27 Chapter 27

"You know, its now almost time for the inter academy tournament. "

"No, you wont be participating. Its a mage battle competition. You are not a combat mage no matter how good you are. You are what we call a production class mage."

"Elementalists are more suited for combat. Its not that all elementalists are combat mage and the vice versa isnt true either. Lots of fire mages are top class blacksmiths for example and some true mages are the top combat mages. But its usually something they grow into. "

"While you can go up selection trial to represent the academy, it would be the waste of your talent. Plus space mages are at an disadvantage. Most of our spells relating to space requires calculations. Ot will take us a few seconds to do it. No opponent is going to wait for us to it. So its better to focus on your current activities. "

As Marcus said that, Aaron was ok with that. It wasn't like he really wanted to participate or anything. And he didn't had any combat skill or experience either. About calculations, he knew he was faster than marcus. And he was still improving. Maybe he could get it down to a couple of seconds.

"The whole scenario reminded me of a thing. This isnt exactly part of your curriculum here. But I think it might be useful for you someday. Let me show you. "

Marcus moved a little away from Aaron.

Aaron saw Marcus concentrating, but nothing happened.

"Okay. Ready now. See that pebble on the table. Throw it at me with as much force as you can. "

Aaron did as he was told. He threw the pebble at Marcus. Not full strength though. He didnt want to hurt him too much.

As the pebble approached Marcusz about a metre out, it felt as if it hit a wall and fell down. That gave Aaron a pleasant surprise. A magic shield. So those kind of things existed.

"You could guess. Its a shield technique. Not too strong. But provides good enough protection from the physical attacks. It wont provide much safety against strong spells. So keep that in mind. Come let me teach you how its done. "

Aaron once again found a new way to apply magic. A shield was a space compression technique used on air. It gave a solid feeling to air. So, it stopped physical attacks. A useful technique.

Once Aaron thought he had decent success with the spell, he knew the perfect place to test it.

"You sure you want us to try and hit you while you stand there?" Asked Wyvell Hinds, who was a captain now.

Wyvell had his doubts. Aaron had asked him to help him test a spell. He agreed. Although he had seen a lot of mages, he still liked the mages doing magic.

He felt a little troubled at the kind of help Aaron wanted though. He wanted people to attack him with live steel. Training with live steel was different. But this was madness, to stand there and let others attack you. He was a kid in all aspects. But Aaron insisted he would be safe. Finally Wyvell asked one of his man to step up.

He walked up towards Aaron a little awkwardly. He pulled up his sword. Just did a casual swipe at Aaron. It would hurt him. But nothing serious. But when the sword was a few centimeters away fron Aaron, the guard felt like he hit something solid. His sword refused to move. He tried again. Same result. He tried with a bit more force. Same result.

"You can swing with all you got." Said Aaron.

The guard took a swing. Not his strongest, but good enough. Still same result. Even wyvell was surprised. He knew elementalists could bring up shields of their elements, but he had never heard of true mage conjuring shield.

"Wyvell. I would increase the distance of the shield from my body. I want to test its strength. Even if it breaks its far enough that I wont be hurt."

Wyvell agreed to this readily. He wanted to see just how strong this shield was.

The guard which attacked earlier, hit the shield with all the strength he could muster. No effects. Two guards went up. Nothing. 3 guards. Now Aaron could feel a little strained. As the 4th guard went up, the shield finally broke under the barrage of the four guards. Aaron was satisfied with the result. If he made a smaller shield, it would be even stronger. Even this one would get stronger as he got better.

"That was fantastic. I didnt knew a space mage could conjure a shield. That was not bad at all. Could be a lifesaver someday. "

"Thank you Mr. Hinds. I have recently learned it. "

"So, do you just wanted to try that shield or you want a match?" Hinds grinned at Aaron.

"You sure like bullying me. But I was ever ready. "

Sword matches between the two were a regulae thing even after Hinds was promoted to a captain. He really liked Aaron. Reminded him of his brother when he was younger.

Aaron lost each time. He knew it was Hinds teaching him though.

Aaron pulled a sword from the training rack and faced Hinds.

"Bring it on."