Chapter 6: Ch.5 - Solid Hits
Geralth could very well off me without moving, I have to assume he would limit his ability when fighting me.
That is why as soon as he called the start I immediately gave some distance to see how fast he would be when limiting himself. What I did not expect was finding a sword a couple of meters from my face ready to cut me with a horizontal sweep.
I only had two spells in my arsenal Ice Shard, and Ice Wall, the only two I calculated I could master in the shortest amount of time possible while giving me both defensive and offensive options.
When his sword was just meters from my face I erected a solid wall that was immediately cut but gave me enough time to evade further.
Then I created an ice shaft fast enough to parry an overhead strike, the shaft broke in half so I channeled mana in the two broken halves creating spikes that rapidly attacked my opponent who took a step back and blocked both with his sword a grin on his face. In the meantime, I transformed the air surrounding me into ice spikes, harder to master but faster to cast than normal Ice Shards and launched them at my enemy who surrounded himself with a sphere of darkness evaporating them from sight. Knowing that he was just storing them in his shadow ready to be sent back at the caster (darkness magic could be a bit insane but like any other element it had glaring weaknesses), I immediately formed a new ice spear and closed the distance spinning the shaft of the spear I let the tip touch the ground briefly before launching an uppercut slash. While immediately avoiding the slash and about to counterattack my blow full of openings my opponent noticed that ice spikes were directed at him originating for the point my spear touched the ground, understanding that I cast a spell using the spear as a wand he surrounded himself with a ball of darkness disintegrating said spikes.
With my opponent unable to counterattack with this method I kept the pace up for 20 more seconds, left right overhead, a basic combo I was switching up a bit immediately followed by ice spikes to disrupt his chances.
Noticing that my mana was reaching 0 I was about to do a last push before my teacher launched a shadow blast from his own shadow destroying my spikes right before crushing my spear with his sword, widening my eyes by the speed of this combined action I immediately tried casting an ice wall with all my remaining mana, needless to say, an uppercut slash completely split the wall in half and I felt the cold steel of his sword on my neck.
Nodding his head my examiner concluded "Good fight, I will let you skip the physical exam as I can clearly see you haven't slacked. Welcome to class A"
Widening my eyes I could only slightly bow "Thank you, sir, good fight indeed"
"A word of advice, you have to improve on three things: one 1) You clearly slacked on spearmanship in favor of magical prowess which while I admit works for you, I still suggest to keep training on as you indeed have talent. I will personally be assigning instructors to you and other members of your class so be ready to sweat a lot. 2) Your casting range needs to be way larger, but you already know that. 3) Keep learning about each element, it is clear your knowledge on mine is lacking, and while good enough for now there is no good enough in war. Anyhow good choice not choosing your weapon"
"Thank you so much sir, I will immediately work on those" After studying my face for a bit he seriously nodded
"Good, I suggest picking a book from the library while you wait for your teammates to finish the test, it is an invaluable source of knowledge as you will learn these years. You are dismissed" I slightly bow making a beeline towards the exit not noticing Alfred who remained behind, knowledge was good, me likey.
...
"So that's the boy you are working for now Alfred?" asks an amused Geralth
"He is incredibly low maintenance, I have had it easy honestly, he even dresses himself, something you don't see much in this country. He seems not to hold any useless noble pride, but promptly uses it as an excuse if he realizes he can gain something by doing it."
"Heh, a hypocrite then?" asks a bemused swordsman.
"Worse, an aware one" joked Alfred with a bitter smile
"Ah. The rare kind then"
After a brief silence, Geralth gave the instructions to one of his colleagues to keep it up with the evaluations, while the two men decided to walk away from the crowd to hold their conversation.
"How good is he, and how good can he become Geralth," asked a now completely serious Alfred
"He fights as if playing chess, he has a tactical mind, you weren't exaggerating, he might work for a candidate. But still..."
Sighing Alfred finished for his friend "He is a human right?"
"Right." a brief pause " I have no idea how could you even suggest something like this but still the hero is back, we have to do everything we can. I will vouch for your outlandish suggestion in the council meeting."
"Thank you, I assure you will not regret it. My eyes never deceived me once in my life, they aren't going to pull a prank on me today."
...
It has been way too easy.
For him to destroy me that is. He was right, I hoped I could focus 100% on magic but realistically speaking I will fight enemies that can and will get in my proximity, there simply wasn't enough time to become a god-tier mage, maybe it was actually better to keep many different aces up my sleeves.
Entering the library and getting a scrutinizing look from the librarian I immediately went for the general section of the book I recognized because of the literal sign saying "General Section".
After a while of skimming through the various books I was distracted by a person coming close, the first thing I saw was her blonde hair and green eyes. Not immediately recognizing her I asked just to be polite "Hello, need help?" she turned to me and answered surprised
"Ah. No, thank you. Umh, it is my first time here so I am a bit overwhelmed"
I smiled, a first-year then "Same as me, I have been searching for a book on range theory but I can't help but get lost in this cluster that doesn't seem to have any order"
"Yea same..." she answered
Not giving time for the silence to get awkward I introduced myself "Christopher Arden by the way, first year"
"Name is Alaya, a pleasure" She gave me her hand to which I readily held while placing it close to my lips without kissing it as etiquette dictated.
"A handshake would have been fine," she said a bit embarrassed "I am not a noble"
"Maybe not a noble but certainly beautiful enough to look like one, you must be Alaya the Saintess correct?" she simply nodded with a small smile on her lips, not taking that compliment further than she should have. She is smart. A saintess is to be treated the same as a noble dictated by the law. For what or who a saintess is I will come back later on that.
"A pleasure then," returning my attention to the bookshelf I decided to speed up the process of looking for the book I needed without getting distributed by more stuff. Looking back at her I said while smiling "Wanna see something cool?"
"Sure" was her simple answer.
Clearing my throat I say a bit louder "Could you please give me a basic book about Range Theory in spellcasting? Preferably something a first year can follow" The bookshelf shined a bit before a book was spat out in my face which I readily grabbed.
"Uh, that IS cool" Widening her eyes and doing the same Alaya got her own book and we started reading at the same table waiting for the time we would then need to gather at the main Hall of the school to receive our rank.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone