Chapter 108 Combat [ 1 ]

-Asher Frostblade's point of view.

Tests at the academy are evaluated every three months; this is to verify whether the cadet has improved or not. At worst, if he does not improve, he will fail the year. In the best case, he could be the strongest or the most talented, depending on the year the cadet is in, of course.

On the other hand, these evaluations will have three stages: the magical, the physical, and probably the most difficult of all, the mental stage.

The latter is significantly more complicated. Why? The simple answer would be that it seeks to know whether the magician's mind is strong or not. A magician with a weak mentality is not considered a true magician. However, in other cases, even if he is considered so, if his mentality is low, he will be easily defeated if his enemy discovers his weakness.

Of course, there are ways to avoid this, and the most effective way is to defeat your opponent as quickly as possible, before he notices your weakness. For now, no one knows that Asher's weakness is precisely his mind, although soon all the first-year cadets will find out. The highest ranked, the most talented in the entire academy and the future great wizard has a weak mind.

Asher doesn't care too much about what they say about him, but if someone crosses certain boundaries, he won't be intimidated. Everyone knows that he is the strongest of the first year and even among some of the second year, if he passes to the third circle. With these characteristics, no one would dare mess with him.

The cadets continued with their evaluations. From Asher's perspective, these cadets were not talented, but, as he learned more about this world, he came to realize that what they displayed was considered talented. Although, on the surface, everything they did seemed easy to accomplish. This left Asher with only one thought:

"It's boring."

Everything seemed boring to him. Accomplishing things so easily was really tedious.

His talent is considered the greatest in history; even Encrid admitted that Asher's talent surpasses his own. That was why everything now became monotonous. Why is everything so easy for him? His strength, though it does not compare to that of the great mages of the world, leads him to think that he could surpass them if he trained without restraint.

However, Asher does not want to achieve great powers too quickly. He is convinced that, if he were to train seriously, he would surpass the other mages of the world in no time. He watched as the cadet advanced, knowing that he would be next. Although the evaluation took quite some time, Asher was patient.

Not one to get bored easily waiting, but really, everything was boring. Not only that... Everything around him was beginning to seem tedious.

It was as if he suddenly began to see the world in a new way and realized everything.

"Now run as fast as you can," said Professor Lucas.

This professor had a really curious affinity, although it wasn't all that surprising. Still, it was amazing to see how the professor created objects or anything else with just his mana, something Asher couldn't do, since his affinity is "darkness" itself.

However, this led Asher to wonder:

"Is it possible to have a second affinity?"

. Perhaps not, since affinities develop when you awaken as a mage, and are probably inherited from birth. It's not something you choose. Still, Asher thought there might be some chance of having a second affinity.

"Haa...," he sighed bitterly as he observed that the cadet was about to finish the last area of the physical evaluation.

With an indifferent, stoic, emotionless look on his face, Asher watched the cadet finish.

It certainly took quite a while, even though the test was short. Still, it was quite difficult for many cadets. Although Asher did not know exactly how much the icy iron bucket weighed, he understood that it was not too heavy, as other cadets, who seemed not to have trained before, managed to lift it more than five centimeters. Therefore, he deduced that it was not an impossible weight to lift.

"Next cadet," was heard. It was Asher's turn.

Tap.

He stepped forward and approached the professor. The gazes of all the cadets, including Professor Lucas, were fixed on him. Some cadets watched him in whispered admiration, while others stared at him in silence, seemingly jealous of his talent.

Regardless of what they thought, Asher looked at the professor, who watched him for a few seconds before speaking with a fixed smile on his face:

"The first assessment is for strength, lift the cube as high as you can."

Asher looked at the cube a few inches from his feet, watched it carefully and proceeded to hold it by both ends. The original plan was to simply lift it off the ground as far as he could hold it. At first, however, the professor said:

"Lift him up to his waist," which meant that it was thought possible to lift him up to that height.

However, Asher then thought:

"Even though he said that, it doesn't mean I can't lift it past the waist, right?"

Of course, he didn't mention an exact rule prohibiting lifting it beyond the waist. Although it seemed obvious enough to answer, it was possible that there was some trick to lifting the bucket more easily.

Because, if he said waist-high and no one had managed to lift it more than five centimeters, that clearly meant there was a trick.

Though Asher thought it through, his eyes widened:

"So, there was mana to be used from the beginning."

It was then that he found his answer.

"Although, if that's the case... I won't use mana. I'll do it with all my strength."

To Asher, using mana without employing his own physical strength was a trap. So, he proceeded to lift the bucket.

"Mmm."

However, his eyes widened as he felt the great weight of the cube. It weighed between 850 or 900 kilograms. Although its size was quite small, the cube felt incredibly heavy.

Although Asher did not feel it extremely heavy, as his strength far exceeded that of a normal human, still, it was quite heavy for its small size.

However, the cube... Why was it so heavy?

"My sword is quite light, but the material is quite heavy."

The sword given to Asher by the Merwin family patriarch was indeed light. However, it was made of the same material, icy iron. So where did the weight of the bucket come from and why was his sword so light despite being made of the same material?

Regardless of the doubts, Asher continued to lift the bucket. He reached his knees, then his waist, but he didn't stop there, and lifted it even higher, up to his chest.

At that point, it was awkward to lift it with both hands, so he used one hand. He lifted it up to his neck, and finally surpassed it in height.

Boom!!!

Asher dropped the bucket to the ground, producing a deafening noise that kicked up dust, as the bucket buried itself slightly in the ground.

"1.78 meters."

Professor Lucas gave his result. Although Asher had several questions, he refrained from asking them for the moment and proceeded to the next area.

"The next area is to run as far as you can until you get tired."

Asher looked around and then started running. The stopwatch started as well.

One minute, two, three, four.... Eight, nine, ten... Finally, thirty minutes.

"Thirty-one minutes and fifty-nine seconds."

Although, in reality, Asher didn't run until he got tired.

"If I do, I'd be running too long."

He refrained from running too long, but it was the highest score so far.

"Rest for ten..."

"I'll keep going."

Asher interrupted the teacher. He knew what the next area was, and ran again, but this time it was a full lap of the area, running as fast as possible.

Honestly, Asher was starting to lose patience with so much waiting; he wanted to finish this ridiculous evaluation as soon as possible. However, it was something important and mandatory that he had to do.

After turning around, the professor spoke:

"100 kilometers in speed."

Although that was not his 100 percent speed, it was fast enough to score well.

Using mana and skills, Asher could have been even faster, but this assessment was physical. Regardless of what he used or not, Asher decided to do it his way and didn't use mana at all this time since the assessment began.

"Now, the fourth area: try to hold on as long as possible holding the icy iron bucket."

This test was easy. You didn't have to move or do anything else. It was simply a matter of holding the ice-iron bucket for as long as possible.

This time, the idea changed, and Asher took the initiative to hold as long as he could. He was curious about his endurance in holding the bucket.

So he took a step and stood in front of the bucket, looking at it carefully for a few seconds.

What Asher planned was to simply hold on as long as possible, without stopping for a considerable amount of time.

Therefore, Asher held the cube by both ends and lifted it up to his waist.

The stopwatch began to run, as time slowly ticked by and Asher held the bucket in his hands.

Ten minutes passed and Asher still showed no signs of fatigue.

"It's not that tiring at the moment."

Of course, it would become exhausting as time progressed. However, it would be quite a while before his stamina began to flag. Knowing he would be a good while like this, Asher stood his ground and clutched the bucket tightly.

The others watched him as he held the bucket.

Half an hour.

One hour.

Two hours...

Time seemed to move slowly, but not a drop of sweat fell from his forehead.

He was not yet completely exhausted.

Then, Asher thought:

"This is boring."

The bucket was heavy, yes, but not heavy enough for him to tire immediately. In his previous life, he had spent hours and hours in endurance tests like this one. Anything that involved physical strength, Asher endured to the end.

Physical strength was everything in his previous life, but now, it was no longer. Still, Asher wanted to be strong both physically and magically. His goal was to surpass Oriana in strength and, in addition, to surpass Encrid's former power in magic.

It was a long road he had to travel to overcome those great walls in both aspects.

Would Asher be able to overcome his own limits, how far would he be able to go?

Only time would tell.

After four hours, Professor Lucas had moved on with the other cadets.

Asher still wasn't giving up and was still holding the bucket while the others finished their tests.

After five hours, all the cadets were finished.

His friends scored high, and although it wasn't the final score, they knew their scores would be pretty good.

Boom!!!

All eyes were on Asher as he dropped the bucket on the floor.

"Has he reached his limit?" some wondered.

Asher's incredible endurance had been ignored after three hours of effort, and the rest of the cadets continued with their assessments without paying any more attention to him. They were no longer surprised that Asher was undoubtedly the strongest.

"6 hours 48 minutes and 56 seconds."

Professor Lucas gave Asher his score.

Honestly, he was surprised, though he hid it. Oriana was too, but she didn't let her expression give away her amazement.

"Now, let's go to the last area: combat."

"Pairs will be selected at random and will fight each other until one is victorious."

The professor explained the rules.

Asher paid no attention to any of his words. He simply looked in another direction, completely disinterested.

Finally, the evaluation was about to end, and the last test had begun: the fights.

The long-awaited confrontation with Oriana... was about to begin...