The crowd was cheering as the Magic Trails had begun. Students displayed their abilities to the masses, varying from all types of elemental magic. The flooring of the bleachers started shaking over the people pounding their feets out of excitement.
Amongst the crowd was Lyon, Jiniya, Lily, and Metoki who looked a bit bored, yawning and stretching as the participants were introduced. But a student caught Jiniya's attention. Among the crowd of participants was a young boy, with the face of someone who was within the age gap of 12-14.
The young boy with dark brown hair and misty gray eyes, his thin and frail looking body had differentiated him from the rest, the child was like a sore thumb amongst the crowd. To Jiniya's surprise however, the child met with her eyes and started waving his hand.
Once the participants took notice of the young lad who was waving his hand, they began whispering amongst themselves. Having to speak ill against the boy. Yet, the boy miraculously disregarded it with a large grin on his face.
Baffled by the young boy's bravery, Jiniya waved back at him. The crowd continued to stomp on the wooden floorboards as their roaring cheers grew louder. But silence then devoured the area when a large amount of mist passed by. It had this cold and disturbing sensation, similar to how a gust of wind would suddenly pass through one's body.
The silence was so deafening that Lyon was on his guard, hands ready to brawl while Jiniya tried to grab Lily's hand but there was none.. Their vision blurred as the mist grew thicker. Looking at the side, there were no other students other than them. Lyon's ability to sense other Mana has been distorted.
"Is this a new type of magic?" Lyon thought as he glared at his surroundings.
A sudden presence appeared behind him, an awfully disturbing amount of mana was building up behind him, heavy breathing blowing against his nape. Jiniya felt the presence as well but was shocked when she saw Lyon breathing heavily cold sweat dripping against his face.
Jiniya could feel something behind Lyon but had no vision of it. While Lyon, he wouldn't dare to even take a peek of what was behind him. From the eerie presence alone he knew what kind of terrible and monstrous creature was lurking behind him.
A sudden soft voice whispered in the space between the two. A childish voice that had no figure. Lyon didn't dare to even try and look at the corner of his eye.
"The father is a sinner and the son is a murderer. The truth hidden will be found. Both traitors of her orders. The real monsters- you know fairly well who they are"
The voice slowly faded into silence while giving out a sinister laugh. Lyon trembled in fear as it mumbled a few more words. A strong wind then blew towards their right side, revealing the same scene that was happening before the fog appeared.
Jiniya squinted, rubbed her eyes, shook her head and blinked her a few more times before turning her face towards Lily. She looked at her entertained face, cheering on the participants. Lily was among the few who didn't sign up for the trials but loves watching Magic Duels and tournaments that involve magic.
For Metoki on the other hand, his eyes were gradually falling and his body was moving back and forth. He yawned a bit before leaning his head on Lily's shoulder. At the moment of contact Lily's face had suddenly turned beet red. The two girls looked at each other to which Jiniya gave out a smile, Lily gave out an awkward smile.
Jiniya returned her gaze to Lyon but he was no longer beside her, she looked around and saw that behind the participants was Lyon. Standing with his head facing the ground. She looked closely at him and smiled, she knew what was happening as she overheard the conversation between Lyon and Commander Arthur.
Arthur had recommended Lyon to join the trails to assess those who are capable of Royal Knights regardless of their social status. But a second she thought of him as a different person. She grabbed Lily by the arm and hugged her tight as they watched the trials.
"Now then, we shall begin our First Trial" the announcer spoke as he pulled out a card from the right sleeve of his black and gold coat.
"The First Trial is Mana Manipulation!!"
The crowd suddenly went wild, each of them cheering for someone. Yet, not a single soul spoke of Lyon's name. Jiniya simply watched in silence with a grin on her face, she knew what power Lyon possessed as she would most of the time be present when he train's.
Mana Manipulation is a test where participants need to destroy a Mana Beasts Core before it starts collecting mana to regain its original body. Laid in front of the participants were various Mana Beast Core's, mainly Elemental Mana Beast Core's which was commonly harvested by adventurers after slaying a Mana Beast.
Mana Beast are created through high concentration of Mana to the point that it creates a body, turning itself to a Beast like creature. Mana Beast vary from their surroundings, a Mana Beast that was created in a terrain filled with water would have tentacle-like legs and an almost see through body, usually called a Mizumono.
Mizumono are troublesome opponents as they can absorb almost all types of magic, but they are known to be calm and gentle creatures. Usually found near large lakes flocking in groups, for the Avaritian Kingdom though. The Mizumono is a massive wealth bringer as having a Mizumono Core would allow you to turn an object waterproof.
While there are more types of Mana Beasts, most of the time adventurers and knights tend to only attack the Mizumono since bringing them far enough from water is their biggest weakness. Because they could easily die of dehydration.
