On this same day, various competitions commenced for different batches in the Academy. Vale and his group broadened their horizons as the numerous students in other Academies used their best set of Spells to win the competition they entered.
This way, even though that duel or the Clash of Champions hadn't started yet, Vale already had a rough idea about the things he should look out for.
"In the end, the Holy Arts, Psychic Arts, and Rune Arts Academies were the ones we should look out for…" Maya muttered as they headed back to their rooms.
"Indeed… Especially the new Rune that goes against the Dark Arts Practitioners. How troublesome… It's a huge problem if all of them can you that Rune." Philip commented.
Just like the news they read in the Academy Newspaper, the Rune Arts Faction had indeed created a new Rune that works perfectly well against Dark Spells.
It was certainly not in the same principle as the Holy Arts but it feels more like Mystic Arts Ability that could dismantle the Dark Energy used by their Dark Spells.
This was such a piece of troubling news for them…
***
In the afternoon, the group hunt of the Monster Hunter event for the fourth-year batch would finally start.
In this group match, Vale wouldn't participate since he was selected for the Solo Hunt.
Instead, this would be a match for Philip, Crystal, and Maya.
Vale and Luna would be on the audience stand to cheer and support their classmates.
"Oh… You're not going to participate this time? Your name was Vale, right?" Suddenly, Vale heard a gentle voice behind him. It was from an unfamiliar young lady and she seemed amused at how she found him here.
Vale curiously looked behind and realized that it was the third princess, Ceres!
'She's talking to me like we know each other...' Vale mused seeing how she comfortably addressed him.
"Yes." He answered.
"I see… We have the same strategy then… In tomorrow's Clash of Champions, I'll be taking the first place." Ceres added, confusing Vale for a moment.
He could understand why she mentioned that it was a strategy to not participate in today's Monster Hunt. After all, they need to hide their Spells at the moment, so the opponents or other students wouldn't easily come up with a strategy.
What Vale couldn't understand was the reason she was bragging that she would get the first place in tomorrow's duel.
"Good luck to you, Princess Ceres… However, the judges won't be able to help you at that time…" Vale replied with a teasing smile.
However, as soon as he saw the faces of the people around them, he immediately realized that what he just said was somehow telling her that she had cheated in other competitions to win.
Even Luna was stunned as she looked at Vale with wide eyes.
"Y-you…" Rizza, Ceres's groupmate wanted to berate Vale but Ceres held her hand to stop her.
"It's fine… If he's not satisfied with my win, I'll show it to him tomorrow." Ceres said with a cold smile on her face.
This time, Vale decided not to reply as he might really anger the people around them. Instead, he shifted his attention to the stage and forgot the people behind him.
He thought of just enjoying the Monster Hunter that was about to commence…
'Are they also sending Two Savage Golems or a different creature?' Vale mused.
However, as he thought that he would be able to peacefully watch the battle, he sensed the activation of the Divine Sense near him!
'Mhmm?' Vale suddenly realized why Ceres decided to get closer to him!
'I knew it… This girl wouldn't just randomly stay at the audience stand. She wanted to probe the students with the Divine Sense.' Vale silently thought as he sensed the activation of the Divine Sense behind him.
Since he has an Advanced Realm or higher mastery than her, she certainly couldn't tell that he could sense her Divine Sense.
Nevertheless, she had probably realized by now that she couldn't probe him with her Divine Sense and suspected him to possess an anti-inspection Mystical Item.
"Tsk…"
Vale heard Ceres click her tongue in frustration. As expected, she didn't get the result she wanted.
She even tried putting her Divine Sense mark on him!
'This girl… She's going too far… She's already using a Spell against her opponent before the competition starts. She doesn't deserve to be a practitioner of Holy Arts…' He commented.
Vale shook his head as he decided to allow the mark to enter his body as he wanted to use it against her later on.
'You're even a Princess and you're using such an underhanded trick… Let's see what will happen later…' Vale silently thought as he decided to take advantage of the Divine Sense mark she left on his body.
He acted normal and didn't seem to have noticed the Divine Sense as he continued watching the event.
Anyway, the Princess also continued staying for a while even after her probing, and watched the group hunt of the Rune Arts Academy against a couple of Imps!
Yes, the organizers had actually arranged two Imps for each group to deal with…
It was quite unexpected, however, it's also understandable. Normal fourth-year students were still lacking in the number of Spell Lights they had…
On the other hand, the Imps may be quite tough to deal with but their strength was average and they only excelled in their special ability, illusions, or deception. It was a perfect opponent for their current batch.
***
The young Runecasters, armed with their Runic Weapons, prepared to face the challenge ahead.
The three Runecasters, Felia, Marcus, and Elara, stood side by side, as they looked at the caged Imps across the stage...
Amelia wielded a runic staff, Marcus held a runic bow, and Elara carried a pair of runic daggers. Their weapons crackled with arcane energy, ready to be unleashed against the Imps.
The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)ebnov(𝒆)l