Just when Alex's head felt like it was about to explode from all of the loud crowds cheers and screams, he saw a man step onto the now empty stage which raised him up as he held up his hand asking for the silence of the spectators.
As the crowd finally quieted he spoke up. "Greetings! I know you are all excited to show where your training has brought you, I myself can't wait to see all of the bright young and old faces that have come from the mid-eastern portion of our kingdom! You all may have not heard of me, but my name is Malcolm! I'm a mage from the adventurers guild and I will be hosting this years Annual Magic Competition!"
After he had finished the crowd let out a roar prompting Alex to become deaf for a few moments.
'I'm bringing ear plugs next year.' Alex thought as he heard a light buzz in his ear for a few seconds.
Alex zoned out as the man started explaining how the week would go, only listening to the parts that were important to himself and before long he found himself in front of a large cabin type building.
"This is where we are staying?" A student asked as they neared the building
"What did you expect? There are thousands of us here the cost for housing us for just a few days would be enormous." Another student answered.
'Just one mage instructor makes more than all of the people from my neighborhood combined. These are some of the wealthiest people in the kingdom , a bigger building wouldn't be a problem for them. It's the way that the domes rune formation works, it scans everything from above and blocks unwarranted uses of magic. Having a multiple story building would put many mages above one another, blocking the scanning function of the formation. That's why they have several large cabin-like buildings.' Alex thought as he looked around.
He closed his eyes as an extremely thin mist of spacial energy spread out from him. 'I can barely see anything, but something is better than nothing.'
Alex had created a new net of spacial energy that resembled particles of mana. None of them were connected so he wouldn't be able to see any details, but he would be able tell where objects were. Everything around him was blurry but his second sight wasn't taken from him.
When they were inside of the massive stadium, he was able to see the massive rune formation below him, giving him plenty of time to study it. 'The only reason I can use spacial energy is because the formation hasn't been programmed to block it, but surprisingly it is programmed to block a lot of rare affinities that I haven't even heard of.'
Alex sighed. 'This dome is such a headache, but the main headache is all of the strong people gathered here. Very few people at my old high school were able to detect my spacial energy, but those who could kept silent about it. Mostly just because they thought it was a different type of wind affinity.'
"Potions are tomorrow." Alex said as he and Taylor approached a bunk bed.
Alex gave a light hop and sat with his legs hanging off of the side of the top bed. "Then hunting the day after and runes will be the last day." Taylor said as he looked at the first year schedule he was handed.
"Do you want to check out the training facility?" Alex asked as he looked at a map of the area within the dome.
Taylor nodded. "Which way is it?" He asked while securing all of his belongings into the the drawer next to the bed.
"Left once we exit this building."
The two left after putting away their belongings. After a short walk they approached a large building.
"There are a lot of people here, hopefully they have space." Taylor said as he held the door open.
"Hey, how can I help you?" A man sitting at a desk near the entrance asked as they stepped in.
"Are there any open rooms?" Taylor asked.
The man looked at the two first years in confusion for a moment. "I'm sorry but the last one was just taken."
Alex and Taylor didn't say anything they just pulled out two badges.
The look of confusion filled the mans face even more. "Listen kids, you shouldn't take things from others." He said before lurching towards them to grab the badges and take them to the lost and found.
Alex and Taylor both dodged the swift man, and Alex spoke up. "Listen kid, you shouldn't try to take things that belong to others. We know what we are doing, you don't have to worry… worry about us that is."
'Kid!? I'm probably older than your parents.'
The man sighed. "Fine, I still don't know why these things aren't regulated, but the room your looking for is down that way." He said before pointing in a direction.
'Who gives first years badges like that, had the Dalifield school regressed so far that their best hopes are on first years.' The man thought as he looked at the school badges pinned on their clothes one last time.
"What affinities do you have to make your instructors so sure of that decision?" The man whispered as he watched them walk away.
"It's this one." Alex said as he looked at the emblem on the door that match the one on the small badge.
"You ready?" Taylor asked not even looking for confirmation as he pressed the badge up to the door and opening it as he heard a click.
Alex closed his eyes as he entered, he felt a rush of what he could only call cleaner air. 'So much lightning mana. This rich sensation must be all of the other mana particles that I can't sense.'
Alex quickly went to close the door to prevent the mana from leaving but he realized that it hadn't even attempted to rush through the new opening.
'This rune formation is very useful. I'll need to come back when it's less crowded.' Alex thought as he closed the door and opened his eyes.
Nearly a hundred students filled the room and they were all staring at Alex and Taylor. Their looks were filled with contempt as they saw they were first years, many looked like they were happy to have found new punching bags. Only a few looked at the two with interest.
'These two have no clue what they are doing here. I wonder how long it will be before they turn tail and leave this place. A blonde haired boy and a dark h…' the mages thoughts were cut off as he looked into the dark haired boys eyes. 'So… grim.' The students all felt a torrent of emotions, sadness, anger, restlessness, all as they stared into the boys eyes.
"Huh?" A mage muttered after looking back into and seeing indifference in the boys eyes.
Every student immediately noticed what was going on, negative emotions were tied to darkness while positive were tied to light. Immediately most people gave up with their attempts to intimidate the newcomers.
"So who is up for a little spar? I've got a free schedule for most of the next week, and I'll be bored. After all they don't let first years do very much here." Taylor said to those who were still watching.
Alex went through the crowd seemingly disappearing as he made his way over to some fancy machines.
He turned his head as he felt a pair of eyes locked onto him. For a split second he saw the eyes, they were looking down upon him.