As the participants stood in front of their chosen Core, the announcer suddenly placed his right index finger on his lips, silencing the crowd. Lyon casually stood in front of a Mizumono Core which was opposite to his magic.
Humans can only harness and use one magic, most of the time they get their magic through bloodlines. While there are some instances when a child is born with a very different magic from their family magic. A perfect example is Lyon, his mother was known to have Wind magic similar to his father, but he was born with Fire magic.
Fire Magic was the most feared type of Magic, especially if the user was born in the Superbian Empire. Known as "The Paradise of Flames" the Superbian Empire ruled over the largest continent, second to it was the Avaritian Kingdom. But the empire's power and control over their continent had slowly decreased after their loss in the war against the Avaritian Kingdom over 13 years ago.
While fire magic was terrifying, using it causes its user to consume more mana. Mana consumption differs through the magic they use. Most people who use Water and Fire magic tend to consume more mana. Dissimilar to those who use wind and plant magic.
There are currently two types of Magic, Inner Magic which uses mana reserves to produce magic most of the time used by both nobles and royals, but on a few instances there were few known commoners to be able to use inner magic as well. Outer Magic on the other hand is the use of Mana found in the environment or ones surrounding.
Outer magic should only be used by royals and commoners but on some occasions nobles were also capable of using it. The Inner and Outer Magic abilities differentiate from continent to continent.
Lyon stared at the Mizumono core with fierce crimson colored eyes. The other cores in front of the participants either started cracking or have been shattered causing the crowd to break their silence. But the core in front of him was not cracking in any way, it was slowly melting like ice under the sun.
It took him a few seconds later than the others until the core had melted into nothing but a liquid substance on the ground. Everyone stared at him, not just the participants but the whole crowd had their eyes fixated on him.
"Who's that guy?" they thought, whispering and murmuring to themselves. The other participants were amazed and dumb-founded by his action, noting him as a special person inside their heads. But one participant was not happy, no, in fact he was filled with rage that his presence was very easy to distinguish.
Lyon glanced at the lad furthest to him who had his coat hung on his shoulder, not wearing it like what most students would do. A few notable others also had their eyes on Lyon filled with confusion and a bit of curiosity towards what he has done.
On the bleachers, Jiniya was baffled as well. She glanced back and forth between Lyon and the melted core. Not knowing that he was capable of doing such a thing. To her knowledge he has a high aptitude to manipulate concentrated mana, but what also happened was a shock to her.
"Hey, jiniya! Isn't that guy always by your side?" A female student with short dark brown hair spoke, while tapping Jiniya's shoulder.
Unbeknownst to everyone, Jiniya was a royal most importantly the princess of the kingdom. But she had hid it fairly well to be able to observe and understand the people that she will soon rule over.
"What's his name?" she asked once more.
Jiniya turned her head and stared at the girl. The student gasped and leaned back bumping the knee of a male student. Jiniya knows very-well how female students act towards those with amazing magic abilities, thus she knew that telling them his name would be problematic.
"I-i'm sorry-" the student uttered before standing up and changing her seat.
Metoki on the other hand was awoken by the commotion, he looked at Lyon and the melted liquid on the flooring. Before extending his left hand to reach Jiniya's shoulder, he leaned closer to Lily to be able to speak properly with Jiniya.
Lily on the other hand was shaking and was feeling nervous, it was the first time Metoki's face was only inches away from hers. Her face was beet red that its as if she was about to explode. Jiniya looked towards Metoki and saw Lily's face. She giggle, before lily suddenly stood up bumping Metoki's chin in the process.
"Excuse me!" she said, looking straight at the participants. She turned towards her left and walked away from them.
Jiniya and Metoki watched as she hastefully walked towards the side of the bleachers where she disappeared. Metoke move closer to Jiniya and asked her a question.
"Did you know he was capable of melting such concentrated mana?"
"No, this is the first time i'm seeing this as well-" she answered with a light voice.
"Oh?! It seems that he has many secrets that even you don't know" Metoki said, before letting out a loud laugh.
Students turned their gazes on him as his laugh was somewhat peculiar. Jiniya sighed since amongst the four of them Metoki was the one to always attract attention, but she knew he was doing it to help Lyon, as the crowd laughed because of his laugh.
It took a few minutes before everyone had calmed down and the stage was set for the second trial. The annoncer coughed a little to get everyone's attention back to him. He then took another piece of paper, this time from the pocket inside his coat.
"Alright my dear students, it is time for our second event. Since the commotion in the bleachers had already calmed down. I will now tell you our next trial for the Magic Tournament! Are you ready? Because i am! The next trial that our participant will have to overcome is…"
He pointed at one of the students who held a bucket on his hand, the student began to thump the bottom side of the bucket creating a drum roll for the announcer.
"Our next trial is the Magic display!!"
Chapter End.