“This….”
Unable to think of a solution, Krof could only look toward Gadelia, who was still hooded and lurking in the shadows, observing silently.
“Lady Gadelia, what should we do now?”
It was Gadelia who had instructed that the martial test be replaced with this simpler exam.
She feared Reg and Suna wouldn’t achieve good results, so she canceled the martial test in favor of a straightforward evaluation.
After all, the randomness of combat made it difficult to manipulate things covertly……
But what she hadn’t anticipated was how fiercely competitive these students were, which posed a bit of a problem.
In fact, Gadelia could step forward now and announce the end of the martial test to settle things, but doing so might provoke some stubborn students to report her secretly, potentially drawing attention from other royal family members.
“Fine, since you all want to fight, then fight to your heart’s content. It’s just that we might admit a few more students, but once you return to the Academy, you’ll still obediently drop out.”
Because aside from Reg and Suna, none of the others were truly qualified to enter the Academy.
Even if they managed to get in, the gap in talent would leave them feeling inferior.
While others advanced toward the higher ranks, they’d barely reach the middle ranks, dealing a severe blow to their self-esteem, so in the end, most would return to Deya City discouraged, never to rise again.
Gadelia had seen this time and again; the disparity between people was vast. She was acting for the students’ own good.
Immediately after receiving Gadelia’s instructions, Krof discussed with the other examiners.
Ten minutes later, he announced a one-on-one duel tournament focusing on individual strength— anyone reckless enough to participate was welcome.
The rules were straightforward and brutal: through grouped one-on-one duels, the strongest individual would be filtered out, with separate categories for mages and warriors.
The examiners would finally select four students based on overall abilities.
Originally, they intended to admit only two students, but Gadelia worried that would be too obvious, so she allowed some margin of error for Reg and Suna.
“Woohoo!”
The students cheered loudly; finally, the real show was about to begin!
Most of the examinees weren’t performing well so far, so maybe the upcoming duels would offer a glimmer of hope to fulfill their dream of entering the Royal Magic Academy.
“Hmph, just you wait.”
Mailun made a throat-cutting gesture toward Reg. He hadn’t forgotten what happened that morning; if he hadn’t been drugged, there was no way Reg could have locked his throat.
“Now’s my chance to prove my true strength to everyone and make Truth and Suna look at me with respect. Father said women admire strength!”
“If I really get admitted, maybe Suna and Truth will beg me to take them to Snowveil City to see the world, haha…”
Reg responded without hesitation by flipping Mailun off. Honestly, with Truth backing him up, he couldn’t imagine how he’d fail to get admitted.
Only Suna remained anxious. Since she was exactly level twenty, she was placed in the twenty to twenty-two level group, set to battle a senior named Kaisi.
Suna remembered that this senior had only scored second to her in the earlier test…
“Please take care of me.”
Kaisi, tanned and looking very healthy, smiled at Suna. As the daughter of a renowned swordsmanship family, she trained her body daily.
She might have lost to Suna in the rigid test, but in actual combat, unlike these fragile mages, Kaisi felt confident she could simply knock Suna out with her wand through sheer strength.
“No choice, this is the confidence daily training gives me.”
“First mage duel: Suna versus Kaisi!”
Krof announced loudly. Both combatants stepped onto the wide temporary arena.
Kaisi puffed her chest and put her hands on her hips, full of energy, while Suna gripped her wand tightly, bent over and looking around nervously.
She’d always fought monsters before—she had zero experience fighting humans!
“Good luck, Senior Kaisi! Teach that rough lady who always bullies Truth a lesson!”
“Start already! I love watching women fight — hair-pulling included!”
“This lot…”
Suna grit her teeth at the taunts, which finally quieted down a bit. She glanced sideways at Truth, who was clutching her wand excitedly and winked:
“Don’t worry, I promise you won’t die!”
Suna only grew more nervous.
“Prepare… Begin!”
At Krof’s command, Kaisi was the first to cast a magical meteor, forcing Suna to immediately respond with the same spell to cancel it out, much to Kaisi’s surprise.
Seizing Suna’s raised hand mid-cast, Kaisi boldly charged forward, gripping her wand backward.
Traditional mages — these glass cannons — once caught in close quarters, usually lost the fight……
“Wow! Hot, hot, hot, hot!”
