"I'm-I'm breaking through...", Daneel gasped out for Faxul's sake before screaming in pain again.
For a half-hour, he could do nothing but clutch his head and keep screaming due to the pain that seemed to be building up towards something.
"CRACK"
Suddenly, the pain vanished after Daneel heard a cracking sound reverberate in his ears.
Getting up, he felt that the particles around him seemed a bit clearer than before. Although the difference wasn't momentous, it was still noticeable.
To test it out, Daneel cast a fireball spell above his hand.
As he connected and used the most number of particles he could, he noticed that the fireball was at least half a size bigger than what it had been before.
Before, the largest he could produce comfortably at one time had barely been bigger than a ping pong ball. Producing multiple ones like he had done in the spars against Elanev exhausted him completely, making him slump on the ground with a headache soon after. As for this size, he could easily shoot out 10 of them before starting to feel the same way.
He had finally advanced to become an Amateur Human Mage!
This was the first major step that anyone would take on the path of a mage. As happiness swelled in him, Daneel sat down on the bed before deciding what to do next.
The matter with the spell technique was too urgent, hence Daneel set off for Master Jonah's cabin immediately. Faxul had said that he would train. After seeing Daneel's breakthrough and increase in power, he also wanted to push forward and gain power as fast as possible. He had to do so especially if he wanted to take revenge on the trio who had been harassing him endlessly.
On arriving at the cabin, Daneel cursed seeing that it was empty again. Having no choice but to come back later, he opted to go towards the yellow comprehension batch area.
Each batch had a certain area that they were designated to in the National Magic Academy of Lanthanor.
Recreation areas, learning areas and training areas were all different, and students of other batches were forbidden from entering these areas.
There were only a few places that students of all batches could fraternize, namely the library and the student quarters.
Now, with unrestricted access to the academy, Daneel could go wherever he wished.
Walking towards the Yellow batch's training area, Daneel heard cheers and whistles as if there were a show going on.
A crowd had formed around 2 teams who were fighting it out on the sparring ground. As the students had finished their first year in the academy, sparring was now allowed on the academy grounds. Daneel had been itching for a noble to challenge him to a spar so that he could beat them up without having to initiate the challenge himself and get noticed. Sadly, there were no invitations yet.
The 30 feet square ground had 2 teams standing on either end.
Each team had 5 members. Of the 5, 3 students who had robust bodies even for 13 year olds stood in the front, whereas the other two seemed to be hiding behind him.
One team was completely made up of commoners like Daneel, who wore clothes with fading colors that had clearly been worn for a long time.
On the other side, the 2 kids standing behind were nobles, with clothes similar to the ones worn by the twins in the trio who had attacked Faxul. As for the other 3, although their clothes didn't have the royal crest, the quality wasn't lacking at all when compared to the two behind them.
A judge was also present at the scene. As he shouted "Begin!", the crowd cheered in anticipation.
The 3 kids in the front of the team comprised of commoners ran forward while the two behind raised their hands.
Daneel noticed that the 3 had smooth and agile movements. Clearly, they were fighters.
As they got nearer to the other team, they started jumping and rolling at carefully calculated moments to avoid the ice pricks and fireballs that were being thrown at them by the other team.
On the other team, the 3 in front just stood there non nonchalantly, as if whatever was happening did not concern them. Although the 2 nobles shot out spells frequently, even they did not seem very serious.
"Now!"
On the command of the two who had raised their hands, the trio who were rushing forward suddenly put their hands back, bending forward and pointing them towards their team mates while still being careful to avoid the attacks.
A thin layer of iron formed on the trio's hands while the gap between them and the other team decreased to only a couple of feet.
With shining hands that looked like they could break through anything, all three smiled before punching at the other team who just stood there, chuckling.
A transparent barrier formed in front of the enemy team, blocking all 3 attacks while the kids had no choice but to scream due to the pain from the impact. Blown backwards, expressions of intense agony were apparent on their faces as each of them thudded to the ground.
Just as the ice pricks made by the nobles were about to pierce the 3 on the ground, they were teleported out by the judge.
"Winner: Team Valanel.", said the judge, before shaking his head and looking sadly at the three whom he had just laid down.
The other two also trudged off the ground and reluctantly walked towards their team mates.
Daneel, who was near the spot where the team had been teleported to, had his mind blown as he watched the first fighter-mage combo in his life. It was very hard to cast spells on moving targets, yet these two had done so in a short span of time especially with 3 targets who were moving so erratically.
Although he had learned the metal spell, it needed a medium to be used, unlike fireballs and ice pricks which could simply form in the air. Hence, it had not been part of his regular arsenal.
"Damn those trinkets. I thought that because we perfected the 'Metal Assault' combo, we could finally beat those obnoxious brats who only know how to hide behind defense trinkets.", said one of the kids who had cast the spell.
He struggled to stop the tears from spilling from his eyes, while the others also sighed softly and gazed at the other team who sneered at them before walking off the sparring ground.
Although many in the audience had simply left after seeing the three blown back, quite a few kids stayed and continuously praised the nobles, as if they had been the reason for the victory.
Daneel had actually come here with the intention to find something that he could use to pull the commoners firmly over to his side. He had had no idea that he would find such discrimination based on wealth. Defense trinkets with such strong capabilities would surely cost at least 300-400 Gold Lans in the marketplace.
Also, witnessing the first fighter-mage combo had broadened his mind and expanded his horizons.
Walking up to the team, he said, "If you want to win, then I have a suggestion for you."