Be patient in the light, ruthless in the dark

Although he still had no idea who was targeting him, Flynn had a better grasp on their motives. It was definitely one of two reasons. The first one one being that perhaps some child of an official failed the first test for the Doctor's Union, so being on the waiting list, they targted Flynn hoping to make an empty quota. The other reason was that somebody might be targeting his father, trying to threaten his father with Flynn's future. But until he knew his opponent, Flynn couldn't do anything.

"Are you OK?" Josh asked, sensing that something was on Flynn's mind. Forcing a smile, Flynn replied, "I'm just getting hungry because I'm trying to decide what to get for lunch." Maybe sensing Flynn's refusal for him to pry in further, or perhaps he was just somehow convinced by Flynn's lying skills, Josh said, "I heard that they have a new menu item, Curry Laksa. I'm thinking of trying it." Before Flynn could reply, he heard his name get called out. It was fitness class, a compulsory class that teaches mages to control their strength. This was necesarry because mages had such superhuman strength that they could accidently harm or potentially kill Earthlings. The class also taught some martial arts, which when utilizied correctly with mana reinforcing of the body, could produce some amazing results. Although Flynn was supposed to be a healer, as a teenager, he couldn't escape the charm of learning how to put someone in a headlock. His love for hand to hand combat could be seen with the frequent wrestles with Jasper and Brian.

Today's class was about the upcoming event, they were preparing for the group battles. They were asked to find four teamates, arranging themselves into groups of five. Naturally, Flynn was in the same group as Josh, Brian, Kevin, and Drew. The five often sparred against each other, but they've actually never fought together in a group before. The coach, with a remote in his hand, assigned different arenas to the groups. "Catalysts and Media are allowed, I'll be giving different grades to your teams with this," the coach said, pressing a button on his remote. Mana Media are weapons used by mages, usually in the form of swords, bows, or guns. Unlike Catalysts, which amplified or stabalized a mage's spell, Mana Media were weapons that ran on mana, like a steel sword which will increase in sharpness and durabillity when you input mana, or a blaster that could fire explosive rounds that needed larges amounts of mana to operate. Trapdoors opened on the arenas, as several robots were lifted up with an escalator. There were five robots for each team to fight. The robots were dummies created by Eternity, used to train amateur mages. They could only function on special floors, since they had to be supplied by a consistent flow of mana. They could also cast spells, and their strength could be compared to most of the amateur mages. They were controlled by an A.I, which would continuously monitor the dummy's actions. But since the robots were always broken after a rough spar, the students gave them the nickname Trainees. The lights in their eye sockets showed what diffculty they were set to. The lights were arranged in the same order as the rainbow, with red being the weakest to purple being robots on par with veteran mages.

The first five robots had an orange glow, indicating that they were quite easy targets. They were basically on the same level with beginner mages that had no idea of battle strategies. "Begin," the coach said, as he pressed a button on his remote. With a whistling sound announcing the start of the battle, the stationary robots began to move. Scanning around the arena, the first target their sensors locked on was Brian, who was standing in front of the group. "Fireball," one of the dummies chanted slowly in a robotic voice. Their casting was so slow that Flynn could see the Fireball slowly form in its metalic palm. Before the dummy could successfully conjure its fire spell, Brian rushed fowards, with electric sparks manifesting around his body. "Static domain," Flynn thought, recognizing the common but complex spell that lightning mages used. The area around the mage would become filled with sparks of electricity, enough to crash basic devices. The dummies, without something to defend them against the pulses of electricty, were slowed down as their sensors and motors were affected by the spell. With a couple punches with a fist that was charged with electricity, the robots were turned into piles of scrap metal easily. The scraps were recycled by a non-battle oriented machine, collecting the mana core that allowed the robots to cast spells.

Detecting the "death" of the five robots, the AI behind the robots beagn assessing the group's power. Analyzing by the time required to decimate the robots and the impact the dummies received, the AI determined that their group was fit to fight five green level dummies. Dropping five dummies that were on par with normal amatuer mages, the five students insatntly went into battle mode. Originally, they weren't paying much attention since orange level dummies were like middle school mages, easily knocked out with a single punch. These green level dummies were definetely stronger than some of their weaker, non-battle oriented classmates. Getting into formation, Bones, and Flynn were standing in the frontline, protecting the other three who needed some time in order to display their true value. Flynn slid on his silver ring, since he didn't see the need to use his new one on these opponents. The dummies instantly identified their targets, rushing towards Flynn and Kevin. Two of the five robots were clearly made for close quarter combot, with stun batons in their hands. The other three were designed to support the two attacking dummies with spells. This time, the robots casted spells a lot faster, but they still chanted in a monotone voice. Of course the dummies could cast spells without chanting, but they were designed to mimic real battles against more inexperienced mages, hence the chantting and slow casting. Three Fireballs were launched at Flynn, which he ignored since he knew that Kevin would take care of it. Focusing on the two dummies that were rushing towards them at quite impressive speeds, Flynn cracked his knuckles.

With a swift kick with his mana empowered legs, he swept the first dummy off its feet. Rolling towards the side, he manage to avoid the second dummy's strike. He instantly got up, preparing to take out the downed robot. But before he could stomp down on the robot, he heard Brian shout, "Duck!" Without hesitating for a single moment, he instantly sidestepped. A large bolt of electricity instantly shot towards the robot, blasting it until it smoked. Brian and Drew were holding a large barrel, which acted like a lightning rod that stored the electricty that the two Tech mages released. Focusing the energy on the downed dummy, it was instantly fried.

Kevin, who was tasked with fighting the three dummies that casted spells, was slightly injured by the fireballs. With his electrum gloves, he managed to absorb most of the spell's power, but his forearm was still burned by the excess heat that he failed to control. With the energy of three fireballs rampaging through his body, he had to release it immediatly. "Energy conversion, Fire!" he chanted, returning the flames in a more violent manner. A large pillar of fire erupted from his other palm, completely shrouding one of the robots in flames. Under the immense heat, the robot tried to survive by creating a mana barrier. But with the power of three fireballs concentrated into a beam of fire, the defenses were penetrated through like thin piece of paper. Under the roaring flames, the dummy was turned into a pile of molten metal and charred parts.