Chapter 73 - Magic Assessment, First Segment 3

It took some time for arena to be fixed, but as soon as it was finished, the other 15 student began their assessments.

Everyone had a good score, but their performances were eclipsed with Lucia's previous stunt.

It was soon Cecil's turn and as expected, he and the 24th ranked student in class were the ones that Instructor Jin selected next.

The instructors in the stands started a small discussion between themselves.

"S class sure is something. Since the first ranked girl had such an outstanding performance, I'm very much anticipating this next student's. I hear that the first and second rankers registered together!"

"Two magically adept students huh... each subsequent year, the quality of the students are getting more and more ridiculous don't you agree?"

"It just goes to show how developed the progress of magic is now. Decades ago, things like this were never even heard of before. Back then everyone was still pioneering through."

"Even though our magic system has been around for over a couple centuries, there seems to be no end to how magic can further progress."

"Ah! There he is, the second ranked student. He's even a foxkin like that Lucia girl! The foxkin tribes must be laughing in their sleeps knowing that they've got two enormously talented youngsters!"

It took a while before it was finally Cecil's turn to go up. They had him go last in fear of him also wielding enough power to decimate the arena just like Lucia.

The worries were unfounded though since Cecil himself knew that he was nowhere near Lucia's level in terms of magical capabilities.

'If I was the same as Lucia then I wouldn't have struggled with the 3rd part of the exam...' Cecil lamented in his heart.

Seeing as the arena's barrier was up, Cecil looked around and started thinking about what he should do.

He was honestly clueless since there wasn't one magic spell he could actually use. As a non-elemental user and a person who had successfully cultivated the Mana Eyes, he leaned more towards mana manipulation than magic manipulation.

'Guess I'll just go with Kinryugi...or maybe... hmmm'

Cecil was thinking and was having a hard time which technique he should choose to exhibit. He didn't want to use anything too flashy.

Seeing as Cecil hadn't made his move yet, it puzzled everyone since it looked like he was staring off blankly into space.

Instructor Jin reminded Cecil softly that he could begin anytime.

"Uhm... Cecil? You could start now."

Cecil snapped out of his daze. He didn't say anything and only nodded. Up in the stands Lucia had her eyes on Cecil and seeing the clarity return to him she frowned.

"Tch... he's hesitating..."

"What's that Lucia?" Fina asked while glancing at the seemingly dissatisfied Lucia.

"Nothing! It's nothing ehehe~"

Even though she tried to laugh it off, Fina was still skeptical since she did somewhat hear her mumbling.

Cecil who was hesitating finally turned towards the Instructor.

"Instructor, sir. Uhm... I'm not really all that adept at magic spells. My main focus has always been body enhancing techniques, so I don't really know any conventional spells..."

"Oh? Then what about originals?"

"I... don't have any either... only body strengthening originals..."

"I see. But you did get to S class didn't you? That means you should at least know some spells right?"

"..."

Cecil went silent after that. He sighed and turned around.

'Whatever, let's just go with mana volley.'

Cecil activated Mana Burst and slowly rose into the air.

Instructor Jin raised an eyebrow at that.

'Didn't he just say that he didn't know any originals? A no chant flying spell...'

Cecil levitated just before his head hit the barrier that surrounded the arena. He stretched a hand and aimed it at the ground.

Cecil concentrated and began directing the mana in his body into his palm. It normally took him not more than a second to concentrate his mana to use a volley, but he decided this time to take his time and push his limits. It took him 10 seconds to form a globe of mana in his palms that reached the threshold of his mana control, anymore than it'll cause a backlash to his mind and body.

"HAH!!"

With a shout, the globe of mana in his hands burst apart and mana bolts the size of wash bins rained down from the sky.

For the next minute, Cecil continued channeling his mana and sent mana bolts bombarding the arena grounds.

Once the dust settled, the aftermath of Cecil's bombardment soon became visible.

Craters ranging from 1-3 meters in diameter dotted the entirety of the arena. Although the destruction caused by the spell wasn't as mind blowing as Lucia's spell, it still caused the teachers and students to gape since Cecil had continued channeling the spell for so long.

