"William, are you sure about this?" Alfred asks his son. "Yes. I have a feeling that I will pass this year." William responded with an enthusiastic tone. "I know this is going to be hard because of the sparring match, but I will just have to believe in myself. Mark went out of his way to even spar with me even when he hates to see me trying. I cannot pass this opportunity up." He said to himself.
The crowd was larger than in the past, most of the people in the region have come to witness the sparring between mages. Something that doesn't happen too often.
"There will be a lot of healing mages, your mother will be there to look after you as well." Alfred looks at his son walking up ahead with his head held high. He could not help but smile at his son's bravery. "I never thought that I would say this but, Good luck son." He gently pats William's back and gave him a push.
William needed that, it only confirms that his parents are still supporting him till the very end. "Watch me, Dad." William proceeds to write his name among the kids that are taking the test.
There, he saw a lot of kids close to his age. There are even others that are even older than him. He can sense that most of them already have a good grasp of their natures, "This is mostly going to be a beat down." He said to himself. He sensed the mastery of their spells. He knew because he has spent an awful amount of time mastering the Firebolt as well.
"You arrived. I saw Mark earlier, looks like you did not skip training even today." Hannah said and stands beside William in hurry. William finds this odd and immediately turned to look around but Hannah forcedly made him look ahead. "What's wrong, Hannah?"
"Wrong? Nothing's wrong." She said with an even suspicious tone. William had known her for a long time and there are times when something like this happens, "Stalker. I guess she captured yet another heart." A smile appears on William's face as he proceeds to tease her but seeing the look on Hannah's face made him stop and thought for a second.
"Wait,- that's strange." William felt a sharp gaze aimed at his back. He caught Hannah off guard and turns around only to see a fairly handsome young man glaring at him. "Why did you turn?!" Hannah exclaimed as she turns William's head immediately. "Did you see him?" she asked, this time more afraid than she normally was.
"I did. That guy sure looks like he wants to kill me." Hannah looks back and saw exactly what William saw. "Okay. That guy has been pestering me since earlier. We already exchanged greetings but even after that, he still follows me." William turns to look at Hannah and smiles.
"That just proves how beautiful you are-!" William is taken aback by Hannah's face. It turned red almost instantly, William on the other hand is lost in thought. "What the hell? You have been hearing that your entire life and you're just getting flustered now?!" clueless about what he had done, William continues to wonder about it.
In the eyes of the young man, however, their interaction was an eyesore. "Heh~ heh~ heh. You get flustered while talking to someone like him but you just shove me away when I tried to approach you? You prefer that loser more than me?" an ominous expression surfaced on the young man's face. An expression filled with hatred as he continues to glare at William. "We'll see each other in the test, loser." He whispered coldly.
"I just felt a sudden chill on my spine-" William said to himself. "Please refrain from saying that next time. It's hard to hide my face from everyone like this." Hannah pleaded. William kept a blank face. He intended to boost her confidence but it had the opposite effect. "Yes, yes, yes. Next time I will be mindful." He brazenly agreed. "He agreed just like that. Just as I thought, he did not say that sincerely." She turned away with a pouting face, ignorant of what she felt, William just shake it off as nothing.
As the test is about to start, most of the healers dispatched in their region gathered on the sides as the large plaza in the middle of the town becomes the stage for the sparring. "I know that everyone has been waiting for this moment! The test will officially start!"
As they are calling out the names for the first match, Mark found William sitting on a bench along with the other kids. "Can you move over please?" Mark asked one of the kids who then left after he obstruct the view. "They are strong. Looking at them fighting like that. I don't think I can take them on." William said as soon as the other kid comes out as the victor of the sparring.
"A fight between two opposite natures, the outcome should have been obvious. But unfortunately, the one with the natures that are supposed to win has weak control over his spell." Mark added. "Yes. No matter how overpowering your nature is if you don't know how to utilize it. It's useless. But then again, they are still kids. They will have a lot more to learn." He suggested.
You be careful out there. I saw some really nasty-looking kids there earlier. They must be hidden in the crowd somewhere but I can tell that they are insanely strong. Let's just hope that your opponent is nothing special than those guys. Otherwise your-"
"I know you are worried about me. Don't worry, I'll try my best. You helped me, didn't you? That is more than enough already." William said with a smile.
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Half an hour later,
Mark's eyes widened as he gaze upon William standing in the middle of the stage. "You're quite tenacious than you look."
"Stop this. Stop this now!" Hannah pleaded.
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"You shot it down, right? Where did it land?" A man holding a spear asked his comrade. "I don't know, I'm sure I saw it landed here earlier."
"You must have seen it wrong! Let's go search for that place! It might have not gone far when it's injured!" they both rushed west near the river bank where they stopped. "I can't believe that a magical beast reached this region. Especially that kind, it only lives in the north." The man said as he takes out an aquamarine-colored feather. "There is something wrong, I can feel it."
Meanwhile, sitting atop the tree where they just left. A bird as large as a man jumped to fly towards the fields.