The death matches happened right there in the middle of the streets. No one tried to stop these mages, and it all went like planned. Out of everyone there, the Blood Spear accepted 20 new students.
It was not a small number, and it was actually the highest number of students they accepted in one go. The war made them lose lots of 'soldiers', so it made sense for them to get more students during those times.
As for Arthur, he watched all the fights, but did not take part. A perk he gained after showing his immense talent. Even after the test was over, and it was time for them to return to the school, those two Official Mages visibly gave Arthur a better treatment.
Out of these 20 students, Arthur paid attention to four of them. These four were two men and two women, and they also had an extraordinary talent, and did not look angry or with envy toward him.
Maybe the reason for it was because of their outstanding talent as well, so they knew all they had to do to surpass him was train harder.
"Ah, uh, hello, I am Liz, nice to meet you."
A petite girl with blond hair said. She was way smaller than Arthur, but still had quite the body with considerable boobs, butt, and a thin waist.
She was one of the four students Arthur was paying attention to and went to speak with him on her own.
"Arthur. Nice to meet you too."
"Can I walk up with you?"
"Sure."
They talked along the way about many things, and Liz looked and sounded innocent. Arthur felt pit about the things she would have to face inside the school, which would probably change her forever.
Out of the other three who Arthur was paying attention to, only one of them came to talk with him. It was a youth called Lucas, and both he and Arthur quickly became friends, as they would soon be newcomers to the school.
"How do you think the school looks like? I only heard stories about it, but they said there is a huge demon head coming out of the ground, and its horns formed two mountains!" Lucas said.
It sounded absurd, but Arthur had seen so many things in that world he thought it could be true in the end. Their journey was not long, reaching Blood Spear in about a day.
The test happened in Shavassa because it was one city under the school's control, and not that far from it, making it easier for the new students to reach the school safely.
"This is it! We are here. I will explain everything to you, so listen."
"The two mountain peaks you see are prohibited, and only the leader and the members of the Blood Council can enter. One day if you reach a high level of power you can try to enter the council, but as for now, that is prohibited ground for all of you."
"And the rest of us, including the scarce number of teachers in this place, we live around here. You can build your home anymore, live inside caves, inside the forest, underground, steal the house of someone else. We don't care. Anything here can be disputed in a death duel."
"Take this. A magical pouch with your uniform, a few instructions, and a few starting spells for you, as well as the meditation technique. Train harder, as the stronger you are, the more opportunities are around here. Now, bye-bye!"
The two mages explained everything, and then left, leaving the 20 new students dumbfounded. Now it was up to them to survive in such a fierce place, yet they did not give them anything to work with.
Some of the older students from the school walked around the area, glancing at the newcomers as if they were prey, yet no one attacked them.
Arthur guessed this place still had some rules. Maybe they could not attack newcomers, or maybe a duel to the death required a decent motive. Who knows?
"What will we do now?" One student said.
They weren't used to such situation, not understanding how to survive.
Arthur was not willing to stand there like an idiot. He walked toward an empty area, and then he heard a voice, "can I go with you?"
"I also want to go!"
It was Liz and Lucas, the two newcomers Arthur talked to during the trip. He did not mind them following him, so he said, "as long as you don't get in my way."
After they left, the other students did the same. Some left alone, others with friends, but all of them left. Now their mission was to thrive in that place, get stronger, and then get recognition for their school.
"Where should we start? Isn't this place a little too far?" Liz said.
"It is still inside the school barrier, so we are good. The first thing we need is a house for us to stay, but there is no way he can build that tonight, so fire and food."
"I can hunt for us. My father taught me." Lucas said. He wanted to be useful, and hunting was one of the few things he was good at.
"Okay. Liz and I will get the fire going, as well as a temporary shelter."
Truth be told, Arthur did not need a shelter, and could actually just use his spells to create a house made of earth within minutes, but he was pretending to be a weak student, and a weak student would want a shelter in that scenario.
While Lucas went hunting, Liz went looking for branches and leaves to create a temporary house for them. Arthur was to get fresh water and a fire going.
"It should have a river nearby. Oh, there it is."
Arthur was the river where all the students got their water from. It crossed the entire school, and there was enough for everyone.
Where Arthur was, some other students were getting their water too, a few of them being the newcomers.
"Prepare to suffer next month, fresh blood. Do you know why you are still here? It is because we cannot attack new students before the first month passed, or else you would be dead by now!"
The older students passed by the new ones and threatened them with offensive words. Also, just like Arthur had guessed, they could not attack the new students before a month passed.
But what was the reason behind it, anyway? Why would they attack others without reason? Even a dark arts school would not allow their students to kill each other without motive.
"Is it to create fierce mages? A merciless environment will surely turn them into something they would never reach while training in peace."
It had to be that or the higher ups of the school were madmen. Arthur wanted to believe that was not the case.
And, just like them, Arthur was also a new student and had to hear offensive words.
"Pretty little boy with white hair. Are you really a boy or a girl?"
"Your mother did not have any doubts last night."
For the first time in a long time, a new student stepped up against the older one. Now that Arthur knew he had one month of peace, he would not let them act as they wished!