Will stood before the first target dummy.
A sudden, heavy quiet settled over the training arena. It wasn't a total, dead silence, but rather the collective breath-holding of a crowd that had stopped moving without even realizing it.
On the dais, the evaluation judges sat in calm judgment. Headmistress Seraphina remained entirely expressionless, her sharp eyes tracking every movement. Beside her, Kael stood with his arms folded tight across his chest, while Emma leaned forward, a spark of anticipation in her eyes. Edward watched grimly without saying a word. Nearby, Elena quietly adjusted Ruby on her lap, the small creature's gaze locked entirely on Will.
The remaining students who had bothered to stay waited with detached curiosity. There was no excitement here. No cheering. Most of them expected another failed evaluation.
Will stood perfectly still. He slowly closed his eyes, drawing in a long, measured breath to force his heart rate down. The nervousness hadn't vanished—his hands felt colder than usual and his heart beat harder than normal against his ribs—but instead of trying to calm himself, he channeled it. He remembered.
He remembered the endless hours in the suffocating heat of the training hall, the dusty silence of the library, the raucous noise of the tavern, and the brutal morning exercises. He remembered the grueling ache of mana cultivation. The desperate activation of Second Wind.
Again. Again. And again.
One month of pure, unadulterated hell. Everything had been for today.
Will brought both hands together. Mana slowly gathered within his circuits, pooling like liquid fire. None of the spectating students reacted; they had seen basic mana gathering a thousand times.
Then—his fingers moved.
His movements were fast and terrifyingly precise, cutting through a sequence of fixed hand signs. The judges watched immediately. No wand. No staff. No chant. Only hand movements.
Will opened his eyes. Inside, he said quietly, Here we go.
Then, he inhaled deep. The gathered mana shifted instantly, converting into pure heat. A faint orange glow appeared around his chest, rapidly climbing up his neck and pooling in his mouth. His hands locked into a final seal.
"Flame Breath!"
A stream of concentrated fire exploded forward. It wasn't wild or unstable, but a focused torrent of destructive energy. The air distorted under the sudden spike in temperature, washing a wave of intense heat over the front rows. The target dummy was instantly swallowed by the inferno.
The fire crashed against the heavy wood, burning straight through the core.
BOOM!
The dummy exploded backward, scattering scorched fragments into the air as thick smoke rose. The defensive barrier protecting the judges shimmered violently once, absorbing the shockwave, before returning to normal.
The arena stayed completely quiet.
Will lowered his hands, exhaling a thin wisp of smoke. There was no misfire. No instability. And most importantly, not a single word had been chanted.
Up in the stands, a student blinked in disbelief. "...That was fast."
But Will didn't stop. Without a moment's pause, his hands blurred into the signs again. A shorter sequence.
A second Flame Breath erupted—smaller, tighter, and highly controlled. The second dummy caught fire, burning to ash in seconds.
He pivoted immediately, drawing a longer charge this time. He held the mana longer, letting it compress and density until the air around him physically rippled with heat. He unleashed it. The final fire strike hit with double the force, shattering the target into splinters and leaving long, blackened burn marks spread across the stone floor.
Will stopped. He lowered his arms, turned back to the judges, and bowed slightly.
"This concludes the demonstration of my spell: Flame Breath."
One of the evaluation judges looked down at his notes, then stared directly at Will. "...From observation, you gather mana, convert it into the fire element, and release it through the mouth. Correct?"
Will nodded. "Yes."
"Cluster damage," the judge muttered, writing rapidly. "Short preparation time. Good control."
The other judge looked at Will. "Your proficiency is impressive, candidate. You cast quickly, and your spell remained stable without a misfire." He gestured toward the destroyed targets. "The charged version's output appears comparable to Rank 2. Even the standard version approaches high-tier Rank 1."
He looked toward the others down the line, receiving a unanimous nod of agreement. The judge then turned toward Headmistress Seraphina. "Headmistress, do you have anything to add?"
Seraphina remained quiet for a moment, her enigmatic gaze staying locked entirely on Will. After a tense beat, she shook her head. "Nothing to add. Besides, he still has more to show."
Will nodded once in acknowledgment.
The judge nodded. "Reasonable. Continue."
Will nodded and walked toward the next group of targets. As he stopped, the entire atmosphere of the arena shifted. The suffocating heat vanished, replaced by a sudden, sharp pressure that made the hairs on the back of the students' necks stand up.
Small blue sparks appeared across Will's shoulders, accompanied by erratic electric sounds.
Crack—Crack!
The mana in the room violently reoriented itself. Up in the stands, the students looked up and leaned over the railings. Emma smiled slightly, while Kael narrowed his eyes. Edward stared, his jaw tightening.
Will wove a rapid sequence of hand signs, and a roaring sphere of lightning exploded directly into his right hand. It was sharp and violent—not stable-looking, but completely controlled. A high-pitched electric sound filled the arena.
Will moved.
His body surged forward in a short burst of speed. He didn't completely vanish, but he moved fast enough to make his movement harder to follow.
BOOM!
The first target exploded. Before the crowd could fully react, he was already at the second. Then the third. Then the fourth. A brilliant trail of blue sparks arced behind him, painting streaks of light across the dim arena as he crossed from one dummy to the next.
