When Blake thought of instructor Zirrack, it reminded him of the hellish training that was given to them a few weeks ago.
The training was so intense that it almost made Blake cry. His body was so sour to the point, he had to grit his teeth every time he moved a part of his body.
The funny thing was, it hurt like this because he normally exercised, but for those who had never performed a push-up in their life, it was hell!
Most of the students had passed out, but funny enough they had been woken up by instructor Zirrack with a bucket of water and were told to continue.
He was a beast!
Blake involuntarily shudder when he remembered the horrific experience
The torture went on for a week until the number of students taken to the clinic because of exhaustion was noticed by the school.
The school stepped into the matter and confronted Zirrack, but after all their efforts the school managed to convince him to reduce the number of exercises that were given to them.
Those on the path to becoming mages were given fewer exercises compared to those who were on the path to becoming battlemages.
They were two paths that those blessed with magic could choose when it came to combat, the path of being a mage or that of being a battlemage.
The path of battlemages required the user to gain high-level mastery in both magic and close combat.
They were not only feared because of their abilities to cast spells and fight but also because of their weapons.
The weapons used by Battlemages were not ordinary weapons, but magical weapons that could be combined with the battlemages combat technique and magic to release devastating attacks.
Battlemages were known as the bane of all mages, but this kind of power came with its disadvantages. They were slow at progressing in level when compared to the mages.
Because they had to learn and practice combat techniques and also comprehend the laws of magic, they were naturally meant to be slower than those who dedicated their whole life to one path.
Except for one in a thousand years geniuses that were spoken of in legends, no one could learn that fast.
Even though they could not progress quickly, battlemages could easily stand their ground against mages a level above them and in most cases defeat them.
The mage path is usually chosen by those who didn't have much talent in close-quarters combat. If one chose the path of a mage their greatest strength would lie in their destructive and defensive spells, but they were weak when it came to close-quarters combat.
Although it sounds like a disadvantage, many mages would disagree with that.
Mages possessed a lot of destructive and defensive spells that helped them keep a safe distance between their enemies. If a battle mage underestimated a mage and gave him enough space they would be obliterated before they knew what was happening.
Blake's attention was drawn back to the arena when one of the students stumbled and almost fell. When Blake saw the student, he couldn't help facepalming, it was the ever-nervous Wesson.
"It isn't nice to laugh at him but I can't help it… Let's hope he doesn't do anything funny." Blake covered his mouth with his hands as he tried his best to prevent laughter from bursting out.
Wesson's actions reminded him of what happened on the training grounds.
Wesson had awakened the water element which was not much of a surprise to Blake.
"The peaceful aura of the water element conforms to his timid nature." Blake thought as he stroked his chin
When it was Wesson's turn to cast his spell, he moved around with nervous steps, but when he began casting his spell, he was serene as he gathered mana to himself.
"Wow… Just wow!" Not only did he gather mana and conjured water smoothly, but the level of control he had when channeling the spell was what surprised Blake.
Although his skill was average it surprised him because it was coming from someone who always acted clumsily.
When Wesson passed the test, he walked out with a beaming smile on his face, but on his way out he stumbled and almost fell.
"Really?!" Blake smiled wryly as he shook his head.
After 30 minutes the test came to an end for the wind griffin dormitory and it was time for the elite test.
Just as predicted by Blake, the wind griffin had the least number of students that passed the test. Out of the total number of 367 students that passed, the wind griffin dorm had a few numbers above 70.
"The school really did a good job in sieving out the weak ones." Blake marveled at the fact that the school used a simple test and was able to remove a lot of students.
He didn't think much about it because it was time for the elite test.
The three judges to officiate the elite matches came up and that was when a thought popped up in his head.
"What if Vlad used the judges against me? That would be troublesome" This made Blake frown deeply.
Using the judges was seriously bad news for Blake because they could make up silly excuses they could use as leverage to disqualify him. If this happened, he will automatically be expelled.
"The only way to get out of this is to win the enemy with so much power that they wouldn't be able to disagree with my victory." After thinking about It he decided that this was the best approach he could take since he didn't have any background or family strong enough to protect him from situations like this.
"What if he doesn't use the judges but another dirty trick?"
"No, I can't take chances, judges, or no judges I wouldn't hold back!" Blake clenched his fist.
The host came up and cast a voice magnifying spell before speaking.
"Are you ready!!"
"Yeaaah!" The loud cheers of the crowd echoed all over the arena.