The combat arena plunged into deep silence caused by disbelief and surprise.

The start cry for combat had barely been given, and one combatant had already been completely defeated.

Seven skills, level four, such numbers were nothing to brag about and in fact, had caused mockery in many of those present, however, right now the person who owned those numbers had just defeated someone who supposedly outperformed her in just seconds.

"How strong..." —Leto muttered this to himself as a faint smile appeared on his lips.

Leto was a nobleman, and even if he did not want him, in his mind he judged Nadyia as someone weak based on the numbers above her head. However, unlike the people who mocked Nadyia, Leto was not angry at seeing his precepts being destroyed. He smiled and in his mind thanked Nadyia for teaching him not to judge force based on appearances. If this had been a real battle, that girl would have ended up dead before she even tried to understand what had happened.

"You're out, get off the platform" —the scream of the teacher who was acting as judge ended the prolonged silence.

The body of the defeated girl shuddered upon hearing that. Disbelief showed on her face and quickly turned to anger.

"I still haven't lost!" -the girl stood up, thanks to the magic barrier the only damage she received was in her pride.

"Don't you have enough honor to recognize that you have been defeated? Perhaps you are not worthy to become a Maiden since you cannot distinguish pride from arrogance”

The girl's body shuddered even more than before upon hearing that, who had said such words was not the judge of the battle, those words came from the VIP seats and emerged from the lips of Raynelle Heyward.

With tears welling up over the edge of her eyes, the girl stepped off the platform and then hurriedly left the combat arena. No one could judge that dishonorable behavior, anyone who received such harsh words from Raynelle Heyward would feel as if the world was falling on their shoulders.

"Go on!"

The judge's scream brought the other two girls out on the platform from their dazed state, and despite the way she previously treated Nadyia, the girl who was her teammate showed a triumphant smile on her lips, What did it matter how it happened? at this moment she had her first victory assured since the fight was now a two against one in her favor.

Holding her spear in her hands, Nadyia now turned to the second adversary.

"Pierce Atack" —Nadyia used that active skill again, and the tip of her spear emitted a faint glow.

"This is as it should be, Fire Sword" —Nadyia's partner also used an active skill and her sword was engulfed in flames.

That girl whose companion had been quickly defeated, she used a skill to strengthen her sword. In her mind defeat was inevitable and all she could do was try to hold out as long as possible to at least earn a few points for having fought two opponents at the same time.

"Commoner, let's get this over with quick"

Leto was speechless when he heard Nadyia's partner exclaim those words. Even after Nadyia so easily defeated one of her adversaries, that girl would continue to belittle her?

Without saying a single word, Nadyia held her spear over her shoulder with one hand, and taking everyone by surprise, she suddenly turned to her teammate.

"Accurate Javelin" —Nadyia's spear was completely enveloped by a faint glow and from one second to the next, Nadyia threw her spear.

Skill: Accurate Javelin
Type: Active (acquired)
Rarity: ☆☆☆
Requires: Spear
Lvl: 5/5
Effect: Allows you to throw a spear with great precision and various speed and strength bonuses
Mana: 40
Skill Tree: Warlord

Nadyia's spear flew at high speed toward her teammate.

The pedantic and triumphant smile on the lips of Nadyia's companion did not have time to disappear when the spear fell on her.

The tip of the spear impacted devastatingly on the girl's forehead, and as her body was pushed back, the magical barrier that protected her blinked several times until the sound of breaking crystals resonated throughout the sand.

As the girl's body hit the ground and Nadyia's spear spun in the air and then fell, everyone could see how the girl's blue bar disappeared completely.

Disbelief and dismay filled the faces of the vast majority of those present. Perhaps only the three candidates and Raynelle Heyward were not so surprised. Raynelle just let out a sigh while shaking her head, Kristin showed no reaction while Inis just closed her eyes with some displeasure. Aspyn seemed to contain the desire to laugh.

Leto was no less surprised than the rest, Nadyia had just attacked and eliminated her teammate.

"You're out, get off the battle platform" —the judge repeated these words that once again broke with silence.

"That... That commoner is the one who has broken the rules, it is she who must abandon the combat platform and the academy!" —sitting on the ground. The girl raised her right hand and pointed vigorously at Nadyia with a visible expression of anger.

Several cries of protest emerged from the stands to support that girl.

"There is no rule that prohibits attacking your teammate, now get out of here before I consider reporting you for break the important rule of forgetting differences in social status within the academy grounds"

The girl's face turned pale when she heard the judge declare that, that rule was one foundation of the academy, so the punishment for breaking that rule was not something to ignore. She immediately stood up and descended from the platform after casting a fierce glance at Nadyia.

"Go on!"

The judge's voice brought the last noble girl out of the daze, and when she saw Nadyia trying to go for her spear, she squeezed the hilt of her sword and charged straight at that adversary who had turned out to be the most fearsome.

"I won't let you get it back!" —the girl declared this with complete confidence as she approached Nadyia. In her mind, without her spear, this fearsome enemy could easily be defeated.

"Arming!" —Nadyia extended her right hand in the direction her spear was, her palm emitted a gleam, and to her rival's dismay, the spear flew from the ground into Nadyia's hand at high speed.

That was surprising enough for Inis to stand up.

Of course, that had been caused by a skill, Arming.

