Suicidal

Ever since Adam had acquired the white lotus and began consuming the soul fragments inside the mysterious space, his soul had been strengthening at an astonishing rate. And the strengthening of his soul directly increased his spiritual power and perception.

Adam's perception had increased to such a degree that at one point he even had difficulty processing everything that was happening in his surroundings.

Only after constant practice, was he able to control his heightened perception. And the result of that was a technique that he had personally developed.

He named it, Sphere of Resonance!

This technique effectively shortened the area his heightened senses could perceive and concentrated it in a radius of a little less than 2 meters around him. And this wasn't two-dimensional, but three-dimensional!

Meaning, he could even clearly perceive the things happening above him as well as underground. Within the Sphere of Resonance, nothing could escape his senses. Even the most minute changes would be immediately noticed by him.

This is where his confidence stemmed from as he charged towards the incoming projectiles.

There was one minor drawback to this technique, however. Utilizing this technique put a strain on his mind. However, this could be overcome by not using the technique for prolonged periods.

The entire arena, even the professors, were astonished at Adam's 'suicidal' charge. Not to mention, the youth wasn't wearing the academy's uniform. The cloak actually contained an inscribed defensive spell that protected students against most rank 1 spells.

To everyone present, Adam's actions were simply him courting death. But what transpired next, completely stunned the crowd.

When the first earthen spike was only less than an inch away from piercing his forehead, Adam leaned to the side while continuing his charge. In the end, the earthen spike zoomed past his face by only a hair's breadth!

And that was not all. The subsequent spikes that came at him were all dodged efficiently. Adam made the least amount of movement necessary to avoid the projectiles. And in the end, he had managed to dodge every single earthen spike.

Lisa's spell wasn't even able to touch a single hair on his body!

The entire arena was dead silent. Everyone was having difficulty comprehending just what had transpired. Even most of the professors were taken aback at Adam's finesse.

"Hahahaha!" Adam laughed like a madman as he approached the earthen wall that separated him from Lisa.

Then, he jumped high in the air while weaving his hands quickly to complete the physical component of his spell.

Just as he had leaped across the wall and Lisa finally came into view, Adam pointed his right hand's index and middle finger at her. Following that, a brilliant magic circle lit up at the tip of his fingers.

Rank 1 Spell: Eldritch Beam!

Dark purple energy crackled at the tip of his fingers and the next moment, it zig-zagged its way towards Lisa in an unpredictable manner.

Seeing Adam's maniacal grin and the energy beam headed in her direction, a hint of fear crept up inside Lisa's heart. But the next moment, her eyes narrowed as she took out a small block of dry ice from her pouch.

BOOM!!

A loud explosion took place in the fighting platform and dust and debris flew in all directions. The place where Adam's spell hit Lisa was completely shrouded in dust. Nothing was visible.

Adam landed on the ground but he didn't seem happy at all. He had already canceled the Sphere of Resonance. It gave him a severe headache if he used it for a prolonged time.

He had a solemn expression on his face as he stared at the dust-filled area in front of him. Before his spell had landed on Lisa, Adam had noticed that she had already taken out a material component to cast a spell.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but clench his fists. She managed to remain calm and cast a spell under the threat of Eldritch Beam? Unbelievable!

And as expected, when the dust settled, a damaged dome made of ice became visible in everyone's vision!

"Oh my goodness! She managed to block Adam's spell!"

"If I'm not wrong, that right there is a combination of two spells. Ice Wall and Shape Water!"

"Monsters! Both of them are complete monsters!"

"Did you see how Adam dodged those earthen spikes earlier?"

"Yeah! That was awesome!"

"I can't even imagine how he was able to dodge so many projectiles while moving forward."

"As expected of the first and second-ranked students of the first-year batch!"

The audience was at the edge of their seats as they discussed the match with great enthusiasm. This whole experience was an emotional roller coaster ride for them. They went from hating Adam to admiring him to finally cheering for him.

In the world of Magi, strength was respected by all!

…

In the professor's viewing room, all the professors were discussing Adam's earlier actions. Although his running into the volley of earthen spikes seemed reckless, it was actually all calculated.

Just as the professors were debating if Adam had used some sort of divination spell or if it was something else, Berger decided to explain to them.

"The boy has ridiculously high spiritual power for someone his age. So it is only natural that his perception would be very high. I'm guessing he used some sort of technique to capitalize on his incredibly high perception."

Professor Godfrey nodded. She then looked at her old friend and asked, "Do you think Adam developed this technique on his own?"

Berger shrugged. "Who knows? But I won't be surprised. After all, the kid did score full marks on the analytical test, did he not?"

All the professors were moved. Doing well on the analytical test didn't just mean that the student would have an easier time analyzing and comprehending spell models, it also meant that they were more than capable of developing new techniques and spells!

Just as everyone was discussing this, there was a sudden movement in the ice dome on the platform.

…

The ice dome began to intensely vibrate and it seemed that it would break apart any moment now.

Seeing this, Adam's eyes narrowed and he began weaving hand motions to cast another eldritch beam.

However!

Much to his surprise, the ground underneath him cracked apart and two large earthen hands viciously grabbed his leg, disrupting his spell casting.

"Shit!" Adam cursed under his breath. But it was too late.

The ice dome suddenly shattered, and Lisa grabbed two large ice shards and jumped in the air. Then, her hands moved at lightning speed and she completed the spell's physical component.

Following that, the two ice shards slowly broke down into fine particles mid-air. The material component was also complete!

And then…

To everyone's sheer shock, two magic circles lit up on Lisa's palms, and two rays of icy energy shot in Adam's direction.

Rank 1 Spell: Frost Ray!

The two spells pierced Adam, one in the shoulder and the other in the knee, causing him to fall miserably on the ground.

But what shocked everyone, even the professors, was that a mere Rank 1 - Flesh Stage Magus was able to dual-cast!