In an instant, a scorching flame burst forth on the arena, catching Kaisi off guard and slamming her into Suna. Her dark green hair filled with a strong burnt smell.
“My hair! Waaah!”
Fire Element!
Kaisi never expected Suna to have grasped elemental power at the second rank, and not just any element, but the devastating Fire Element!
“What… Suna actually mastered elemental power at rank two and didn’t hesitate to burn Kaisi’s hair? Such a despicable trick!”
“A woman’s hair is her life! How dare Suna commit such an evil act?!”
The girls watching shuddered in fear.
They quickly tried to extinguish the flames, but it was too late — Kaisi’s perfect bangs were gone, exposing a large forehead that made her look dazed and robbed of her previous vigor.
Seeing the flames swirling around Suna, Kaisi quickly grew timid. She’d only lost some hair so far, but what else might Suna do? Burn her face?
“No way… absolutely not! I refuse to live the rest of my life with an ugly face!”
Crying, Kaisi ran off the arena, covering her burnt hair, not wanting anyone to see her disgrace, leaving Suna momentarily bewildered.
But she had bumped into her — Suna only summoned the fire element around her body, never expecting it to manifest so quickly…
What Suna didn’t know was that her Ancient Half-Elven Talent had kicked in, allowing her to casually conjure fire elements even before activating the Elemental Affinity Talent.
Fighting humans felt much easier than battling monsters in the Mist Domain Continent…
“Uh… Kaisi forfeits, Suna wins! Next!”
Krof was speechless. How could someone get scared just because their hair got burned? Was Deya City really this backward? Didn’t they know about the rare Appearance Restoration Card?
Though called rare, it was everywhere now, just a bit pricey.
If Truth saw one, she might be stunned:
“Don’t I have one of these face edit cards?”
Afraid their hair would get burned, several mages quickly forfeited. A few tried to challenge, but when Suna sent a simple fireball flying, one nearly singed a girl’s skirt.
“You… shameless little hooligan who’ll do anything to win!”
Blushing, the girl cursed while covering her skirt and fled the stage. The watching students sighed, until a male mage swaggered onto the arena.
“Hmph, I’m not afraid of your little tricks. As long as I can get into the Royal Magic Academy, I don’t mind running naked! Come on, show me your real strength!”
His words drew cheers, but soon his magic was completely overwhelmed by Suna, who knocked him flying out of the arena.
“Ah! Priest, it hurts, priest! Look at me, priest!”
“Don’t scream, I’m busy now. Crawl to me yourself.”
Truth didn’t even glance at him. She held her wand firmly, fully controlling Healing Mist to envelop the entire arena except for Suna’s area.
Behind her lay several injured examinees, their wounds shrouded in pale green mist.
Though Truth’s level was too low to quickly heal second-rank injuries, the sustained coverage was impressive!
Krof and the other examiners looked on in surprise, as did Gadelia. What skill was this little priest using? So powerful, and barely consuming any mana!
In truth, it consumed a lot of mana, but Truth never lacked that, and the warrior group was suffering greatly because of her.
The mages knew to hold back since just the speed of skill casting showed the difference between themselves and their opponent, so they didn’t give Truth many chances to heal.
The warriors, however, faced continuous healing of minor wounds, causing both sides to shift tactics to brutal, close combat — fist meeting flesh, blood flying.
Some even aimed for weak spots: kicks to the groin, slashes to the neck…
“This… this is so fierce?”
Gadelia was astonished. Though these Deya City students lacked top-tier talent, they truly dared to fight!
The Beastmen of the Northern Empire were violent too, but they knew when to surrender.
Yet these students wouldn’t yield unless knocked unconscious or having broken bones, starkly contrasting the mage group.
Could this be why humans became the strongest race on the Mist Domain Continent? Gadelia wondered.
She had pondered this back in Snowveil City: why did fragile humans occupy most of the best lands while noble Airwing lived cramped in the barren north?
The answer was probably this — the human race was the most belligerent in the world……
But actually, it wasn’t just that.
Their boldness came from having Truth and trusting her. After all, her selfless acts in the maze, combined with the news of Suna forcibly kissing her, had already spread.
Minor wounds? Truth could heal. Serious injuries? Truth could still manage! Just bone breaks she couldn’t fix—she was only rank one. Broken bones meant you were better off leaving the stage.