Skill: Arming
Type: Active (acquired)
Rarity: ☆☆☆
Lvl: 1/1
Effect: If the user has lost their weapon, this skill will return it to their hands as long as the weapon is within a radius of ten meters
Mana: 10
Skill Tree: Lost Tree

Although it was not a skill ranked with gold stars, Arming was only one step away from reaching such an evaluation, and the reason for this was not its convenient effect, but it was a skill that only a few people had carried it throughout history, and now there was only one person who had that skill, one of the few three Holy Knights in the city-state of Garco, Dragoy Arick.

It was a skill that was gained based on a deep determination that could well be described as an obsession.

From the moment that Nadyia's father learned that she had a skill, he trained her, not to use her daughter as a tool with which to improve the situation of his family, but for her to have a better future.

Life outside of big cities is tough. Mutated creatures prowl every corner of the world, lurking maliciously. These creatures corrupted by miasma do not feed on meat, their food is the slain.

Nadyia's father only knew how to wield the spear, and this is what he transmitted to his daughter.

Nadyia could remember the people around her laughing at they saying that it was a complete waste that she possessed a skill, 'with a spear, she can never leave this place', it was the mockery that Nadyia commonly heard among those people. The spears were wielded by the commoners in front of the great armies. Even if she carried a skill of a golden star, if she did not learn to wield a sword, her fate would be the same as that of any other commoner.

Her father wanted her to take advantage of her skill to leave behind the harsh life outside the big cities, Nadyia had her own goal. She would become a Holy Maiden and take her father and siblings to live in a safe place where they would no longer have to worry about mutated creatures. She would show those people who mocked her they were wrong. She would teach the nobles not to underestimate her just because she was born between straw and mud and not between silk and gold.

With that kind of goal in mind, Nadyia practiced with the old spear she received from her father until her own hands bled. She practiced obsessively day and night to reach her goal and even while she slept she did so by holding on to her spear, and as a reward to her efforts, she slowly gained one skill after another.

Nadyia's opponent had to step aside to get out of the way of the spear that returned to Nadyia's hands, and these seconds were cleverly used by Nadyia.

"Pierce Atack, Charge" —Nadyia used two skills consecutively, and from one moment to the next, she was already pushing her spear into her opponent's body.

Nadyia's spear was heavy, in this weapon dismissed by the nobles Nadyia carried all the weight of her effort, her father's wishes, and her own goals. It was this weight and Nadyia's obsession with reaching her own goals that allowed her to gain a skill that only a few people in the world had carried throughout history.

Despite being taken by surprise, the girl reacted by trying to block Nadyia's attack with her sword, however, the force of the spear was such that she barely deviated her trajectory a bit. The tip of the spear hit the girl's right shoulder, and the result was the same as before. The girl was pushed back as the magic barrier that protected her broke.

"The combat ended!" —the judge immediately declared the end, and Nadyia could not resist the urge to raise her spear in triumph.

Sour expressions filled the faces of countless girls on the stands. However, there was no more mocking. All of them understood that the only way to put that commoner in her place was to defeat her on the combat platform.

"It seems we've misjudged her..." —Inis muttered this while letting out a light sigh.

"If she just looking to become a Maiden, it doesn't look like she goes to have a hard time achieving it, but if she aims for more, it won't take long for her to be hit by reality" —Raynelle comment in response to Inis's words.

The three candidates and other teachers silently agreed to Raynelle's words. All of them understood the meaning behind those harsh words.

If Nadyia Maynor aspired to become a Holy Maiden, all she would achieve would be a bitter and devastating failure, the reason for this was in the way for becoming a Holy Maiden, chosen by one of the Holy Swords. Even if Nadyia Maynor became one of the six candidates, would any of the holy swords choose someone who wasn't even capable of wielding it by not possessing the Swordsmanship skill? The answer to this was a resounding no. The Holy Swords were whimsical and proud, they would never choose someone who had not even trained to wield them.

"She won't go that far, it's just her first fight, and she's already consumed a lot of her mana" —the always smiling Aspyn added that in an unusual tone of voice full of displeasure. Aspyn Claud projected a carefree and joyous image, so the tone of voice in her comment even caused one of Kristin Lyndell's eyebrows to rise subtly.

“She is strong and determined, but reckless. If instead of a spear she wielded a sword, it would interest to have a practice duel with it” —Inis broke the strange environment caused by Aspyn.

With a satisfied expression and a smile on her lips, Nadyia returned to her seat next to Leto after returning her spear to the judge.

"It was quite an interesting battle" —Leto declared this in a serious tone as he faced Nadyia, then let out a light but charming laugh that caused Nadyia's face to blush slightly.

With dark glances was targeting on Nadyia, Leto was trying to create an environment independent of the hostile atmosphere from the combat arena for her.

"I put in a lot of effort, so I'm glad it was entertaining for you"

Leto didn't have to try too hard, Nadyia was unconcerned about the atmosphere that her overwhelming victory had caused. For Nadyia this was the beginning. She would show all these pampered girls a bit of her strength.

Nadyia sat down and let out a light sigh. To achieve this spectacular result, she had consumed 210 mana points, which had reduced her current mana to only 110 points.

From an objective point of view, Nadyia had been reckless. She had consumed a lot of her mana without thinking about the next battles.

She came from the field, for Nadyia each battle was life or death. Reserve mana thinking about the future? When fighting with a mutated creature there are only two outcomes, death or victory. With caution and thinking about the upcoming fights, this had not been too helpful to the girls who were defeated by Nadyia.

Strategy against brute force, it would be the combat platform that would choose which was the correct path.

Raynelle Heyward took four new roles from the ballot box and the tournament continued as normal. The following battles were not as striking as the first.