13 Chapter 2 (5/7)

A young female walked toward them, bowed at Vincenzo, and said, "Professor Biersack, my name is Carmen Lancaster. I am nineteen years old, level 20 Intermediate Ice Mage."

"Ah, as expected from Mages' Academy of Sinerin. Professor Peckgray, would you like to head to the arena now to register the duel? Or would you like to forfeit and acknowledge that we have won?"

"Haha... I like your jokes. Let's head down to the arena to register the duel together, Professor Biersack."

In the arena of Flumen City. After Arthur and Carmen completed the registration forms, they headed into the arena as instructed by the arena master. The professors and students of Nosh, along with professors and students of Sinerin, were sitting at the audience's side to observe the duel.

As usual, Arthur let his opponent attack first. Carmen wasted no time and immediately cast [Ice Spear] to create a floating spear made out of ice then commanded it to fly toward Arthur. As the Ice Spear was about to hit Arthur, a Skeleton Warrior appeared in front of him to block it using its shield. The Ice Spear fell on the ground but quickly flew back up. It attempted to hit Arthur again and was blocked by the Skeleton once again. After six times being blocked by the Skeleton Warrior, the Ice Spear faded and disappeared.

The Skeleton Warrior dashed forward and slashed its sword at Carmen. Carmen cast [Ice Barrier] spell, to create a barrier made of ice around her. The Skeleton strongly struck its sword at the Ice Barrier but failed to break through it. Unlike the [Circle of Protection] spell that can reflect a portion of damage to its attackers, [Ice Barrier] only absorbs incoming damage. Carmen then cast the [Freeze] spell to immediately freeze the Skeleton, temporarily seizing all of his movements. The frozen effect only lasted for five seconds but before the effect's duration was over, the Skeleton Warrior was destroyed by another of Carmen's [Ice Spear] spells.

[Ice Barrier], level 1 Ice Magic spell.

[Ice Spear], level 5 Ice Magic spell.

[Freeze], level 10 Ice Magic spell.

Professors and students on both sides could not keep their eyes away from the duel as the representatives of their Mages' Academy were fighting. Well, except for one student, Kain Almos (Kain Bersk). He had fallen asleep on Sofia Verardi's shoulder before the duel even began.

Before Kain approached Jaane's group, he approached another group and Sofia was the first person to ever shake Kain's hand at the Mages' Academy of Nosh. Like other students, Sofia used to hate Kain very much thinking he was too cocky. Even after hearing of Kain’s background from one of her classmates, Sofia still did not feel any sympathy for him. But after witnessing how sweet and gentle he was the first time they ever talked, her view of him had rapidly changed. Notwithstanding, Kain rarely spoke to Sofia or told her of anything about him. Even so, their friendship has grown tremendously since the first time they have met. Sofia Verardi possessed an Angelic Soul and was a student of Light Magic in Mages' Academy of Nosh. She is currently twenty-two years old and was recently advanced into the intermediate tier of Light magic.

Kain always showed up to classes on time despite the long hours that he trained alone after school. After eight hours of school, other students normally meditate for three hours a day while Kain never meditates less than six hours a day. Even the great genius Arthur Castillon could not meditate more than five hours a day. It was not because the other students were lazy and Kain was not. It was because meditation requires one hundred percent concentration at all times. A small distraction would cause all the progress the magic caster had made from meditating that day to be lost. Better to be safe than be sorry, that is why other students normally meditate for a maximum of three hours a day to keep up the progress they have made instead of taking the risk of losing it all.

How could Kain meditate that long? Because the author said so.

Does Kain have an advantage over other students? Not really. Kain, on the other hand, had to meditate twice much longer compared to the other students to match their daily progress because the progress he had made through meditation would be split evenly into Blood Magic and Conjuration Magic. To be able to advance faster in magic training, not only did Kain meditate for more than six hours but sometimes even nine hours by using a blood pool inside of his Blood Ring.

After countless failures and getting beaten too many times by Master Whistler, Kain had learned to put on [I don't give a F*ck] mode to keep himself from being distracted. That was also why he refused to have friends and asked to have a dorm room dedicated to himself so he could avoid as many distractions as possible. Plus, Kain wouldn't have to worry about exposing himself when tapping into his blood pool during meditation. Kain still had his dorm room now and continued to refuse to share it with anyone. As one of the geniuses in Mages' Academy of Nosh, no professor would object to him on that request.

Is it fair for other students? Of course not. But guess what, life is a bitch.

Vincenzo Biersack could not advance into the Legend tier in Conjuration Magic, but his vast knowledge of training was notable. Kain and Arthur were the two talented students that he had. He knew both of them would make him so proud in the future, and that was why he put all of his efforts into research to come up with better teaching techniques for each of them. All students progressed differently, the same goes for Kain and Arthur. Vincenzo made sure Kain and Arthur could learn as much as possible compared to other students and Arthur did not disappoint Vincenzo. A nineteen-year-old could master the intermediate tier of Conjuration Magic is something not everybody can do.

In the past, many people have thought Kain was being too cocky. Some people still do now but Sofia thought otherwise. Sofia looked at how Kain tiredly fell asleep on her shoulder, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Kain had been training twice as hard compared to other students. The reason she knew about this was that she sneaked into his dorm room after school many times just to watch him meditate. Kain knew about this but because of his [I don’t give a F*ck] mode, he did not confront Sofia about it.

Yes, she stalked his ass. It feels good to be the main character, isn't it?

Sofia didn't know how Kain could successfully mediate that long but it was not something an average magic caster like her could understand. Every time they hung out together on an off day, Kain usually fell asleep on her thigh while she was telling him stories of the famous Saint Warriors and Saint Mages of Toria Continents before they became Gods and traveled to the higher realms.

At first, Sofia was surprised when Kain did not know any of these Saint Warriors and Saint Mages as children should have learned about them through bedtime stories their parents normally read to them when they were small. But after carefully thinking about Kain's background, Sofia understood why. Not only was Kain an orphan but he was being adopted by a Duchess who only cared about his power. He called the Duchess his mother, but she never showed him any kind of affection that a mother should have for her son. If Kain didn't possess any kind of Elemental Soul, Duchess Sybell Graylock would never have adopted him.

Jaane was busy watching the duel, but when she turned her head toward Kain's direction, the corner of her eyes caught Sofia kissing him on his forehead. Jaane has been secretly looking at Kain from far away many times since the day they spoke outside of the orphanage house. Is it because they both share the same last name that was why she wanted to talk to him more? Regardless, Jaane smiled and felt happy for them as she turned back to focus on watching the duel between Arthur and Carmen.

Carmen cast the [Ice Prison] spell to create a ring of ice surrounding Arthur to prevent him from escaping as her [Ice Spear] was flying toward him. Arthur remained calm and cast [Conjure Fire Demon], [Conjure Thunder Eagle], [Conjure Phantom Knight], and [Conjure Skeleton Warrior] spells. The Phantom Knight immediately parried Carmen's Ice Spear using its greatsword while the Skeleton Warrior ran away in panic. Who can blame it? A lowly Skeleton Warrior would be useless in this type of battle between two Intermediate Mages. The Fire Demon cast a [Flame] spell and attempted to defrost the Ice Prison while the Thunder Eagle cast a [Lightning Strike] spell on Carmen to keep her occupied by forcing her to cast [Ice Barrier] spells on herself for protection.

[Flame], level 1 Fire spell.

[Ice Prison], level 11 Ice spell.