Everyone present was staring at the director of the school who was standing in the air above them.
"Silence."
His voice was quiet yet extremely loud, everyone heard it and shut their mouths. Not that many were still talking, but it was more of a sign of power than anything.
"Today is the day when you have to prove yourselves against 9 other schools. Every school will only send their best, so I can only hope you've all prepared adequately. The third and second years have already some grasp on what they're about to do, but you first years are still extremely green.
Don't take any unnecessary chances at the risk of a reward. You might get something great, or you could die. Either way, I'll leave that decision up to you. There's only one First place, and each one of you will have to compete against 499 other students.
Take my advice and stick in groups, you might gain fewer rewards later on, but you'll be glad to rely on others. That's all from me this time."
The headmaster's advice was clear and understandable. If each school send 50 students, there would be 500 students in total. Lucas was the strongest of his own school only through tricks, but could he trick hundreds of other students from different schools as well? Relying on others to help him out did seem the best option, but Lucas wanted to wait until he knew what the competition was about.
The headmaster floated to the front before reaching his hand out, anytime the headmaster was out in the open, he used his Magic Vision to check the flow of magic around him. When the director was just floating the magic seemed to be attracted to him, circling around him and creating a tiny platform for him to stand on.
But that didn't explain how he floated, since his feet weren't touching the little platform. The moment the director gathered his energy. Lucas could tell the amount was a hundred times his own core. He couldn't imagine what kind of destructive power could come from that.
'What is he planning? Destroying the entire city? What takes so much energy?'
'Why don't you just stay a bit patient?'
Like part of Lucas thought, the energy collected by the headmaster shot out of his hand and collided with the air. It felt like it was pushing against an invisible wall. The pressure the energy exerted grew immensely before it started to warp around itself.
The rotation of the energy steadily hastened until it got so fast you couldn't tell it was turning in the first place. The energy that was piled up started to stretch out and created a massive portal.
"Now, everyone, please follow your teacher and walk through the gate. You'll experience some headaches, so don't throw up when you reach the other side. We'll be expected."
The students all got excited and were itching to use the gate, they all wondered where they would be taken. Even Lucas was interested where he would end up. Waiting for his year's turn, he had to follow a teacher he had never seen before into the gate.
Standing in front of it he could feel not only energy being sucked into the gate, but the very air as well. He held his breath and took a step forward, seeing part of his leg disappear he felt urged to quickly pass through it.
Arriving at the other side his body felt horrible, like he was experiencing the worst vertigo ever. He felt like he had been shaken around and punched in the gut while having a terrible headache.
'What the hell was that?'
'I guess we know why the old man wanted us to not barf.'
'Oh...shit.'
Getting rid of the symptoms partially with magic Lucas looked around. Everyone was standing in a circle, with the headmasters floating in front. The vast amount of people present made Lucas uncomfortable.
The masters floating in the sky brought a presence that made everyone respect them. Of all the headmasters, the Blue Fire Academy was the only one with a man who looked ready to step into the grave. All the others looked young and energetic.
But Lucas wasn't really paying attention to the masters yet, he felt hopeless after sensing the people who he was up against. He picked up some conversations from far away to try and gain any kind of info.
"Heh, the other schools are done for. The Princess of Frost is going to carry us all to victory!"
"She's a beauty, that's for sure, but is she strong?"
"Elisa's a Rank 2 and has mastered the arts of ice from a young age. She's the strongest in our school and even competed against some teachers and almost won."
Another joined in, "Hah! She fought against the teacher and didn't even win? She has no grasp on her own power or is too incompetent to see the difference in skill. Our Mino blocked all the attacks and laughed it off! He's a walking castle! He even earned the nickname Fortress of Steel from our headmaster!"
The two students were arguing about which school prodigy was better until a third joined in.
"What both of you aren't getting is that strength isn't everything. Elisa might be experienced in ice and water and Mino might be a literal fortress, I can guarantee that both won't get first place."
