Sorry for the lack of releases. I have been working on extra chapters for some extra bucks. I plan to release daily chapters the rest of the week and next week and also set up a pa treon.
***
"That was impressive." The teacher patted our shoulders when we left the stage. "Linsley, your performance was flawless. It looks like you have the basics down."
"Thank you, instructor."
"And you, Theo, although your stance was good, your movements were full of openings, and your battle experience is severely lacking. You need to work on that."
"I understand."
"Good, now go and rest. Next are number twenty-three and number thirty-eight..."
"Good work, brother." Lina smiled happily when I returned to my seat. "You dominated him completely. As expected of you."
"I was just lucky."
"Stop it." Lina rolled her eyes. "You didn't even use direct interference. It was clear you had a lot of leeway."
I smiled and rubbed Lina's head.
She was right, the battle was not that hard.
Although Theo was stronger than me and his mana was more abundant, if we fought again, he'd lose one hundred times of one hundred times.
To me, fighting enemies stronger than me is the norm. I have refined my combat style to win even when I'm disadvantaged.
Moreover, the use of curses and direct interference puts a burden on my body, so I learned to win using as few resources as possible.
Theo was stronger than me, but in my eyes, he was full of weaknesses I could exploit during battle.
The battles continued after that, with the students showing their abilities one after another.
After the fifth battle, it was Lina's turn.
"Watch me, brother." She said with a grin after she was chosen.
I smiled and watched her go to the stage.
Her opponent was a female student ranked twenty-nine.
I could not help but feel sorry for her.
Lina was ranked seventh, and although the initial ranks did not necessarily represent the real strength of the students, Lina's strength was worthy of that rank.
She was a prodigy even to my standards. In terms of talent, she was leagues above someone half-assed like me.
And just like I expected, the battle ended up without any suspense.
Lina just activated a magic spell, charged toward her opponent, and delivered a blow to her abdomen.
The female student was unable to mount any form of resistance, and was defeated with the first attack.
It was pitiful watching her leave the stage with tears in her eyes.
When Lina returned, she was beaming from ear to ear.
"How was it, brother? Impressive, right?"
I stroke her head speechless.
My little sister, you should have shown the poor girl a bit of mercy.
Well, I know that Lina is not one to hold back during a battle, plus, I don't want to scold her after seeing her proud and excited look.
Thus, I just stroked her head while thinking that I should find an opportunity to apologize to that girl later.
Afterward, the rest of the students were called.
I observed every battle carefully, using this opportunity to get a grasp of their abilities.
Although they showed them during the entrance ceremony, back then I was worried about figuring out the reason why I was going to die, so I did not pay them much attention.
Now is a good opportunity to study their skills.
Also, I wanted to see if I could find someone familiar.
One of them could be someone I saw in one of my visions.
Unfortunately, all of them were completely unfamiliar.
I felt a mix of disappointment and relief.
On one hand, I felt disappointed that I failed to find a clue to any of the futures I have seen.
On the other hand, I felt relieved because they had not appeared in any of my visions or dreams.
After all, none of the futures I have glimpsed are nice.
I said it before, but the only futures I see are the ones filled with misfortune.
At that moment, my sister spoke up, interrupting my thoughts.
"She is really impressive."
I followed her gaze and saw a female student showing her abilities on the stage.
The first ranked student in our grade, Sila Dune.
Her opponent also had a pretty high rank, eighteen. But he was completely helpless against her.
That was natural, though.
Unlike him, Sila had already surpassed the realm of normal humans.
She had formed a core, reaching the level of pawn.
She was not the only one. The first five students in the rankings were just like her, every one of them had formed their core already.
That was really impressive.
Forming the core at fifteen was not just great. It was monstrous.
Considering that the average age for forming a core in the continent was twenty-three years old, this achievement was enough to consider them a prodigy.
And at the same time, it meant that they were leagues above any other student in our grade.
The difference between pawns and normal humans was significant. The amount of mana they could handle and their control over it was on a different level.
Even I was not confident about defeating any of them without using a cursed object.
Moreover, I had seen Sila in action before. I knew that her pawn-level mana was not everything about her.
After a while, the battle between the last two students came to an end.
Instructor Melissa clapped her hands.
"Very well. Now, only twenty-five students remain. One of you at random will pass directly to the next round, and the other twenty-four will start a new round of battles. Let's see who is going first."
Following her words, the roulette on the screen showed two names.
Instructor Melissa immediately put on a strange expression.
"It looks like you don't have much luck, Linsley."
I smiled bitterly.
"I have heard that before."
She looked at me with a pitiful expression.
"Just don't let your sister beat you too much."
Lina giggled.
"Don't worry, teacher. I won't show mercy."
I looked at my excited sister and sighed.
Number 7: Lina Steerl.
Vs.
Number 50: Linsley Steerl.
My luck really sucks.