[And we have our winner of the competition! Team 46!!]
The commentator's voice sounded through the hall speakers, causing the audience to erupt into cheers.
Nathan's team fight was one of the most entertaining fight they had witnessed so far, and even though almost everybody had already expected the outcome, it still didn't turn out to be a boring fight.
However, while all the other students were cheering and shouting, there were a few students among the audience who had frowns on their faces.
As for those students, they were the top Elementalists of Vane academy. The elite students of the academy also came to watch the duel, and even though some of them had already participated in the competition already, along with their teams, there were still some who were still waiting for their turn.
Seeing as Nathan easily defeated Corey, someone who was hailed as one of the academy's top Elementalists, made them feel like their position was threatened.
They had all felt this way from the moment Nathan transferred in the academy, knowing his strength, and his rank in his former academy, they didn't need anyone to tell that that Nathan's strength was at least comparable to that of the top five Elementalists in the academy.
Though they didn't like to admit it, the elite students who had not yet been called unto the stage to participate felt very happy that they wouldn't be meeting Nathan anywhere in this first phase of the competition.
For them, he was the most troublesome one, and they didn't even want to go up against him.
Since Nathan's team had already participated in this first stage of the event, their team wouldn't have to face him again.
As Elementalists who were supposed to be the best among the best, getting disqualified in the first stage of the ranking event, would be the biggest blow to their faces.
It felt even more embarrassing for them since it meant they didn't deserve their elite position in the first place; that they were worthy.
However, they were still annoyed that he qualified for the next stage of the event. Their prayers had been for his Team to face either Susan, or any of the other top three Elementalists.
While they recognized Nathan's strength, they didn't think he was strong enough to defeat Susan who was already a late stage three Elementalist.
Unfortunately, their prayer wasn't answered, as Nathan was placed against Corey instead; an Elementalist at a lower echelon of the elite rank.
[Note: The term "lower echelon of the elite ranks" is used to describe Elementalists below rank 15 in the academy elite ranking.]
Meanwhile, Harry's gaze lingered on Nathan who was slowly walking out of the stage with the members of his team mate following behind him.
'He really is strong, just what I'd expect from someone with that kind of stats.' Harry mumbled inwardly.
While Nathan was busy fighting Corey, he had been paying full attention. However, what amused him the most wasn't Nathan's strength, nor was it his sword skills.
Rather, it was how fluid the combat mage's movements was. During the fight with Corey, it didn't seem like Nathan was just running aimlessly, rather it was as if he was gliding.
Every swing of his sword and movements of his feet were entrancing to Harry, as they were each filled with so much skill and fluidity.
While Elementalists were generally regarded as more powerful and cooler than combat mages, due to their power to control the elements, one stark difference between them would always be in their combat abilities.
Things about combat and fighting techniques were also taught to Elementalists, but since they mainly focused on their elemental abilities, they couldn't compare to combat mages who were based solely on pure combat techniques.
It was a lot more different from his own style of fighting, that only involved purely activating skills.
While that wasn't exactly a bad thing, as having high stats and leveling up his skills would always benefit him, Harry wanted to improve even more, to the point where he wouldn't need to rely on just his skills and stats anymore, and also improve on his personal fighting ability.
Remembering his last spar with Susan, which he lost, he couldn't help but grit his teeth, still feeling somewhat ashamed about it.
Even though he hadn't gone all out, and could have easily won by simply using all his skills and going all out, he was still annoyed about how he lost the fight.
And the main reason he was annoyed by the his loss was because he had the higher stat between the two, and Susan hadn't gone all out also.
Losing to someone with lower stats than him felt quite embarrassing, to him, it was akin to a grown man losing to a young child.
[You shouldn't be too worried about your combat skills for now. Trust me, just focus on your training, those will improve gradually.]
A familiar voice suddenly sounded in his head, causing Harry's eyes to widen in surprise.
