Noah and Abel both take the stairs and head to the arena.
- I would like to ask you a question, Arcadios.
- Go ahead and ask me what you wanna ask. Oh! And by the way, you can call me Noah.
- Are you sure? From what I know, Nobles don't like it when they're called by their first name by commoners. Therefore we call you nobles by either your Titles or your last names.
- It's fine, we are at the academy. Here our families and our backgrounds don't matter. The only thing that matters is whether or not you are strong and your grades. Plus, I personally only give the right to call me by my first name to those that I acknowledge, and I only acknowledge those that are strong.
- Does that mean that you acknowledge me, that you acknowledge the fact that I'm strong?
- Who knows?
" If you are who I think you are then I'm not the only one that will acknowledge your strength, the whole world will acknowledge you, but that is only if you are the person I think you are."
Noah and Abel both arrive at the arena. They walk apart from each other and both take their fighting stances. And Darius starts the countdown.
- 1... 2... 3... FIGHT!
- Mana Bullet! Speed Version!
The fight starts with Abel taking the initiative. He shoots a Mana Bullet at Noah. Noah dodges the bullet and instead of attacking remains calm and starts assessing and analyzing the situation.
{Noah}
" The speed at which the Mana Bullet spell was created and the speed of the bullet itself is above the norm. Is he really him? I need to observe more."
Noah's goal in this fight wasn't to win against Abel. He already knew he could. His goal was to clarify his doubts and find out his opponent's identity. Therefore instead of finishing the fight immediately, he wanted to take his time.
- Don't tell me that's all you can do, Abel because if it is then I'm really disappointed.
- Don't worry I'm just getting started.
Noah runs toward Abel, when he arrives in front of him he first throws a jab which is blocked by Abel, however, it wasn't over after the first jab Noah throws an uppercut that passes through Abel's defense and lands on his chin. When the uppercut lands, Noah notices something in Abel's hands.
{Noah}
- You got me there!
- Mana Bullet! Power Version!
In Abel's hands, was a mana bullet when the uppercut landed he had already started gathering mana to make the bullet. Abel makes it explode and since Noah was right in front of it, the mana bullet hits point-blank range. Abel falls on the floor and gets up with ease.
{Abel}
" This bullet was a charged one, by charging it, I gave it more power and it lost all of its speed but since he was this close I simply made it explode.
- What did you think of this one, Noah?
In the smoke that was produced when the bullet exploded, there is a moving shadow. The shadow gets up and starts walking toward is opponent, Abel.
- Not bad, I definitely felt it.
From the shadow emerges Noah with his whole torso exposed because his clothes were destroyed by the mana bullet and the damage he took from the mana bullet is noticeable by the minor injuries on his body.
- ha ha.. ha. Are you serious? How is this possible? You took my fully charged mana bullet head on didn't you?
- I did.
- So how is it that you are mostly fine?
- well...
[Flashback ]
{Noah}
- You got me there!
- Mana Bullet! Power Version!
Right before the bullet explodes and the mana is released, Noah activates;
- Lightning Magic! Body Of Speed! Lightning!
Noah takes advantage of his speed to back off a little and puts his guard up.
[ End of Flashback]
- So you used your Body Of Speed spell to augment your speed and the augmented speed you got from the spell was used to create as much distance as possible between you and the explosion which reduced the damage you took from the bullet?
- Yeah.
- Even if you did that you should have taken more damage.
{Noah}
" As for me, I am surprised by the fact that I couldn't dodge it completely even though I used the second level of Body Of Speed; Lightning."
- That's right normally that wouldn't be enough, but when I activate Body Of Speed there is another thing that happens, something else than a boost in my speed.
-what could it be.....Wait! Don't tell me that!
- It seems like you understood. When I activate Body Of Speed! Lightning! the boost that I receive is not simply a speed boost. What happens to my body is that I make lightning run inside my body and that lighting augments the speed at which my whole body moves but as you noticed the excess of lighting inside my body is thrown out and instead of letting it go everywhere I keep it around my body which creates a kind of lightning armor.
- So in reality the spell Body Of Speed is a double-effect spell instead of a single effect. The first effect is a movement speed increase and the second effect would be a lighting armor creation or in simpler terms a defense increase.
- That's right. Now get up! Our little chat should have given you some time to recover a bit of your mana or is that your limit?
- I am just getting started. Abel says while getting up.
{Noah}
" Good. He needs to get up. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough for me to come to a conclusion. Should I push him a little more? From what he told me he had come up with his decision at this age."
-Mana Bullet! Speed Version!
A mana bullet forms and Abel shoots it at Noah.
{Noah}
"Instead of power, he went for speed."
- Lightning Magic! Body Of Speed! Electricity!
"I already used lightning therefore I can't use it again if I do I'm gonna take damage from it."
Noah dodges the bullet and leaps toward Abel.
- Mana Bullet! Power Version!
This time instead of shooting it or making it explodes, Abel keeps it in his hand. After his Leap Noah kicks Abel in the face and keeps his distance because of the Bullet in his opponent's hands.
- Lightning Magic! Electricity Bolt!
A bolt of electricity heads toward Abel. Instead of dodging or countering with his bullet Abel extend his hand.
{Abel}
" This is still in work there is no guarantee that it is gonna work and even if it does it probably won't reach him but I still gotta try."
- Mana Bullet! Power Version plus Speed Version!...
{Noah}
"I knew it! It is you one of the few friends that I had in the future. He was shamed because he had decided to give up on using affinity spells due to his poor ability at mana nature change instead he used his incredible talent at mana control and created many new Mana Spells. Because of his achievement, he was one of the most prominent mages in the future and an important figure in the war against the demons. He earned the title of; Mana Tuner. I found you Abel Renut."
- Mana Beam!
Abel shoots a beam of mana at Noah. The beam of mana destroys the electricity bolt that Noah threw at him but dissipates before reaching Noah, the target. Abel falls on his ass.
- *huff huff* I admit my defeat.
Noah walks up to him and extends his hand in order to express his desire to help Abel stand up. Abel takes his hand, Noah puts Abel's hand on his shoulder and grabs his side to help him stand and they walk back up to the stands.
{Noah}
" I see now... He was born a commoner and I'm guessing he got his last name when he got his title of Mana Tuner and became a noble which earned him the rank and title of Count."
The nobility hierarchy has five titles. The five ranks are, in ascending order, Baron, Viscount, Count, Marquis and at the peak of nobility is Dukes. Higher than Nobility is Royalty.
Noah and Abel arrive in the stands.
- Outstanding work you two! To think that we had two students that had created their own Origin spell. Says Darius. I am truly astonished and pleasantly surprised.
{Darius}
" Both of them are impressive. Did Noah notice that this child was special, that he had such potential hidden in him? That is the only way to explain his behavior. First, he made me make them go against each other. After that, he noticed that his opponent didn't like to lose through a simple provocation that was the challenge. Third, he fought him while observing him like he was trying to confirm something which is from my opinion and point of view Abel's potential. After determining Abel's potential he forced him by exposing the true strength of his Origin spell to make him understand that what he had wasn't enough and all of those things pushed Abel to break his limit... If all of this wasn't a coincidence, if it was all orchestrated by Noah then Noah is not simply a genius. No, that would make him a monster, a true monster, and whether that is good or bad for our kingdom can only be known in the future."