The first to fail

Creatures like this were ones I really didn't want to hurt. What alleviated my unwillingness was the fact that it was simply an illusion. After all, killing such nice creatures was something I would not be a fan of doing.

So, I decided to give it a quick and painless death. I raised one finger and pointed it at the Treant's head. A flash of black light shot out and pierced through the front and out the back. A charred hole could be seen as it's eyes lost their light and it's gigantic body fell backwards.

It was an incredibly anticlimactic fight, but none of these monsters could provide me with any suspense, even if they were stronger. Maybe the top tier sixth level creatures might, but only some. As for the seventh level, I was sure it would be at least more entertaining.

I finished the other two creatures with highly lethal spells after playing around with them for the benefit of the others. They had to learn somehow, I couldn't just finish all the beasts off the same way as I did with the Treant or it would defeat the purpose of me going up first. It wasn't long after that I strolled out of the field. It was only the us seven on this floor anyway. By now, the gang was numb to my performances and didn't show much reaction.

Abby nodded at me in appreciation before stepping into the field.

As I sat down in her seat, Percival leaned over.

"Hey, do you think you'll be able to reach the seventh floor?" he asked. I looked at him oddly for a moment.

"What do you mean 'reach'? I'm going to win mate." I said with confidence. It shouldn't be something outside my realm of ability. After all, I had the armour I had not used yet. The only one I could see being a bit of a hassle to deal with might be the trench due to it's high regenerative capabilities. But I doubt I can't just increase my output to overwhelm its ability.

As for vampires, they didn't have the weakness of the sun, they were fast, strong and incredibly smart. They could also use a unique form of magic in the way of hemomancy. Or more commonly known as blood magic or the art of blood manipulation. They could kill their opponents from the inside by controlling their blood. But the prerequisite was that the opponent had to have an exposed wound.

If there was no opening or exposed wounds, they could not do so. Usually this wasn't an issue for them since their were fast enough and strong enough to easily wound or kill enemies, but this seemingly simple condition was enough to make me lose interest. I would applaud them if they could even make me bleed. And if they, by some miracle, were able to, I could heal it quickly and circumvent the issue as well.

But it was an ability I wouldn't mind having. This arena proved to be a massive bank full of abilities waiting for me to ransack and assimilate. The mere thought of it was making me giddy inside.

"*Scoff* why did I expect you to be humble? What was I thinking?" he asked himself as he gave me a half reproachful half joking look.

I simply smiled, "what about you? Do you think you can get through the fifth level? Oh wait, why did I bother asking at all? Of course you can't." I mocked back. Percival 'hmphed' in displeasure while turning his head away. Fred was silently observing the battle Abby was currently in. He was still a man of few words, but interestingly enough, his bored expression was gone, and a look of determination could be seen, etched on his face.

My attention was once again drawn to the ongoing battle. Abby was facing a poison yellow tongued salamander. About 5 metes in length, incredibly fast, slight camouflage ability and an incredibly venomous bite. Even a single lick could cause instant paralysis. Very fickle creatures found in a southern and very secluded part of the African Congo. Jenna explained that their bite can kill in less that half a minute and they usually stay underwater preying on water life and animals that live by the river or go for a drink.

Abby was struggling to hinder it's movement. Since it was very fast, and extremely venomous, the first thing she, like everyone, would do is slow it down or stop it completely. She turned the ground into mud which caught the salamander by surprise. But just as she was about to bind it by making it sink further, it burst out using its raw strength and shot towards her.

Bang!

It's head smashed into her stomach causing her spit to fly out of her mouth, her eyes bulged, and her face went pale as she flew out. she was completely winded as she attempted to gasp for air as the beast opened it's jaws for a bite.

"I… forfeit!" she said with much effort. The jaws that were about to close shut on her instantly froze in place before dissipating into golden particles. Robert shot out of his seat as if he had ants on his ass. He rushed down the steps and helped Abby exit the field. I used my healing power to help her recover.

"Tha-thank you." She said with a nod and sat down.

We all looked at her as she regained her composure.

"It was so strong, I was thinking of creating a pit of mud that acted like quicksand, but it simply used its physical prowess to stop my plans completely. Maybe if the spell acted quicker, I could have succeeded." She said, the last part was spoken with a dejected look.

Robert rubbed her back softly, which caused Percival and me to look at each other and grin slightly.

I then turned to her, "you don't have to beat yourself up about it. you are a second year, and you can already reach this far. It's amazing honestly. Now that you know your limit, train harder to overcome them." I said in an attempt to cheer her up. After all, getting this far as a second year was an actually merit in and of itself.

Abby looked up at me, "but you're also a second year-"

"Ah-ah-ah, don't compare. Your goal should be to surpass yourself, not others. Sounds rather cliche but there is no point in comparing yourself to me. or anyone else for that matter. It will do you more harm than good. Trust me on that. If you really must compare, compare yourself to everyone else in second year. If you do so, you'll notice that you're actually very talented." I interrupted and said.

There was no way I could say that the reason she shouldn't compare herself to me is that it's futile. No matter how hard she worked, she could never reach my standard. Maybe, just maybe, she might be able to pull off my current level of power, but eventually, she will reach her limit. While I, copy the abilities of countless creatures and add them to my over all strength. We live in separate worlds. But if I said that, it would either make me come off as extremely arrogant or cause a negative reaction to come from her. So, I could only give the generic 'don't compare yourself to others but with your current self instead' speech. There was some truth in it, but usually people just gloss over it and ignore it.

After all, it's in our nature to compare ourselves to others. Everyone is guilty of doing this at one point in our lives.