Friday

Everyone yawned early morning as they prepared to head out and reach the large building where the mini first-year tournament would take place.

"You guys ready?" Alex yawned.

Corbin gave him a weird look.

"You are unusually unenergetic today? Did you sleep alright?" Corbin asked while inspecting the tired Alex.

Alex shook his head, "Was too excited, had a hard time falling asleep," he replied with another yawn.

Thomas and Corbin laughed, that was just like him. Leave it to Alex to overexcite himself before battle.

The three of them headed downstairs and bought some apple juice and sandwiches at the dormitory canteen before heading out.

"I fwwl sri… for… face… me… ," Alex made scuffed sounds with his mouth stuffed.

"I feel sorry for any one of you who face me?" Corbin translated and Alex nodded.

Corbin shook his head while Thomas laughed and Alex gave a thumbs up. Once they arrived at the building they began doing some light sparring, mainly to help Thomas out. They took turns with Alex using his flaming sword or Corbin using his water daggers.

The sparring was set up for Thomas to try first and dodge, and in the worst case parry to retaliate. Neither Corbin or Alex wished to use up too much of their mana before the tournament by replenishing their magically imbued creation of weapons at hand.

Students came in one and one and did their own preparations. Olivia and Cassie were the two last ones to arrive. By the looks of it Olivia was confident enough to not warm up at all.

Cassie brought forth a whiteboard onto the grounds and told everyone to take their seats on the upper row seats.

"Alright, we have already randomized all of your opponents and the tournament will be held in bracket form," Cassie announced.

She drew the bracket with everyone's names on it. Alex and a few others who were gold-crests or upper-noble class got a free pass in the first round. It was a 32-bracket and Emily appeared absent on it once again. Therefore seven students received a free round.

Thomas saw if he won the first round, he would already be up against Alex in the next. Corbin and Alex would only face each other if they reach the quarter-final. Olivia was on the other side of the bracket and would most likely face Alex in the final if everything goes as expected.

"Looks like you drew the short stick for the next round if you win," Alex grinned.

"Ah, shut up!" Thomas responded and looked at the board for his first-round opponent.

[Thomas Rosemary vs. Simon Phillips]

Thomas turned his head to look at Simon. It was the first-year student back at the library and who fled during the demon attack after attacking Alex.

"Is that who I think it is?" Corbin questioned.

"Yeah," Thomas smirked.

It was time for some payback.

[New Daily Quest: Beat Your Opponent - Simon]

[Reward: 30 Exp]

A new message appeared before Thomas' eyes with the system informing him of his next quest.

"Do not need to tell twice," Thomas smirk grew even larger.

Now he had two reasons to beat Simon up.

"Alright now I will explain the ruling," Cassie clapped her hands to gather everyone's attention.

"The ruling will be set according to standard tournament rules. You will proceed to battle until one draws first-blood or surrenders! No scratches or minor injuries will account for the victory, so do not even think about cheesing one out," Cassie explained.

"Now let the mini tournament begin!" Cassie clapped twice and signaled for the first battle to take place.

They watched all of the first-round battles unfold before Thomas was up for his first. Corbin managed to win his first round and Alex received the free pass, grinning and poking Thomas.

"You better win so I can have fun playing with you," Alex kept grinning.

Thomas did not bother entertaining Alex and kept his focus on analyzing his class' strength for future purposes. The time came for Thomas and Simon to have their battle.

"Thomas vs. Simon up next," Cassie yelled.

Both of them stood up from their seats. Alex and Olivia shared a look then stopped the two of them from proceeding down for a second.

"You better win and make him pay! We both know beating him in front of all these people will be endlessly more satisfying than if we beat him behind hidden doors," Alex stared all serious for a second at Thomas.

"Relax, I got this," Thomas patted Alex's shoulder and headed down.

Olivia stared at Simon before speaking.

"You better win, that is one of Alex's friends, lackies or whatever. Do not you dare go losing," Olivia threatened Simon with a daring voice.

Down at the arena both made their set preparations with a large marginal distance between the two and Cassie being in the middle.

[Arcane System]

[Inspect]

[Name: Simon Phillips]

[Appearance: Light Brown Hair, Hazel Eyes, 5'10]

[Race: Noble Human]

[Ability: Earth]

[Level: 3]

[Vitality: 15]

[Strength: 15]

[Agility: 15]

[Intelligence: 15]

[Stamina: 15]

Thomas unsheathed his sword and swung it around a few times to show off.

"Oh yeah… I remember you… you are the guy without an ability! At least you have got a decent looking upgrade there. But do you honestly think you can win vs. someone with an ability? Or a golden-crest?" Simon mocked Thomas.

Olivia looked pleased on the stands. Corbin and Alex gave Thomas a thumbs each when he turned their way. It was all the encouragement he needed and put on a smirk.

"You never know, I might surprise you," Thomas smiled excitedly and licked his lips slightly.

Thomas thought "Oh, crap! I might have picked up Alex's bad habit!"

Cassie looked at the two of them and nodded.

"Are you both ready?" She asked.

Both Thomas and Simon nodded accordingly for her to signal the start of the battle.

"Very well! Begin!" Cassie signaled with her hand and jumped backwards.

Thomas could not help but smile, not only to exact revenge for Alex, but also for his quest. After all, judging from Simon's stats, he has the same stats but is definitely weaker than Corbin.