Nine Months Later

--- Nine Months later, Gremory Point of View ---

As always I start my day training my physique until Vendryt calls and today was no different, except of course today Vendryt decided to remake the test of the first day. "You know how it works, defend the totem, but this time it will be for 1 hour instead of 10 minutes." He said.

But a lot has changed in the last few months and it wasn't just me, the entire Aspiring Mages group had achieved rank D in magic while I was stuck in rank B. Although my mana is the same as nine months ago, the change I went through was much superior, now I knew how magic worked in this world. All the time spent with Nogand learning to use Tier 2 Runes was worth it.

Thanks to this improvement, there was now no hesitation in the eyes of anyone present there as we entered the great arena that was suspended over the edge of the precipice. Everyone had died so many times in the arenas that they even got used to the pain of having their limbs mutilated.

"Do you want me to do the same as last time?" I ask Xander while I point to the top of the castle where the same people from the first day are present.

"Yes, this time we will make it!" Xander answers the question with determination, leaving the rest of the group excited about what will come next.

"You will owe me this time." I speak walking towards the wooden totem, to be the last line of defense.

Ice Golens begin to appear in hordes climbing the platform.

"WALL OF FIRE" Xander screams while he creates a wall of fire around them, allowing the view outside the wall but also reducing the freezing effect of the golens and also damaging them the moment they have to pass over the wall.

There was no need to vocalize the spell since it did not involve runes or anything like that, but when fighting in a group it is usually better to warn before conjuring something that may affect the area.

"HELLFIRE" Yuno screamed, releasing a strong blast of fire hitting several golens around.

'Yeah, they got a lot better, they could have won the first time if they only knew how to conjure a Warm Aura to protect themselves from the Freezing Aura of the Ice Golens.'

Xander and Yuno were not the only impressive ones there, Kiel had an extra capacity just like Vendryt's, he launched a Fireball and was able to control it from a distance. Because of this, he was behind the group attacking the golens from a much greater distance, decreasing their numbers the moment they were grouped.

Mary and Luther kept conjuring Fireball without stopping attacking the nearby enemies, although they are not so strong I feel that those who changed the most were these two. Luther had a snobbish attitude due to his family's status inside the Viridian house, but the shock he got after discovering he was weak by his family's parameters was too much for him. He probably would not be even here anymore if it weren't for Mary who has worked so hard to teach him the basics of the conjuration.

This made them inseparable, after all, Mary despite her low status was the one who struggled to help Luther. Before we could even realize it, they had already become a couple who didn't care for their respective familie's decisions about them.

'Huh, Vendryt spoke an hour, right? I think I can take a nap in the meantime. ' Gremory thought while he lay down on the side of the totem.

With the group's new coordination, even without Gremory's help, they were able to keep the totem protected for a full hour.

'Huh, I think it's over. This is the easiest deal I've ever made.'

Activating my Hanzor skill when looking up I notice a very peculiar detail, there were already several people with a Black Heart among the high ranks of the house.

'Heh, the Grand Master takes his work very seriously.'

Vendryt lowered the bridge and came towards us as soon as we completed an hour defending the wooden totem.

"You did well, you fulfilled the mission with mastery. I think that's all I have to teach you all for now." He said, but this time with his right hand on his chest as a sign of respect for all of us. "As you well know, there are 3 months until the next Derlvit. Still, there are many differences between your skills, I will let you refine them by yourselves, after all, the same training will not benefit everyone."

Gremory did not know the first time he participated in Delvirt, partly because of the Marquis Joseph Ranseur who was late due to Gremory's conditions at that time. But Derlvit is a two-day event in which Aspiring Mages go through trials to become real Mages and the second day is where novices become Aspiring Mages. The results, as always, are already well defined before and this is in large part just a tournament that is a tradition to show to the population the evolution of the members of the respective houses.

'Maybe it's a good chance to finally test Cerberus...'

After Vendryt went on the continence, everyone followed and also entered that position promptly while Gremory was still rising from the floor after his nap.

(Author note: I am going to use "Continence" to signal the position of respect. When this is written it means that the person puffed out his chest and placed his right hand over his heart as a sign of respect to the person in front).

"As for you, Gremory, I imagine you have obligations to fulfill before you are released." Vendryt spoke in a mocking tone.

Gremory was supposed to be at the forge in the morning but he got busy with this training session so now he had to run to the forge.

The time they spent in battle was intense and cost a lot of blood to each of them, which united the group in a great way. Still, they would see each other again in a few months and Gremory had no patience for big goodbyes, so with simple continence, he said goodbye to them and ran to the forge.