Cecil wasn't drained at all after using mana volley since he had only used about 10 percent of his total mana, but he still had to act the part so as he was floating down, he began panting in exhaustion.

Right after he touched the ground, Cecil turned towards instructor Jin.

"I'm...I'm done now right?"

"...yes."

Without delay, Cecil started walking back to the stands while looking physically drained.

Lucia, who was in the stands observing him, clicked her tongue and started pouting in annoyance.

"Two-faced idiot, see how I'll handle you later."

Lucia mumbled in annoyance.

"...Lucia?"

"W-what is it Fina?"

"You look dissatisfied somehow..." Fina asked, a sharp glint flashed in her eyes while she observed her fl.u.s.tered friend.

"No. No I'm not! Haha~"

Seeing how she only wanted to laugh it off, Fina started pressuring her friend with a hard gaze.

Lucia quickly grew nervous and didn't know what to do since this was the first time her seemingly timid friend was putting up a strong front.

"Hey, guys... that sure was tiring. What's up?"

Cecil had arrived back at the stands, his group of friends greeted him and Lucia was saved.

"Oh! Cel, good work," Lucia said, while inwardly releasing a sigh of relief. She didn't know why, but lately Fina has been growing more and more inquisitive.

"Yeah... channeling volley for over a minute took a lot out of me..." Cecil scratched his cheek while nonchalantly lying.

Lucia turned a disdainful look at him. Lucia's face showed that she didn't believe a single word from him.

The others however nodded in understanding.

Elizabeth turned to him and asked, "That spell earlier... it looked like an empowered version of the air bolt spell."

Cecil smiled, knowing that he had successfully pulled the wool over everyone's eyes.

"Yeah, it was indeed a stronger version of air bolt. I'm not really adept at using higher ranked magic, so I compensate that by empowering my low tier magic instead. That version of air bolt was just me condensing a large mass of air bolts in my palm and firing it out indiscriminately."

Cecil explained.

"I don't have full control of each individual air bolts so they randomly fire at the general direction that I'm aiming. Each air bolt is as strong as a tier 3 or tier 4 spell, but it's hard to use since I can't aim it well."

'LIAR! LIAR LIAR LIAR!' Lucia wanted to scream. Only she knew for certain that Cecil could precisely control each and every mana bolt individually. With Cecil's mana eyes he wouldn't even break a sweat! Not to mention that if he attached a homing function on each bolt then the concentrated mana bolts could chase after whatever it was that Cecil targeted, by then control would be meaningless. In fact, this function-attaching technique alone was the epitome of 'control'.

She couldn't stand Cecil downplaying his own technique like that. Not to mention that he was deliberately portraying himself as being weak in magic combat, so Lucia walked behind him and furiously started pinching Cecil as hard as she could.

Although, 'weak' was only relative to her understanding since Lucia hadn't been in contact with anyone else that close to their age, but if they were to actually compare their fighting and magic capabilities with others, then Cecil and Lucia would be so many levels ahead of the people in their age group.

Cecil had already foresaw that something bad was about to happen to him when he saw that Lucia was pouting, so even when he felt surprised at the sudden pain that originated from his back, Cecil made sure to keep his cool and not yelp out in surprise.

Seeing as Cecil didn't react to her pinching, Lucia started putting in more force in her hands.

This caused Cecil to grimace a bit, he was already crying inside.

'Ow, ow, ow, ow...' Cecil turned an apologetic look at Lucia who was pouting behind him.

Lucia only scoffed and began pinching even harder than before.

But, she soon stopped and helplessly sighed. Cecil's circ.u.mstances were too special and it would indeed be hard for them to explain anything if his circ.u.mstances were exposed to everyone.

Even though she didn't like it when Cecil downplayed his abilities, she couldn't force him to do otherwise though.

The assessment continued and everyone had their turn showing off their magical capabilities. It was deep into the afternoon when the first segment of the assessment had finally finished.