"Elisa's not just experienced in ice, she's perfected it!"
"Yeah, and Mino has punches with the weight of a castle, no way is he going to lose!"
"And that's why they are going to lose, they have focussed on a single field and are useless when the situation isn't favorable for them."
"Then who's going to be first?", the Princess's supporter was steadfast in his faith towards her, but this student was very confident in his speech, making him curious.
"Easy, our school also has a Rank 2, Simon. He not only has the title of Ruler of the Winds but is also a great tactician and has studied every magic field there is!"
"That's impossible, plus, what's wind going to do against a Fortress of Steel? Hahaha, no way is that dummy Simon going to win."
"You dare insult the Great Simon's intellect?"
Lucas moved his attention elsewhere the moment the conversation stopped being useful. Now that he knew what the biggest threats were, he searched for them. Although he really didn't have to search long since the three Rank 2 students stood at the front of their year displaying their aura in full.
'This is going to suck.'
'Stop complaining and help me out.'
'We're dealing with a cold bitch, a sentient rock and someone that studies the weather, how hard can it be?'
'Are you joking right now?'
'No shit, dumbass, look at all the different top scoring students from the other schools. We're the weakest by aura.'
'Aura doesn't mean everything, we beat Eliot.'
'Barely, and that was because he was arrogant and had the mental capacity of a chicken.'
'Chickens are pretty smart though.'
'Yeah, and delicious too, that's not the point I'm making.'
'I know what you're trying to say, but complaining about it won't change anything.'
'At least it'll make me feel good.'
Lucas checked each participant, starting with Simon. He was well aware that strength wasn't everything in a fight. He himself got very far with just his little tricks. Lucas was already thinking on how to make sure they fight each other, and the hardest component of his strategy would be Simon.
If he truly was as smart as the rumors then he would need a plan that would even exceed his expectations. Besides that he was also afraid that there might be similar people like him in other schools.
Having to fight against a Rank 2 was hard, but fighting against himself was even harder. He wasn't underestimating his opponents or overestimating his own strength. He just knew that any kind of confrontation would be avoided, and all other means would be abused until one was weak enough.
'Our biggest advantage is that nobody really knows us, especially with Matheo gathering all the attention.'
'Nah, I don't agree, weatherboy is smart. So he must have an intelligence network and know of us. If there's one thing all the top students are doing, it's scouting their biggest opponents. If the commoners of our school know how we look, they'll know too.'
'That might be, but we're a commoner as well, from a less established school no less. I think their arrogance will make them brush us aside.'
If Simon had Lucas's mentality combined with his strength, Lucas would be done for. He had been very lucky until now, he wanted to pray he would be blessed again, but didn't believe in a single church to pray to.
He grew up in a family that believed in the Order of Nature, yet when they finally needed help, nobody came to the rescue. Since then Lucas knew that gods and religions were merely a way to escape reality and find causes and origins to question to which they simply didn't know the answer.
'The Princess of Ice.'
'She does look pretty good. Although I don't like her attitude, she seems annoying.'
'You think she has any relation to Freya?'
'Hmm, they don't look alike, and she's too young to be her older sister. Must be a coincidence.'
'I wonder how Freya's doing. If she found the right people, she should be making a hidden comeback.'
'We'll see, what's the best way to destroy ice?'
'I would assume fire. Blue Fire would be better or perhaps simply earth and stone.'
Lucas went over every opponent that could pose trouble for him, and there were a lot of them. So many in fact that Lucas didn't know if he could come up with a plan to fight back. He scratched his head and tried to dispel any fatalistic thoughts.
All first year students were present, the other years had to wait until they were done. The gathering place really wasn't anything special, just a simple meadow with no trees in sight, only grass. The portal to reach this place seemed similar to the magic the guest teacher had, but this was a lot more crude.
At the very center stood all 10 directors, their power overwhelming everyone present.
