Ray remembered well. He had asked the registration staff that the second round would be one-on-one magical beast duels between examinees, with teams of three creatures.
You could only switch creatures twice during battle. The winner of each round would become champion and fight the next examinee, continuing until they lost and ended their test.
These rules were set because Professor Witsane wanted to understand all the abilities of the examinees, and also for the entertainment of those watching the exam.
Another thing was that the strongest person in all nine exam arenas would receive a special prize that couldn't be found anywhere else, along with the fame of a duelist that would follow them forever.
Jason Fortter, winner of five consecutive rounds, lifted his chin and smoothed his purple hair with ultimate coolness amid the relaxed afternoon atmosphere of Temmecia Academy.
Since he was the five-time champion, he opened his bag to summon his magical beast before Ray.
"Come out, Fergus!"
**Name: Fergus**
**Beast Species: Flame-paw Wolf**
**Level 8**
**HP: 250 MP: 35**
**Element: Fire, Normal**
**Rarity: B-Rank**
**Info: Flame-paw wolves are social animals that live well in high mountains and dry areas. They fiercely defend their hunting territory from all types of intruders. They use explosive speed from their paws and handle larger prey by surrounding them and working as a team.**
**Skills: Paw Explosion, Trample, Claw**
A red-furred wolf with a fierce face leaped out from the bag, strutting proudly in front of Jason. Its fur was beautifully glossy, befitting the care from a rich kid.
The people sitting in the small arena's bleachers cheered together in a big group, knowing well that this beast had easily defeated opponents for several matches.
Jason spread both arms to receive those sounds, looking disdainfully at the brown-haired young man with a cheerful face, whom he thought had nothing to fight his rare-level magical beast.
But without fear on his face, after checking the enemy's basic information and thinking of something fun, Ray called out his magical beast to begin the battle. "Come out, Geed!"
A small half-rabbit, half-squirrel appeared in the middle of the arena, shocking all the spectators. They never expected him to summon the weakest magical beast commonly found throughout Lugana forest to fight.
Aria, standing beside the arena with crossed arms, tapped her fingers rapidly, but she wasn't rushing to judge Ray's abilities.
"Can Fluffy actually be used for combat?" The spectators began questioning each other in their seats.
"I don't know, maybe? But mostly they're utility-type magical beasts skilled in searching. Most people don't train them to fight. It's a waste of time—better to train something else," they chattered in the spectator seats.
On the arena side, Jason looked at his seemingly weaker opponent with bored eyes.
"Heh, just a measly Fluffy? That's probably all a loser like you can afford to raise. Perfect for a pathetic orphan like you," purple-haired Jason lifted his chin and spoke with a disgusting, slappable mouth.
Ray lowered his head.
"You can only look down on Geed right now, Jason. Geed, let's do this! Kick!" Ray waved his hand to command, and the adorable rabbit-squirrel leaped out to battle.
"Come at me, you weakling! Fergus, use Paw Explosion!" Jason waved his hand and the red wolf bared its fangs. It pressed its flaming red paws down on the arena and used explosion magic at its paws.
It shot forward, cutting through the wind.
"I arrived just in time," a sweet voice in a blue cloak said before walking to the VIP seats where the exam supervisors were scoring.
"Is this the person you wanted to see?" A cool young male teacher with long hair in black clothes asked, gesturing toward the purple-haired examinee.
The person gathering her skirt to sit beside him answered while settling down properly.
"No, Professor David. I'm interested in the one using the Fluffy instead," Witzany smiled before slowly resting her arm on the chair and her cheek, inviting David to watch Ray as he waved his hand to command his magical beast.
Inside the arena, the Flame-paw Wolf's movement was incredible. It used explosive force from its flaming paws to propel itself, fire blazing at its feet with every movement.
Wind howled as its red-furred body shot through the air to attack. *Boom boom boom* The sound of paw explosions echoed from all around little Geed.
Fergus attacked with speed from all directions, almost too fast to see. But Geed jumped, dodged, swerved left and right, crouched low, and avoided everything easily.
The rabbit-squirrel wasn't hit even once by that frenzied attack. No matter how fast and intense it was, the damage from attacks that had defeated opponent after opponent was zero against Ray's Fluffy.
"Great job, Geed! Keep dodging and wait for my signal," Ray clenched his fist, smiling happily that his plan and constant training with Geed had paid off.
Aria, who was watching with crossed arms beside the arena, stopped tapping her fingers. Instead, she stood completely still. "How exactly did you train it, Ray?"
"Damn coward! Don't just dodge! Fergus, use Paw Explosion to go even faster!" Jason gritted his teeth and waved his command, frustrated that his rare-level wolf couldn't hit even once.
Up in the bleachers, people were excitedly shocked and puzzled about why the little half-rabbit, half-squirrel could completely avoid attacks from such a powerful wolf.
"Incredible! Can Fluffy really do that?"
"How do you train it to do that!?"