Finally, he reached the last target. He drove his hand forward in a vicious thrust.
The lightning pierced straight through the center of the dummy. The compressed electricity detonated outward, blasting the target into a cloud of splinters. One sharp fragment flew backward, cutting a thin line across Will's cheek. A bead of dark crimson blood appeared.
Without blinking, Will simply wiped the blood away with the back of his hand. He looked toward the medical professor, Lilia, raised a hand to signal I'm fine, and walked back to the center mark.
He stopped, his breathing slightly heavier now. "This concludes my spell: Chidori."
The primary judge looked at his paper, then back at Will, his quill hovering mid-air. Complete silence gripped the room.
"...You used fire," the judge said, his voice dropping. "And now lightning." He looked directly into Will's eyes. "...Are you dual element?"
Will answered immediately. "Yes."
The arena went completely quiet. "...Dual?" one student blinked in disbelief. The other student stared. Fire and lightning—two of the most destructive affinities in existence.
In the stands, Elena froze. Her eyes went wide as she stared at him, a sudden flash of indignation crossing her mind: You cheater. You never told me! But despite her thoughts, a proud smile broke across her face.
Emma quietly whispered to Kael, "See? I told you everyone would be shocked."
Kael shot her a sharp look, and she immediately stopped talking.
Edward finally spoke, turning his stiff neck toward Kael. "...You knew?"
"Yes," Kael answered smoothly. "Why do you ask? Are you afraid you'll lose the bet?"
Kael frowned, but Edward gave him a flat, icy look. "...It's too early to judge yet that I'll lose the bet."
Emma chimed in with a grin, "But... your face says otherwise."
"Hmm. Focus," Edward snapped, crossing his arms. "We are not here to chat."
Down below, the judge continued his evaluation. "Fire and lightning... two of the most destructive and difficult elements. Are you sure you want to pursue both? Splitting your focus can severely stunt your growth."
Will thought about it for a fraction of a second, then answered directly. "I only have these spells right now. But... I don't want to quit before trying."
The hall fell quiet again. Headmistress Seraphina looked at him, a flash of approval in her eyes. "Good answer," she said calmly, her voice carrying across the arena. "Too many people give up before testing their limits."
Then silence fell again, waiting for the final verdict.
The other judge spoke. "Your spell is impressive. But I noticed a flaw. You get tunnel vision when using this spell. That extreme forward speed increases can reduce your peripheral awareness. A clever opponent will exploit that blind spot."
Will nodded. "Yes."
Headmistress Seraphina asked calmly, leaning forward. "Do you have a solution?"
Will smiled slightly. "Yes. My final spell."
"Oh, yes," Seraphina murmured, a spark of genuine curiosity lighting up her face. "Your visual spell... show us."
Will walked toward the medical professor, Lilia. He took a glass vial of mana potion from her, draining the liquid in a single swallow to replenish his burning circuits, and returned to the dead center of the arena. He stood still and closed his eyes, letting both hands lower to his sides.
He directed the replenishing energy straight toward his face, flooding the intricate neural pathways surrounding his optical nerves.
Up in the stands, a few remaining students scoffed under their breaths, completely misinterpreting the delay.
"Visual enhancement?" one quietly said, rolling his eyes. "And why is he taking so long just to activate his stupid spell?"
The student next to him sighed heavily, throwing his hands up. "After those two awesome spells, he's showing off some lame spell? Let's get out of here, it's getting boring."
Both students quietly stood up and left the arena doors behind them.
Will completely ignored them. Beneath his closed eyelids, he intentionally slowed the flow of his mana.
The truth was, he could have activated the spell faster. Much faster. He could have snapped it into existence in the blink of an eye.
But he didn't dare.
Will knew exactly what kind of world Aetherion was. Power without a pedigree was a death sentence. If he activated an unprecedented, dual-element visual technique with instantaneous speed, the high-born noble students would drown him in their envy. Worse, the authorities from the higher floors of the Mage Tower would get suspicious of his spell and his origins, poking into his life and making things incredibly difficult. A normal student like him, completely devoid of political backing or a powerful family name, wouldn't stand a chance against their pressure.
He didn't need his life to be any more difficult than it already was. Survival meant knowing when to hide your sharpest knives.
So, he slowed down. He intentionally dragged it out, forcing his breathing to look labored. He waited, perfectly acting the part of a weak mage who required an immense, exhausting amount of preparation just to cast a low-tier spell.
He let them think he was struggling. He let them drop their guard.
And then—he opened his eyes.
The ambient noise of the arena didn't just fade; the entire room seemed to plummet into a freezing, heavy stillness.
His eyes had completely transformed. The natural iris was gone, replaced by a deep, bloody crimson ring encircling a pitch-black pupil. And nestled within that pool of dark red, a single, curved black mark manifested—sharp, clean, and shaped like an incomplete eclipse.
There was no blinding glow. There was no crushing aura of pressure. Yet, the sheer, unnatural wrongness of those eyes caused every single person in the room to freeze solid.
Will looked straight ahead at the remaining targets, his vision clearing into absolute, hyper-perceptive focus.
And the demonstration continued.