Except for one-hit kills, Truth could save their lives. Plus, with so many spectators watching, no one wanted to embarrass themselves by surrendering — maybe the girl they fancied was in the crowd.
So they fought with all their might, knowing Truth would heal them fully. And if they didn’t want to fight anymore, pretending to be knocked out was enough.
Truth was happy too. With Healing Mist’s new “Malleable” trait, allowing her to mold the mist like clay at will, she could now wrap the mist directly around the wounded, avoiding complete arena coverage that obscured vision.
Efficiency had skyrocketed, and her experience bar kept climbing!
【Experience +】【Experience +9】【Experience +3】【Experience +3】……
【Class level increased to 1, gained 100 attribute points, Healing Mist skill proficiency increased to 94%】
【Class level increased to 2, gained 100 attribute points, Healing Mist skill proficiency increased to 100%, Healing Mist reached upgrade condition】
【Experience +3】【Experience +12】…
Awesome!
Truth was thrilled, and so were the spectators. This was the kind of fight they wanted to see!
Only twenty minutes had passed, and the mage group had already determined their last survivor — Suna, who had steamrolled all the mages using her Ancient Half-Elven Talent and Fire Element.
Gadelia nodded silently in approval. She had indeed chosen well — Suna was worthy of the prince’s tutelage.
But the one thing Gadelia dreaded most still came to pass: the randomness of battle…
The warriors’ fights were also winding down, except for Reg and Mailun.
They had been battling non-stop since stepping on the stage — one benefiting from the Heroic Constitution bonus, incredibly resilient, with crazy stamina after fighting a whole day and night in the mist.
“I can do this all day!” Reg wasn’t joking.
The other was high on Strength Potion.
The potions lasted half an hour, and they had already been fighting for more than twenty minutes.
No shame, no desire to win over a crush— they were simply pissed, using every dirty trick imaginable, from “Eagle catching chicks” to “Two dragons playing with a pearl.”
Krof couldn’t pull them apart either; otherwise, he couldn’t declare a winner.
After nearly thirty minutes, Mailun felt his potion wearing off. He reluctantly stepped back, wiping blood from his mouth.
“Looks like it’s hard to decide a winner between us.”
“What? You chicken out?” Reg flipped him two middle fingers.
“Hmph, you? I just think one-on-one duels are pointless for us. I want a contest testing other skills!”
Mailun flicked his hair and shouted at Reg again:
“I want a free-for-all fight!”
Free-for-all?
Team battle, then?
The crowd gasped — could there be a special event? Exciting!
“How about three-on-three? You take Suna plus anyone you want, and I’ll bring along my usual friends.”
Mailun gestured widely and called two buddies who had ranked highly in the warrior group.
They’d taken Strength Potions too.
“Three-on-three? Where am I supposed to find a third? Besides, have you even asked the examiners?”
Reg asked.
At that moment, Krof’s voice came through, carrying Gadelia’s secret instructions:
“I agree. Since the examinee Mailun proposes it, Reg, you team up with Suna and find a third member. The battle will be limited to 00 minutes, during which we examiners will evaluate everyone.”
“Agreed?!”
Suna panicked. She’d just earned a good result. What if losing here affected her admission?
“But no one wants to team up with us!”
She hurriedly said, since many mages now hated her for using Fire Element, and even those who didn’t dared not face a fighter like Mailun who could fight for half an hour.
Other warriors were either seriously injured or missing limbs; they couldn’t fight anymore.
Who could they possibly find?
“Hmph!”
Mailun sneered and pointed at Truth.
“There’s still one! If Suna asks her, she’ll definitely come.”
Suna bullied Truth daily; Mailun figured if Suna spoke up, Truth would appear without hesitation.
Moreover, the ten-minute time limit in team battles favored Mailun’s side! If no winner emerged when time expired, survival numbers would decide.
They just needed to find a way to get that fragile little priest off the stage, then stall for ten minutes—victory would be theirs!
“Eh?!”
The whole arena was shocked. Who would’ve expected Mailun to target Truth, a rank one priest, for such a high-level duel? It was outrageously unfair!
“Hey, Mailun, your idea’s way too unfair!” someone shouted from the stands.
“Yeah, this is just too unfair.”
Reg agreed.
Sending Truth to fight Mailun? That was utterly one-sided!