Alex did a quick movement and caught the fading back of Tori's older sister leaving his sight.
'As I thought, those eyes recognized me.' Alex looked unfazed but within that look he had gotten a bit of foresight.
'So what is it, has she been brainwashed as well, or have they always looked down on me even before I was a dark mage.' Alex thought as grinning and conniving faces appeared within his mind cackling and laughing at him.
'You thought I liked you. The greatest joke I've ever said.'
'We only put up with you.'
Alex walked up to punching machine, holding the voices at bay.
He knew it was only in his mind, but every sentence stung as if it were real.
He got into a stance and for a brief moment one could see all of the anger he was holding in. He swung his fist and it blurred. Those that were watching were fascinated as they saw a dark mass like a vertical whirlpool envelope his fist, but were surprised when he stopped his attack midway.
Alex sighed as he brought back his fist, the darkness dissipating, instead he calmed himself and gave a normal punch.
'I don't want to break the machine. This room has no restrictions on mana which surprised me.'
A loud thud resounded and the machine pivoted slightly. Alex watched a number appear above and go up. After what felt like ages it stopped.
"Six hundred and sixty seven, you were lucky almost got cursed." A man said as he walked around from the side.
'Almost? I was the one who changed the number.' Alex thought as he looked at the runes within the machine.
A moment ago they had flickered and he felt the calculation from the machine change.
'My spacial sense isn't weakened in here so I was able to see it clearly. Someone is messing with me.'
"I guess I was lucky. So how was it?" Alex asked.
"Good really good for an non mana infused punch, that was incredibly high. I would say you might have made it into the top hundred scores in that category. Although, if you ask me, your punch looked a little more powerful than what the machine said." The man said as he held out his hand.
"I'm Markus, but you can call me mark." Markus said.
"Alex. What do you think is the best use for this room?" Alex said as he shook Markus's hand. His demeanor immediately matching the man next to him as he mirrored his energy.
"In my opinion it would be the combat training from the holograms you can summon. However all those sitting down over there, would tell you that the boost to meditation is the best point of this room." He said while pointing to a quieter area of the large room.
'This room is good for normal people, but it doesn't even come close to a halo that I can create.'
"Not very much dark mana I'm afraid. You wouldn't mind pointing me in the direction of the holograms Mark?"
"No problem. It's just at the end of the room around the curve."
Alex thanked him with a smile and headed off in that direction.
"See I told you they're no different from us. I have no clue where you got that they hate everyone." Mark said as he walked back to a friend of his.
"Sure, just don't get to close to him, you never know."
"Don't get close!? Did you not see that punch? If he had used mana the machine might've broken. It's common for them to break, but not by no first year, the youngest would be by a second year and that is pushing it." Mark said explaining his reasoning.
"Fine do what you want, I'm just saying I won't be caught dead speaking to that demon."
A slight whoosh of air was heard and the conversation was cut off. Taylor appeared behind the second mage. He was stretching his arms as if warming up.
"Alright that's five wins. Who's next?" He said while staring directly into the eyes of the mage.
'Damn is there no privacy in this room?'
Alex walked up to a familiarly shaped small arena. He had only gotten to use the one at his high school once as it was costly to fight.
Alex looked at the list of opponents he could fight, he froze as he saw a new input.
"Noble Class." He muttered as he saw the name.
"A class many people fail to achieve in just one affinity. Most choose to obtain a second affinity in order to bridge the gap." A female voice said from over Alex's shoulder.
Alex took a casual step away from the person who's breath he could feel permeating through his hoodie. Many people had tried getting close to him but their touch always made him shudder and move away.
The woman continued speaking as if him distancing himself was expected.
"It's a shame because many beast are able to reach this class easily and with only one affinity."
Alex nodded his head. "It's as if they have fully acclimated to the mana in the air. It is rare that they will have no affinity at all while it is rare for humans to just have an affinity."
He paused before speaking up again. "But every year, more and more people awaken affinities. Times change." He said while thinking back to the memories he had where affinities were as rare as a genetic mutation.
Alex pressed a button on the screen and jumped into the arena without looking back at the woman.
"What did he pick?"
"I don't know I wasn't watching the screen."
Those nearby watch as they waited for the hologram to spawn.
A bright light shone as a beast core was released and a shell surrounded it. Morphing, changing constantly until the light settled and a small snake was all that was in sight.
'Beginner! Haha! This boy is all for show.'
"Beginner class."
"Nobody that makes it into this room just picks beginner class, this is the ramp-up challenge." A student spoke up.
"That snake will evolve every time it's defeated until it becomes a noble class."
"What! That's insane! Why are you just watching, we should alert a instructor!?" The woman from before spoke up and turned to leave hurriedly.
However before she could go she was blocked off. "Do you not see it in his eyes? He isn't scared, this kid is suicidal, besides if he thinks he can do the challenge then he deserves to get his ass handed to him."
"Just sit here and watch."
Alex heard the ruckus outside of the ring but he wasn't listening, instead threads of darkness were holding the snake at bay while he pulled out a large leather pouch from a bag he had brought with him.
A light clang sounded as he pulled out something incased in cloth. Alex unwrapped his chain blades and put his belongings on the side of the small arena. And getting into a stance.
"Haha, this idiot doesn't even hold the chain blades the right way. Why is the chain behind him?"
He was cut off as a blade flew through the air splitting the snake in half without destroying the core and returning to the boys hand just as quickly.
'Just four more.' Alex thought as he watched the hologram glow and grow in size.