smirked.
And then Alice front flipped, the orc was still leaning forwards from his overhead swing, so she didn't have to flip very high, just enough so mid-air she could stab at the orc's head.
And just before her sword was about to enter the back of the orc's head.
Her sword flung out of her hand and slammed against the mana barrier that circled the arena.
"This duel is over."
The commenter said over the mana amplifier.
"Alice Rividen scores 15/15 stars, yet she has received a one-star reduction for striking with the intent to kill."
A series of boos resounded from the crowd.
The announcer raised his hand, and the crowd slowly got quieter and quieter until it got dead silent.
"If anyone has a problem with that, then they can leave this academy at once."
Silence.
"Good, then Alice Rividen will be ranked 3rd, after receiving 14/15 stars on her tests. Miss Rividen, please make your way out of the arena."
She looked at the magus for a second before giving a slight bow and walking towards the exit.
The orc was stunned by the entire process, but after he registered what happened, he could only bow his head in shame and walk out of the arena.
Alice walked out of the arena, looked around for a second until her eyes found me.
And then she walked towards me and sat right beside me.
Instantly, everyone started to whisper.
"Maybe he is a royal bastard? Look how close he is to Alice, they even sit beside each other."
"Shh, they'll hear you."
"Maybe they're dating? They seem close enough. I even saw them exchange words when Sylas was walking out of the arena."
I heard all this but just continued to look at Alice, who sat beside me.
"What are you doing?"
I asked her.
I don't see the point in sitting by me to stir up rumours, if that was her goal, I'd be greatly disappointed.
She looked at me and smirked.
She pointed at herself.
"I won with swordsmanship alone."
I grimaced.
"I don't care for one, and two, I didn't even know we were having a contest, I went first for gods' sake, how's that even fair?"
She continued to smirk.
"It's not fair, but I still won. That's why I sat beside you, I wanted you to know it's 1-0 for me right now. I expect competition from you this year, and this is my way of influencing you to take part in it."
Is this girl retarded?
"If you wanted to 'influence' me, then why tell me at all? Why not just say you won and call it a day?"
I took a breath and then continued.
"I think that'd make me more competitive than telling me you want me to be your training dummy."
She still had that stupid smirk on her face.
"Multiple reasons, the first one is that I don't know who you are. I know nothing about you, which is odd considering your prowess and age. I don't think your nobility or anyone would know about you.
Which means I have to be careful in how I approach you. The second reason is that I value honesty, even if you don't want to. I'm sure you'll find yourself competing with me throughout the year. I just wanted to show you I have good intentions ahead of time."
She took a breath.
"Anyways, I should settle myself into the dorms. It was nice meeting you, Sylas."
She extended her hand.
I looked at it for a second, I noticed the calluses that littered her hand, and gained a little respect for her.
I shook it and nodded at her.
"You're fucking weird, you know that right?"
Her face distorted into a weird mixture of shock and a funny, dumbfounded expression, it was pretty funny to look at.
I smiled at her, teeth and all.
And then I walked away, and she seemed speechless.
But I also had dorms to settle into.
End of chapter 11.