"It's great to have you all here! I'm the director of the Azure Academy and I have been elected to lead the competition this time. I hope you're all ready to give it your all!"
"Today, every school here will compete with each other to gain fabulous prizes. Magic Artifacts, Crystals, healing herbs, pills that will make your internal power grow, spell books and tomes, anything you could ever dream of can be obtained here."
"But even though the prizes are all great, there's only one person among you that will get the absolute best reward you could imagine. The person who gets first place will get to meet with the King of Frigus and have one wish fulfilled. Whatever you desire can be given!"
The students were all talking about the rewards and the biggest prize of them all, and what they would ask for. This made room for the directors to have a chat among themselves.
"It's been a while Fiora, I didn't expect you to still look so young."
"Oh please Kael, flattery will get you nowhere. And I have to say that I didn't expect the Azure Academy to birth another Rank 2 student in the first years."
"We have always been very dedicated to our students. This time we worked really hard to create the perfect contestant. I believe our little Princess will win this time."
"Hmpf, we'll see about that. She has some serious competition this time.", a black bearded man disagreed. He had a strong stable built, but the directors knew he had personally guided Mino to win this time since he had only won once since the beginning.
"Oh Carl, if you're proud of something you need to be open about it."
The man simply looked the other way, not wanting to entertain the man's games. The directors were all talking about how great their students were and how they personally guided some of them. Only one director stood out, the oldest one among them.
"Blue Fire Academy, or rather, Dean, have you brought any worthwhile contestants this time? It's been a while since you ever brought someone worthy with you. We can only hope that they won't have as many casualties as last time.", all the directors couldn't help but laugh. Only Carl was serious enough to not participate.
"Thank you for your concern, but it's not needed.", the director was old, too old to care about a lot of the social world. He lived on his own and barely interacted with others, but this time it was a bit different.
Each year he had to bring students in here and let them experience pain and death, yet he had always carefully learned about his students. The Academy was his home, the walls his ears and the lights his eyes, he knew about everything that happened inside and was excited about this competition.
Dean slightly parted his lips into a big grin. A smile that barely anyone had ever seen, it contained a strange feeling that they couldn't describe. "I hope you taught your students how to work together. Because this time, I can promise you that things won't turn out the way you think."
Kael felt insulted and quickly scanned all of his students with his willpower. After a mere second he had a feeling of all his students's strength. "There doesn't seem to be anyone capable? Are you talking about that Matheo guy? He's almost Rank 2, yes, but nowhere near our students!"
The other directors scanned them as well and came to the same conclusion. There was nobody with the necessary strength to change the tides. Dean felt entertained.
'Is this what Gilbert feels when he beats the other teachers? What a visceral feeling. It's making me excited for once.'
Anything that took place in the academy was known to him, meaning he had access to some teacher's bad habits as well. Luckily nobody knew except him, otherwise he would probably be hunted. The amount of secrets he learned was too many to keep.
"Think of it as you will. When the competition starts we will see."
"Oh, I think I know.", Fiora came next to Kael and looked smugly at the old Dean. "It must be that competition winner, what was his name again? I forgot, but yeah, he was a commoner, wasn't he?"
"Dean?! To have a commoner win a school competition, has your academy fallen so far?", Kael couldn't believe his ears. He never bothered to research the Blue Fire Academy since they had never won a single match and barely had any remarkable students.
This time even Carl had to react, commoners weren't strong, but to win in a competition can only mean that all the others have become extremely weak. Dean didn't bother answering, he simply turned around and looked at his own students. He never gave any lessons, but he was probably the most knowledgeable about each and every single one of them.
'Matheo is strong, Eliot even stands a pretty good chance. Both trained hard and studied extensively. Sadly, they are indeed too weak to win against any of those prodigies. And yet, they are being trumped by such a strange presence. A runaway, a lost child who doesn't know who he is.
Poor child, remove those shackles binding you and unleash your might. Let your brutality be shown to this world.'
"Hohoho, this will finally be interesting."