Resonance

Silence.

Complete and utter silence.

Every student in the arena was dumbstruck. Their eyes were popping out and their jaws were nearly touching the floor.

Suddenly, amidst the stifling silence there was the sound of loud laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Edward stood up in his seat and raised his fists in the air. He cheered enthusiastically, "Go get her, Adam!"

Adam looked in the direction of his roommate and smirked. He gave him a thumbs up and replied, "You know it!"

Everyone came to their senses after this short interaction. They couldn't believe what had just transpired. At once, the audience burst into loud discussion.

"Heavens! Am I dreaming?!"

"Did the farm boy just land a punch on Lisa?"

"Wait a minute! Wasn't he drunk?"

"He was definitely acting!"

"So deceitful! Lisa, you must show him his place!"

"Yeah! Beat this treacherous clown!"

At a certain area in the bleachers, Kevin, Jeffrey, and a bunch of other students in the same group were looking with shocked expressions.

Kevin's eyebrows furrowed and his fists clenched in anger. He looked at Jeffrey and asked, "This Adam, he's from the same kingdom as you, isn't he?"

Jeffrey spat through gritted teeth, "As much as I hate to admit it, he is."

Kevin's eyes narrowed, his next words oozing with killing intent. "Hmm, I'll send some mercenaries to slaughter his family. That should annoy this peasant a little, don't you think?"

Hearing those words, everyone including Jeffrey felt a chill down their spines. Although Jeffrey had thought of threatening Adam with his family before, he had never thought of killing them. Besides, he couldn't even if he wanted to.

He replied seemingly nonchalantly, "Don't bother. I've already looked into his background. Adam's parents died when he was just a little boy. And ever since then, he's been practically living like a slave, doing odd jobs to get by.

"Somehow, he was fortunate enough to receive the grace of a wandering Magus and discovered that he had a talent for spell casting. Subsequently, he made preparations to travel to the Nightingale Kingdom and then finally get admitted to the academy."

"Hmph!" Kevin snorted in disdain. "A slave, huh? Yet he dares to lay his hands on my future wife. I'll deal with him later."

Kevin's gaze then landed on Edward who had just now loudly cheered for Adam. He was thinking of dealing with this person as well. "And who the hell is that fatty—" But suddenly he paused and his eyes narrowed when he saw Elaine sitting next to Edward.

"What's his relationship with Elaine Turner?" He asked the people around him.

Once again, Jeffrey replied. "They're siblings. The fatty's name is Edward Turner. He is roommates with Adam, and they seem to have a very close friendship."

Kevin couldn't help but click his tongue in annoyance. "Isn't this farm boy a little too lucky? First, he receives the guidance of a wandering Magus, and now, he's even become close friends with the son of the Guild Master of the Mercantile Guild?"

Jeffrey didn't reply, but he too felt quite helpless about it. He had this absurd notion that the universe was compensating for Adam's miserable childhood by granting him a little bit of luck.

"Anyway." Kevin smiled coldly. "I can't touch that fat pig, the Mercantile Guild is too big to mess with. But that farm boy… hehe. I'll make his life miserable."

Jeffrey was elated listening to this. Personally, he was very scared of Adam. But if he were to get Kevin's help, then he might succeed in his revenge.

…

On the fighting platform, Lisa slowly got to her feet and wiped the blood off her lips. She looked at her blood-stained palm, and then at Adam who was looking at her with blatant provocation.

However, she was smart enough to not fall for his ploy twice. She realized that she had fallen for Adam's tricks from the very beginning.

She couldn't help but wonder, Him arriving late, mocking Magi customs by dressing up like a beggar and pretending to be drunk… Was it all to anger me and throw me off-guard?

When she thought up to this point, deep down in her heart, she couldn't help but come to admire Adam a little. No matter how underhanded his methods were.

But so what? Hmph! Now that I know, I won't fall for it again! She thought inwardly.

She looked Adam in the eye and muttered, "You're really good at acting."

Adam was slightly taken aback by Lisa's sudden change in demeanor. He realized that it would be very difficult to trick her again during this match.

Realizing this, he placed his arm on his chest and exaggeratedly bowed like a stage performer. "Thank you, my lady."

"Hmph!" Lisa harrumphed. Adam's theatrics were now beginning to annoy her.

Without speaking another word, she began weaving hand motions to cast her spell. Adam's eyes narrowed and instead of making distance from the spell's range, he charged headfirst. His plan was to interrupt Lisa's hand motions!

What was the number one reason for a Magus's spell to fail? It was the interruption of their magical components! 

But he had severely underestimated this genius. Lisa's hand speed was many times faster than Adam had expected. And before he'd even reached her, a bright magic circle had already appeared on Lisa's palm as she slammed her palm to the ground.

Rank 1 Spell: Shape Earth!

A thick earthen wall was erected in front of her. Seeing this, Adam simply snorted. "How lame!"

He quickly approached Lisa, planning to circumvent the wall and attack her. But much to his surprise, Lisa had already cast the same spell once again and placed her palm on the wall.

Following that, close to a dozen earth spikes were formed on the earthen wall! The thickness of the wall continued to decrease as the earth spikes were formed.

And then…

PEW! PEW! PEW!

The earthen spikes flew toward Adam at lightning speed.

Seeing this, Adam's eyes widened in shock. He wasn't shocked seeing the incoming projectiles but at the ingenuity of Lisa's spell casting.

This spell could be said to be one of the most versatile spells amongst rank 1 spells, but most of it depended on the spell caster's creativity.

Heh, so what? Adam grinned like a madman. 

Time to test out that move!

Instead of dodging the incoming earth spikes, he ran towards them. Finally, he would be able to use the ability that he had developed with the help of the white lotus.

Sphere of Resonance!