Hearing the instructor call for another batch of students I observed them as I came up with a plan.
In the next test, I was going to show a little of what I could do.
Of course, I wouldn't reveal a lot in the next test but just a little bit. However, my thoughts then drifted toward the events in 5 days.
'I guess I should clear 'that' area first'
As I planned for the event I then noticed that Noah also was going toward one of the dummies.
'So it is his turn huh'
It would've been better if I went on the same day as Issac however, I wanted to see if there were any other people that were worth investing in. Even though I wanted the story to go as it did in my novel I still needed to prepare for the end of the story. But another reason was that I didn't want to interact with him.
But that feeling came back as my voice spoke in my mind
'Why are you lying to yourself?'
Why was I?
Why exactly was I lying to myself?
I wanted the plot to be the same yet I was already making changes
Was it because of…
I quickly shook my head "Focus"
***
Noah observed the dummy in front of him.
It wasn't the first time he'd seen a dummy like these in fact his clan had many dummies like these in the training arena.
These dummies were used to help people learn how to fight against mages. Considering they were able to use basic spells due to the runes they made good practice.
Noah quickly took his stance and waited for the spells to come at him.
Soon fireballs appeared and shot toward him.
Grabbing his sheathed sword he poured his mana into the sword and quickly drew it. As he did a giant blade of wind formed before heading toward the fireballs and destroying them.
The flames fizzled away but then in front of the dummy, a light blue barrier appeared in front of the attack to dissipate.
Putting his sword back in its sheath he poured mana once more into his blade while also covering his entire body with mana causing a slight green glow to surround him.
Then Noah noticed that the runes started to change in a pattern and quickly changed the way his mana flowed. The green hue that surrounded him changed and it started to glow a bit brighter and small gusts of wind started to come from him. Closing his eyes Noah took in a deep breath.
The dummy then quickly swung its staff causing the blades of wind to move toward Noah. Once the blades reached around 2 meters away from him he opened his eyes revealing that they had turned a slight teal.
He gripped the hilt of his sword slightly and once the blades reached 25 centimetres away from him he drew his sword.
*Click*
With a simple click, all of the blades were quickly parried in a second while he put his sword back in his sheathe.
Techniques were made in order to master mana which was why they were different martial arts of the old world still existed.
However, since mana filled the earth from the soil to the atmosphere the old forms of martial arts became irrelevant as people could use mana to create better forms of martial arts. This was largely the reason why it was so hard to find these old forms nowadays. But the main reason for them being abandoned was due to them not appearing on the status screen that everyone had.
But the Lupus clan thought differently.
Instead of abandoning them, they decided to use them and make them better.
Thus these forms were called "Arts"
The Lupus clans had many arts in their possession which is largely why they have many strong worriers.
Noah had 5 arts memorized and mastered and this was one of the arts he had used called "Quick Draw". The art simply allowed him to draw his sword quickly but nothing else thus why it was considered a technique.
The runes changed patterns again. Spheres of water then formed in the air before they turned into ice spears and launched toward Noah.
After seeing the ice spears coming towards him at a fast speed the glow in Noah's eyes got brighter and gusts of wind came off his body.
He then activated a part of the first part of his technique.
Noah drew his sword but not as fast as before. Anyone could tell that it was slower than his previous slash but what was different here was the teal glow that surrounded his blade. When he swung his blade a giant wind slash headed toward the ice shards before they were destroyed.
However, once the giant wind slash crushed the ice spears and kept making his way to the dummy. Then suddenly a pale blue barrier appeared in front of the dummy.
-Shatter
But the slash destroyed the barrier causing it to shatter like glass. The slash kept moving despite most of its energy being dissipated. The slash connected with the dummy causing it to be lanched the back.
Silence had descended upon the examination building as everyone stared at Noah in either shock, fear, respect, envy, or hatred.
While outwardly he was calm inwardly Noah was panicking.
'Shit! Shit! Did I go overboard?'
Looking at the instructor his thoughts started to spiral out of control.
'Fuck don't tell me I failed this test! Was I not allowed to attack? I mean the rules stated he had to avoid them it didn't state whether we could fight!'
While everyone was staring at Noah with mixed feelings and him having a panic attack there was one person who was trying to hold back his laughter.
And that was Arthur
***
Observing the scene I tried to hold back my laughter unless I wanted to be seen as a weirdo.
The reason for that was pretty simple and it was the scene in front of me.
Noah had completely destroyed the dummy that was launching spells at them which not many other people could do due to the strong barrier protecting it.
But despite how calm he looked as he stared at the dummy I could see a few sweat drops which meant he was pretty nervous and internally panicking.
This did happen a bit in the novel where Noah would go a little overboard and people would gain even more respect for him while Noah on the other hand would question if he was going to get in trouble.
It was a gimic I used to add a bit of comedy into the novel and the readers seemed to enjoy it.
"Can I please have a new combat mage-type dummy in room 23 please," the person observing the exam spoke on the radio and then he turned his gaze toward Noah "Would you please stand with the other examinees,"
Without speaking Noah just gave a simple nod before he walked off.
"Man, that guy really is something," the guy next to me muttered
Turning my gaze toward him I froze for a split second as I saw his imposing figure looming above me.
"Yeah," I replied nonchalantly "but it should be expected,"
The youth nodded "I guess you're right,"
"Examinees number 234, 235, 236 please make your way to the dummies," Hearing my number I moved toward the place where the destroyed dummy was.
Noticing the destroyed dummy the instructor turned toward me "Ah right please wait,"
Nodding I looked at the other people while I waited.