After walking for a bit, they finally arrived at the back of the arena, where rows of shops sold various mage stuff.
Most of them were for combat or ingredients for different things, but something in the middle caught their attention.
It was a giant circular screen that displayed two mages fighting each other, with thousands of people standing around it.
On one side was a fire mage wearing a red uniform, casting hundreds of fireballs right at their opponent.
Meanwhile, on the other side was an ice mage wearing a mix of blue and white, standing still with nothing up.
Upon closer inspection, the ice mage actually had an ice barrier that was the thickness of a fingernail.
What was more impressive was the fact that not a single fire spell could be made past the thin barrier.
Not even a small dent formed.
"He's constantly repairing the ice barrier..." Luna commented.
"Is he going to fight back? How's he going to win?" Camille wondered as the ice mage made zero attempts to attack.
"He's probably just stalling for the enemy to run out of mana——"
Before Chloe could finish, a middle-aged man in the nearby crowd interrupted her.
"Running out of mana? That's a level-five mage right there. He's had enough mana to cast these basic spells for days.
Just watch and learn. They know the ins and outs of each other over hundreds of times now."
"Can I ask who they are?" Alex curiously asked.
"Just some level five mage that had been going to that fighting arena for days to beat each other for Rank 1 in their level."
"Rank 1?" Sophia asked in confusion.
"Yeah, Rank 1 in the school tournament for mage level five. You guys are freshmen?"
"Yeah..."
As the fight continued, the constant fireball finally broke the ice barrier. But not before the entire fighting arena had turned into ice.
Everyone could see the pure cold temperatures through the screen. Cold enough to cause the air to start freezing into snow.
Within seconds, the fire mage stopped attacking, opting to cast a wall of fire that surrounded him.
"Ice Aura... They definitely are mage level five." Alex murmured as he thought back to the textbook.
As more and more ice formed around the Fire Mage, it started to threaten to trap him within the small firewall around him.
But with a sudden firey flash, the snow and ice suddenly all melted and evaporated into steam.
The fire mage had finally used his aura, a burning flame that engulfed all nearby areas within ten steps.
"Finally, they are taking this seriously." Another stranger in the crowd cheered in excitement.
As the two elemental auras clashed, it quickly turned into a sharp line between the two worlds.
One side was completely burnt with flame while the other was pale white filled with snow.
All magic spells seemed almost pointless as they all vanished as soon as they arrived in the other person's aura.
"How are they all gone just like that?" Mary asked in confusion.
"It's their zone of control."
Seeing Mary still confused after explaining it, Sophia couldn't really explain it any further as her head ran blank.
"The other person's aura destroys the element composition that doesn't match their mana connection."
Alex's explanation still confused Mary a little, but she didn't investigate further as their attention shifted back to the fight.
---
"Oh snap, it's already seven o'clock! Sorry, we have to head back to the dorm!"
As Evelyn pointed out towards the clock in the distance, the other quickly realized the afternoon had gone by already. Even though they only watched a single fight, they felt they had learned a lot today.
Especially for Alex, who realized that the mage's level and mana were the real determiners of who would win mage battles.
Everything that Miss Amy said was actually true. No amount of strategy could make up for mana and mage level differences.
"See you guys tomorrow!"
"See ya!"
As the four of them went in a separate direction, Alex and his sister started walking back towards their home.
---
A few minutes later...
"Welcome back! How was school today?" Katherine asked as she opened the door.
"It was fun! We beat the arena challenge level two today! And we went exploring after class." Mary excitedly replied
"Oh, that's good. You all passed this time, right?"
"Of course, we all passed it. The first time was just a fluke," Sophia said proudly as they threw their backpack to the side.
"Mom, have you finished cooking?" Alex asked, feeling his stomach rumbling in protest.
"I had been waiting for you guys for the entire afternoon... You guys should have told me if you were going out after class."
All three of them awkwardly scratched their head as they sat down at the dining table, realizing they were in the wrong.
