Chapter 21: Change of plans.

"Flame strike!"

"Water blade!"

"Wind slash!"

All these children really sucked, this wasn't even a competition, they even said the names of their spells out loud!

And the adults around us and on the stands even seemed very impressed, they were applauding and doing noise whenever a kid casted a spell.

The first of the fifteen kids casted a very weak spell, just a fire spell that sends a small stream of flames at the target, charring it, he didn't even turn it into dust, that thing is never going to kill a beast.

I the reason they had given us targets was that these kids saw magic as a tool to attack an enemy and create destruction, which I admit was a big part of what magic was, but the way I saw it was completely different.

To me, magic was the research of unknowns, a way to change the world around me based on my understanding, seeing it reduced to just a thing to destroy made me sick.

These kids had to make up for their own lack of understanding of what they were doing with an amount of mana far superior to what I would have needed to cast the same spell with the same power.

They only knew how to attack and ineffectively at that, they didn't know how to use magic to amaze people, to create a spectacle, like I did and had done multiple times already.

'Oh well, I guess I'm going to win this without much problem.'

But the moment that thought passed through my head I saw something that I really didn't expect.

A girl, probably a year older than me, with incredibly dark blue hair that reached her shoulders, they were so dark that they were almost black, but I could still see a bit of blue in them.

Her eyes were of the same color, but in a lighter shade, in them I could see confidence and anticipation, evidently she was very sure of her possibilities of winning this competition.

Her eyes hazed over a bit the moment I felt her moving the biggest amount of mana anyone had used since the beginning.

I even feel a couple of different types of mana, lightning and water to be exact, up to this point nobody had used two elements at the same time and I grew excited, even back in Icerock there was nobody in the younger generation who could this other than me.

She was slow, but I could visibly see what looked like clouds forming in a straight line in front of her to her target, these clouds were actually the effect of a spell to condense the water mana in a form between gaseous and liquid.

She wasn't using the water in the air as there wasn't enough for a spell with this kind of area, so she had to consume much more mana, but the visual effect was astounding.

I thought that what she did was already impressive, but she then started using the lightning mana between the clouds to make it look like actual, natural lightning, the only thing it lacked was the thunder that couldn't be replicated at this small scale.

Finally, she let the real lightning she was creating targeting the target, creating a loud noise at the moment of impact.

A smoke cloud formed, the others were waiting for it to subside to see the damage on the dummy, but just by seeing and feeling the lightning attack she used made me understand that it was probably reduced to dust.

Power wasn't a parameter to win this part of the competition, but seeing the target gone while everybody else's was mostly intact was probably going to impress the jury and the public, giving her extra points.

Her spell impressed me so much that I could guess that she would have probably won had I not been here, it was a great achievement to be able to cast something like that at this age, but I wasn't really one to talk about this kind of things.

The public almost went crazy with applauses and cheers, they weren't over a hundred, but they surely were making a lot of noise.

'It would have been better if there was the actual noise of thunder, but it was still very impressive… great, now I have to research sound, one more thing on my infinite list.'

"…and the last participant is our visitor, Avys Winterridge!" announced the announcer bringing me out of the rabbit hole I was throwing myself into.

"Finally." I murmured to myself, I decided that I'd talk with that girl whose name I didn't listen to later, but now it was my moment to put up a real show, seeing her made me want to put my everything into this.

"Why isn't she doing anything?"

"I don't know, maybe she doesn't know what to do after what Alice did."

"Poor girl, I can't imagine what she's feeling."

I could hear some voices saying that I was unlucky to go immediately after the other girl, I snorted, "Let's expand these people's horizons."

I stood there, looking at every single remaining dummy, there were still those of the previous contestants, except for the girl's obviously, they were mostly intact and I didn't like it.

These kids didn't know what really impressive magic looked like, but I was going to show them.

I thought of a spell earlier, but seeing the girl made me want to do something even cooler, so I had to rethink my tactic from scratch.

