Chapter 75: Fighting Exam

The student stared at him with a mix of fear and unwillingness to surrender.

Steven didn’t even move. He simply stared at the student, his gaze not wavering for a single second.

"Come on, you can do it!" somebody yelled from the stands.

"Exactly! This guy was so weak, he had to be demoted back to Sapphire class," another one added as the crowd grew louder and more excited.

"Exactly! Beat his arrogant ass!" a third one yelled, igniting the fighting spirit inside the student.

He stormed forward, creating an ice blade in his hand.

But Steven wasn’t in the mood to play. He simply sidestepped the initial swing, letting the guy tumble through the air.

The man acted quickly, spinning himself around and trying to slash at Steven.

But Steven had already jumped away, continuing to stare at the student.

"What, bastard of hell? Why are you running away?" the student tried provoking him, but he was already breathing heavily.

Steven could only laugh at the terrible taunt.

"Me? Running away? Are you stupid or something?" he spoke, dodging another strike. "Let me show you something."

He grabbed the student’s wrist with one hand and his throat with the other, letting the ice blade fall to the ground.

As he pressed harder against the young man’s throat, the student tried to speak but couldn’t.

"Not so talkative anymore, are you?"

The crowd around them fell silent.

Getting no answer, Steven finally let go, letting the man fall to the ground, gasping for air.

"I don’t even need a spell to beat the likes of you." Steven walked towards the exit of the arena, waiting for the teacher to announce his victory.

But nothing happened.

Not a single voice spoke to him, and every spectator was staring towards the arena.

Slowly turning his head around, Steven saw that the student who had been lying on the ground just a moment ago was already standing, if only barely.

"Don’t under—" Before the guy could even finish his sentence, Steven hit him in the stomach with a rock.

"I never said I wouldn’t use any magic."

The boy fell to the ground, this time completely finished.

"And with that, we have a winner! Mr. Bright has passed his first round."

The elderly teacher finally spoke, her voice sounding ancient.

The complaints started immediately, but Steven had already stopped listening, positioning himself as far away from the arena as possible.

Even then, nobody dared to approach him as he watched the fights pass and the sun slowly rise towards noon.

Until he was called for his second fight.

By then, the crowd had already shrunk down, with most people taking breaks or recovering from their own matches.

His opponent this time was a young woman from the Emerald class.

"Just surrender. I really want to go grab some food," he spoke casually, already thinking about what he wanted to snack on.

As she was about to deny his request, her mana was already boiling with rage.

And then she was on the ground. Two ice darts pointed out from her shoulder.

"Nine seconds... Not too bad," he whispered to himself, hearing his professor proclaim his victory once more.

He just wanted to finish this exam as quickly as possible and gather some more information about the event Alem was going to host soon.

Buying some kind of modern sweet, he bit down on it.

"I don’t think I will ever get used to anything tasting this sweet."

"Oh, really? Well, I will take my leave then."

A familiar voice spoke behind him.

Steven turned around. Merency was standing not too far away, looking pale and limping heavily. Yet her happy smile seemed to be the only light around her.

"Mercury, what brings you here? Shouldn’t you be at your class?" he asked, continuing to eat his snack.

He was truly surprised by her visit, especially after how she had acted before the last altar had been destroyed and their conversation afterward.

"Sadly, I am not allowed to participate in any physical classes, so I have a lot of free time until I recover completely," she answered calmly, buying herself the same snack.

Her wounds were abnormal. It wasn’t that they weren’t healing. It was as if her body refused to use the restored parts correctly.

As if it had to get used to its own structure first, making the recovery take a long time.

"Then I hope you didn’t have to walk too long to get here," he said, finally giving her a glance.

"Nothing I can’t handle, but I must ask... what happened to your... Uniform." She paused before pointing towards his headband and then the rest of his clothes.

Steven had nearly forgotten he was even wearing them. But how could he have expected a princess to show up for such a small exam?

"It’s in the wash." He lied so obviously that Merency had to visibly hold back her laughter.

"Doesn’t the Diamond uniform clean itself? Oh no, I forgot you aren’t a Diamond-class student anymore," she answered arrogantly, but there was no real malice in her voice.

"Yeah, that, and getting the blood of a princess out is really hard," Steven countered.

Merency took an extravagant step forward. "You’re sure it wasn’t your own after your staff had pampered you like a princess?"

Her answer was so dumb that Steven’s mouth fell open on its own.

They both burst into laughter.

After a few moments, Merency finally spoke. "I will need to go now, or I’ll miss my next class."

She pointed towards a university room far in the distance.

"Just don’t lose while I’m gone."

Steven let out a smile. "As if those were ever a challenge for a Bright like me."

He pointed towards the Diamond dorms on the other side.

"And don’t worry. I’ll return to you guys before you even realize it."

She let out a small chuckle before turning away.

Limping into the distance.

Steven took the last bite of his snack, ready for his next fight.