"Mom, how about you? How did your day go? Did you do anything exciting?"
Katherine's face flinched a little, caught off guard by Sophia's sudden question, but she quickly returned to normal.
"I just clean the house and make the food for you guys. That's all I'm content with right now."
"How about raising mage level? Mom, you are a mage too, no?" Mary asked this time.
"After you reach a certain point, it's hard for meditation even to make the smallest increase. I'm already satisfied being with you guys, so don't worry about me, okay?"
All three of the kids felt touched but didn't say anything back, as saying thanks wasn't going to cut it for them.
They knew the best way to make her happy was to prove it with results, or simply put, achieving a higher mage level.
---
For the rest of the week, the three of them headed to class and then to the meditation place they found at the arena.
It was one of the shops they saw that everyone went to, with only a small price for beginners that they could afford.
When the three told Katherine about it, she was a little surprised, as it wasn't a thing when she was in school.
Even though the same schedule was repeated every day, Alex and his two sisters weren't bored at all.
They could feel progress being made every single day.
Their initial mana went from only enough for three full fireballs max all the way to almost twenty fireballs.
Sophia and Mary could feel they were starting to hit the early stage of mage level one peek, at least according to the textbook.
Most of the class was starting to slow down slightly near the peak as Miss Amy started explaining the reason behind it.
It was just a normal slowdown, getting ready to reach the end of the curve for going from mage level one to mage level two.
Everyone's face in the class looked happy, knowing all of the progress being made.
Except for one person in the class.
Alex was the outlier. He was slowly falling behind everyone, and he couldn't feel he had reached the so-called 'slowdown.'
In other words, he never had a fast-growing mana in the first place. He didn't achieve the same rapidly expanding mana pool as his sister.
Still, progress was being made. He was able to go from casting two fireballs to ten fireballs without needing to meditate for mana.
Even as he crammed in as much meditation between the breaks and late at night, he was still behind.
---
As the end of the month weekend finally arrived, Alex and his two sister were all inside the bedroom.
"Alex, you aren't going to pack?" Sophia curiously asked as she took out several clothes from the drawer.
"Later, I can feel I'm just slightly off. Just give me a minute."
Seeing Alex returning to meditation, Sophia and Mary both went back to the drawers to take out their cloths.
"Sophia, you sure we should do this?" Mary nervously asked as she watched Sophia puts her cloth into his backpack.
"That's what he get for not packing his backpack——"
"You three ready?" Katherine asked, interpreting their conversation as she walked into their bedroom.
"Yeah, we're ready... Alex, get out of your meditation."
Seeing Alex not responding, both of the girls shrugged their arm as they looked over to Katherine as a response.
"Just wait five minutes. If he doesn't wake up, then I'll wake him up myself."
As all three of them sat down on the bed, they all stared towards his face, looking at him out of boredom.
"Mom, what elemental affinity is Alex?" Sophia quietly asked, barely feeling any element near him.
Inside her mind, Sophia could remember in the textbook where their strongest elemental affinity usually appears during meditation.
She could still remember when they decided to save money by renting a meditation room with her four friends.
Both Evelyn and Luna always had a slight water element near them, with Chloe's wind element and Camille's earth element.
Mary had a noticeable hint of dark energy, with herself being surrounded by light energy.
"That's a secret. I can't tell you that."
"Why not? He already knows both of our affinities, and it's impossible to hide anyway when we reach mage level three.
Mom, come on. We already talked about this before. We aren't going to hurt each other or anything because of it."
Sophia's argument made Katherine fall silent. Her mind was still a little ambivalent about revealing the truth to them.
"Mom, it's okay if you don't want to say it... Sophia, we shouldn't ask for someone's privacy like this."
Mary's pushback surprised her a little, considering Mary would usually be the one who asked this, while Sophia would be the one saying no.
Still, after a short thought, she decided to reveal the answer to the two of them.
"He has no affinity."