Or maybe not.

My first plan was to create a Sun with light and fire magic, then throw a lightning bolt overcharged with fire mana at the target, but that was no longer enough.

I'd probably still win, but it would not have been a crushing win, to do things well I had to use most of my mana reserves.

First of all, I used light mana to create four small star looking constructs around me and one of dark mana, then I sent a surge of lightning, fire, wind and water mana inside of the four stars, slowly enlarging them while making them change color in those of the elements I sent inside.

At the same time I also enlarged the dark mana one with the destructive energy.

'Huh, this isn't impressive enough.' I thought to myself.

I sent them high up in the air and made them go further apart while doubling their sizes once again, they were now as big as my torso.

There was no real power inside, it was mostly a light show, but it did do its work to impress people, I could hear the public behind me gasping in surprise.

I then decided to directly fire them at the five different targets that didn't have any real damage except for something superficial.

But it wasn't enough, while the elements in the spheres ravaged the dummies I used light to create a pillar of light around them to make everything more scenic.

The fire star completely incinerated the target, the same could be said for the lightning one, the wind one had turned it into small pieces by repeatedly slashing it apart.

I turned the water star into ice, completely encasing the target into an ice block, while the dark one completely corroded its target into nothing.

I turned around and did a little bow to the audience and went on my way, I had to sit after using half of my mana.

Only after I left did the audience react, and what a great reaction it was.

It was even louder than the one the girl before me received.

I sat down and inhaled very deeply, but I felt something very weird happen, my I felt my mana recover slightly.

'This is weird, why did this happen?'

It wasn't a significant amount, just what I'd recover by myself in around ten minutes, but it was still enough for me to notice it.

I moved my magic inside of my body to see if I felt any other unusual things, but there was nothing.

'What caused it?' I wondered, but I couldn't really do anything about it, it didn't happen again after all so I could only wonder.

"The judges have made their decision and the winner should come to nobody's surprise," said the announcer causing the audience to start murmuring between themselves, "but let's cut the chase, the winner is…"

I really didn't know if he really had to do these dramatic pauses, but I thought that he was doing it just to mess with people.

"Avys Winterridge! Congratulations to the young mage from Icerock!"

Then came the cheers, I was happy, but not really surprised, if I didn't win I would have wasted all the six years I had spent honing my magic against thousands of beasts.

The person who did look surprised though, was the girl who had performed right before me.

She still had her mouth wide open from my performance, I would have though that she dislocated her jaw if not for the fact that her eyes were showing even more surprise.

But she seemed to regain her senses after hearing the audience's cheers, shaking her out of her reverie for my beautiful spectacle.

She stood up from the chair she was resting on, obviously tired from her own performance, and started walking in my direction with stars in her eyes, figurative ones.

"How did you do that?!" she asked with incredible excitement evident in her voice.

"It's too long to explain"

It really was, that was the probably the culmination of my studies in the various elements, explaining it in just a few words wasn't enough to let her fully understand what I did.

"I'll teach you what I did!" She continued, her excitement not decreasing in the slightest.

I could practically see her vibrate in hope, it was too much for me to refuse her, I did have a heart after all.

I didn't need her to teach me, just seeing her do it gave me various ideas on how to replicate it and even bring it further, I found that process much more exciting than just have it taught to me.

Clouds weren't one of the subjects I researched, but it was still a good addition to my knowledge.

"Fine, I'll teach you as long as I stay in this city, but wait for the end of this competition first." I gave up.

"Great! I love you Avys!" she said while darting away.

What an excited girl.

'Wait, how did she know my name?' butt I realized right after, it was announce it three times after all, it'd be weirder if she didn't know.

The only problem that remained now was that I didn't know hers, why did she have to leave like that?

I didn't care enough to actually stand up, I was still a bit tired after all, but I was sure that she'd eventually come back.

"Ladies and gentlemen, for the second part of this competition, I request a warm welcome for our city's merchants!"