"Or maybe it's not a Fluffy?"
"My Fluffy can only explore and find things. What is that thing?"
Everyone was stunned, jaws dropped at Geed's graceful movements. No matter how much Fergus increased its speed, Geed simply sidestepped easily. No matter how much the wolf's paw explosions shook the ground, Ray's Fluffy completely destroyed Fergus's every attempt.
"Professor Witzany, could that Fluffy be…" newly appointed Professor David covered his mouth before using high-level detection magic to see detailed status and skills.
"Yes, Professor David. That Fluffy has been trained with extremely high effort and dedication," the long-haired young teacher was speechless when he saw the information box.
**Name: Geed**
**Species: Fluffy**
**Element: Normal**
**Level: 6**
**Relationship Level: Family**
**Status:**
**Attack Power: 10**
**Magic Attack Power: 0**
**Defense Power: 5**
**Magic Defense Power: 7**
**Skills:**
**Dig: lv.1**
**Sing: lv.5**
**Kick: lv.20**
**Danger Sense: lv.99**
"Danger Sense skill level 99!" David cried out in shock. Witsane sitting beside him smiled in amusement.
"Yes, the highest level Danger Sense skill that can almost see five seconds into the future. It can sense the opponent's attacks before the opponent even thinks of them. Plus it's a passive skill that doesn't use mana and can be used constantly. Amazing, isn't it? A tamer who could train their magical beast to that extent."
Professor Witzany Lumilen rested her chin and admired Ray fondly, as if seeing herself as a child.
David broke out in sweat. "How did Mr. Landroll achieve that? What method did he use to train it?" He asked his superior for knowledge.
"It's not hard to guess the training method. Just trying hard. Since most magical beasts that have family-level relationships with their users must have lived together for more than ten years, I guess he simply focused on training only the Danger Sense skill during all the time he raised that Fluffy."
"Training one skill for ten years!? Is that even possible, Professor!? Why would he do that!? There are so many magical beasts in this world that are better for combat training than Fluffy. He should have spent time training others."
"Well, you might not understand. That young man didn't have money to raise any magical beast other than Fluffy. The only way to become a Temmecia tamer was to train Fluffy to fight. Even though it's a weak magical beast that can't beat anyone, he already knew that. So he didn't train it to fight for victory, but developed its escape skills to the maximum level."
David looked at the little one easily dodging everything in the arena, amazed by Ray's determination.
He slowly stated his conclusion softly:
"If enemies can't hit them, no matter how weak they are, they can't lose."
Professor Witzany, resting her chin, nodded and smiled in response.
"Stop dodging, damn it! Finish it, Fergus! Paw Explosion with all your mana!!"
*BOOOOOOM*
All four of Fergus's paws stomped down, creating holes in the ground. Explosive flames went wild, sending its body shooting at a speed invisible to normal eyes—except for Geed's eyes alone in the arena.
"You can see it all, so counter everything. Kick!"
Because it could see everything, Geed jumped and kicked straight into Fergus's weak point as it charged forward. All the explosive power it had built up, all the impact force, fell entirely on the wolf itself.
*BOOOOOOOOM*
Shocking wind swept across the entire stage. The little rabbit-squirrel with the fluffy tail kicked the large wolf with both legs until it flew out of the arena. Its body crashed into the transparent barrier with a resounding crash throughout the school, tumbling down unconscious on the ground.
Everyone in the bleachers cheered and applauded Ray without realizing it. Who would have thought that a little Fluffy could actually beat a Flame-paw Wolf?
"He actually did it, that kid!"
"Kicked it flat on its face! Doesn't care about magical beast rarity levels at all?"
"This is crazy! A D-rank exploration-type beast beat a B-rank combat-type!"
"Fluffy! Fluffy! Fluffy!" The cheering voices from above shouted as one. The spectators' adrenaline surged to the maximum. Since watching the exams, nothing had exceeded expectations more than Ray's Fluffy.
Aria, standing with crossed arms cheering quietly, shook her head and smiled at his victory.
As for Jason, he clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, his whole body shaking. He couldn't believe his own eyes, looking at Fergus who had easily brought five rounds of victory, now completely defeated by a Fluffy. He looked at Ray with incomprehension.
"It's just a measly Fluffy! Just a Fluffy!!!"
Geed jumped up into Ray's hands and high-fived happily over their first victory. Ray smiled at his opponent and said: "Jason, you're not wrong about anything. Geed is just too godly, that's all. Hehe."
"You little punk! Coming to mock me now! You won't get away with this! Come out, Vega! I'll make you realize that no matter what, you'll be a loser forever!"
Jason shouted, recalling Fergus and calling out his ice serpent Vega.
"Bring it on then, Jason." Ray's face showed serious intent. He wasn't thinking of switching out Geed who was weak against ice serpents. Geed also cried "Geed geed" determinedly.
"This time, Geed won't run from you anymore, Vega!"