'The other voice?' Harry mumbled inwardly, with his brows squinted slightly.
It has been quite a long time since he heard the other voice in his head, it just spoke once in a while, and then vanished again for another few weeks.
Harry hated this, mainly because the other voice seemed to be non-existent whenever he needed it the most.
'Ohh, so you suddenly decided to speak now…' He said in his mind, speaking to the other voice.
[Yeah.]
The other voice replied shamelessly, before continuing again.
[As I was saying, don't worry too much about your combat skills. Just focus on your training.]
[One thing you shouldn't forget is that you're not just an Elementalist or a combat mage, you're a manaless mage, and what you should focus on is learning how to properly control your energy.]
'So basically, leveling up [Energy Control].' Harry thought.
[Yeah. The most important thing being your class evolution. You still have the fire element to comprehend, you won't progress properly on it if you keep bothering yourself with unimportant matters.]
Harry's brows furrowed slightly at the other voice's words. 'My class evolution huh?' He thought.
He was still training very hard on his comprehension of the fire element, and after that day when he channeled his energy into the fireplace, the comprehension rate had been rising quite steadily.
"What are you thinking of now?" A indifferent but soft voice suddenly drifted into his ears, jolting him out of his thoughts.
He instinctively turned his head to where the voice came from, his eyes meeting with the dull gray pair of a beautifully girl with long blonde hair.
"Nothing." Harry replied, causing Susan's brows to furrow slightly, however, she didn't say anything else and simply turned her attention back to the stage.
But one thing Harry didn't notice was the weird glint that flashed through her eyes.
Another set of names appeared on of the huge yellow holographic board above the hall, causing the hall to explode into cheers once more.
Harry relaxed his back on the chair, as he stared at the names displayed on the yellow board, with a slight smile on his face.
What the other voice said was correct, what he should focus most on was controlling his energy, and also comprehending the fire element.
For now, his main goal should be to evolve his class to [Manaless Mage]; all other things were secondary.
'Yeah, the other voice is right. My main goal for now is to comprehend the fire element, and finally evolve my class into [Manaless Mage].' Harry thought.
***
A few hours later,
A brown haired boy could been seen sitting in front of a fireplace with his legs crossed in a lotus position.
His upper body was bare, and his lean, yet chiseled body was displayed, except there was no one around to see it.
Beads of sweat kept rolling down his body, and his chest kept moving up and down as he panted continuously.
Harry exhaled, as he stared at the set of tabs flashing across his eyes.
======
[New Quest Alert!]
[Unlocking Affinities ]
—Comprehend An Affinity
[Quest Progress: Fire Affinity [49%]]
—Time Limit: Six months [Time remaining: Three months and One week]
>>Rewards For completion: 5000EXP, Class Evolution
>>Punishment For Quest Failure: 50% Reduction in all stats.
======
By regularly trying his best to comprehend the fire element, the quest progress had shown visible increase, and he was almost halfway close to fully comprehending the element.
'Still… this is not enough. I'm still too slow.' Harry thought with a frown on his face.
Ever since that day when he decided to try channeling his energy directly into the fire, he hadn't gotten any huge advancement like that time.
Although, his progress had been rising steadily, it was only by an about two percent each day, something which he wasn't very satisfied with.
Just then, a notification flashed across his eyes, causing the sides of his lips to curl into a smile.
[Energy Control level up!]
[The skill "Energy Control" now Level 6!]
Since he regularly channeled his energy in order to comprehend the element, the skill that unsurprisingly showed the most progress was [Energy Control].
And now that it had just leveled up, it was now Harry's highest level skill.
Apart from that, another thing that made him happy was that which each level up, channeling his energy becomes even easier.
Harry closed his eyes, and then focused on the white flame burning deep within him.
His eyes squinted slightly, as he couldn't help but notice that the blue and golden streaks around the white 'flame' had increased, and were now a lot more noticeable.
***
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