...

"I'm boreeeeeedddd..." Groaned Flora as she sat on one of the bleachers in Field 3.

"*Haa* it's only been 10 minutes and the exam isn't exactly easy, you know?" replied Alex sitting next to her.

"You say that but you finished the exam faster than many Nobles who all their lives have been educated to at least understand the basics of Mana and Magic, and you, on the other hand, are a commoner who has basically never heard of the Fundamentals of Mana or the Magical Elements before coming to school, much less an advanced class on those subjects, so tell me, are you too smart or are they too dumb, which do you think the answers are?" Explained Flora as she lay back and put an arm over her eyes.

"Well... I just study hard, I guess. I don't want to let my family down after all, if I manage to graduate successfully, maybe I get a good job as a guard to keep safe plus give my family some money" Alex said as he looked up at the cloudy sky.

"You know you could work for my House right?, and even if you don't want to work for my Family you can become an adventurer you would easily make it to Red Rank and from what I understand they don't pay bad at all" Flora replied as she told him her thoughts.

"Look... it's not that I dislike the idea of working for your family, but I would feel weird, plus I would possibly lose time to spend with my family. Your family focuses on selling Catalysts right?, so I might not be able to improve my combat style. And about being an adventurer, honestly it's a very good option, I might consider it... but we'll see what the future holds for me won't we?"

"Ugh... I feel like you're about four years older than you let on, if you told me you were an old man in a child's body I'd believe you. And if you become an adventurer...I'll go with you, I mean...I'd like to explore the world watch her beyond the walls that are my family...plus maybe I can find her a cure somewhere..." Flora said with resolution in her voice.

"I see... I would love for you to be there, you are basically a life insurance, but won't you be too busy managing your House as New Head?" replied and asked Alex after some thought.

"Don't worry about that... my mother is a half elf so she will last quite a while as Head of House, plus I am allowed to do whatever I want as long as at 26 I get promoted to Head in my House" Flora said quietly, she seemed to be thinking the something, but as her eyes were covered by her arm Alex couldn't describe what she was thinking.

"I see..."

The conversation fell into a pleasant silence each thinking about what the future held for them.

Suddenly in one of the tiered tunnels footsteps are heard and a short time later a black haired, blue eyed boy, Jean, can be seen.

"I've arrived."

"It took you a while... I was falling asleep, so how do we do this?. I give you 2 duel options, the first one consists in giving three hits on some part of the opponent's body, if you do it you win, but it's not allowed to use Outer Mana and therefore Magic. The second option is a total fight until the opponent gives up or faints." Explained Flora as she sat back down and turned to look at Jean.

"...Second" Jean replied after considering the pros and cons of each option.

"Sure?, well you decide, don't say you'll regret it later. Well moving on you can use any weapon but only one, you can also use your fists. You can only use a maximum of two Catalysts on any part of your body. That's it, do you agree with these conditions?" asked Flora.

"Um."

"Ok then everyone to your side of the Field, we have 15 minutes to equip, see you" Flora said as she got up and went through the tunnel to the preparation area.

Jean after a few moments decided to do the same leaving Alex sitting in the stands to watch the game.

After 10 minutes the first to come out was Flora.

She was dressed in clothes made of leather, she had dark brown pants with red details, her shirt was white with black and red decorations, her hair was gathered in a low ponytail, from her elbows to her hands were covered with bandages although she was not injured. It seemed that the person had changed completely, Flora gave off an imposing aura despite her height.

After a few seconds Jean came out.

He was dressed in a dark blue tunic with silver and white decorations, on his hip was a bastard sword still sheathed in its scabbard. His cold eyes were sharp and focused as they stared at Flora.

"Alex! Could you referee please?" shouted Flora to Alex but still not taking her eyes off Jean.

"Sure, *Ahem* On the left side of the arena we have Jean Delmur, famous for his incredible control in Ice Magic and icy stare. On the right side we have Flora Flumin, famous for her impeccable control in Fire Magic and being a battle maniac even undefeated. With that said..."

Alex tossed a coin high in the air....

Flora and Jean stared at each other to decipher the enemy's first move, the slightest clue could give them the victory.

...the coin started to fall...

Jean could see Flora's arms tighten slightly.

Flora could see Jean wiggle her fingers a little, possibly preparing a spell.

Clank

"Let the duel begin!" Alex shouted.

In less than a second Jean moved his left arm towards Flora and summoned 3 large spears of ice that flew quickly towards Flora's legs.

If she was already preparing her arms it took a while to move her legs.

Flora quickly stepped in with her right leg and summoned a wall of fire that broke the ice spears, but also blocked her vision on Jean... but she also blocked Jean's vision on her.

Jean using Strengthening on the legs with Inner Mana moved quickly towards the wall of fire, drawing her sword with her left hand enchanting the weapon with Ice Magic thus cutting through the wall of fire.

...but there was no one there....

He searched around the field quickly looking for his target, but found nothing.

UP?!

Jean looks up and saw Flora's silhouette just above the sun, which instinctively made him close his eyes a little.

Flora, taking the opportunity, quickly came down and kicked him in the head, but Jean was able to react faster than Flora thought, dodging the kick to the side.

Quickly the two of them took distance from each other and turned to stare at each other...

She's got a Catalyst on her right leg... Jean thought.

He's got a Catalyst on his left hand... Flora thought.

This might be more fun than they both originally thought....

...