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  Alec ignored the voices, and waving his hands made the fire approach Lucian, pushing him into the center of the ring. Lucian's concern was visible in his face - red eyes, fast breathing, and one hand covering his mouth. The ring had been turned into an oven, the sparks of which sprang to the floor outside the four lines, burning it. Tom ordered everyone to walk away and stay at a safe distance. Lucian's clothes began to scorch, and his white skin began to appear through his clothes. He refused to give up even though his knees trembled.

  "A sunbathing has never hurt anyone," he said with a laugh that made him cough for a few seconds.

  Engaging the sword by the handle, he placed the tip on the floor in front of him, leaving it upright. He held it with both hands, murmuring a few words Alec couldn’t understand. An angelic light expanded, enveloping Lucian in a circus of lights, which obfuscated the sight of the one who was facing him. The white light spread through the ring, consuming the flames and increasing in size. Lucian's hands were shaking more and more. His face turned white, and his pupils mirrored the white in front of him. Luminescence shifted in the shape of a white-haired wolf with gray eyes and metal claws tearing the floor erecting the skin of those could hear his nails digging as he walked.

  Alec used what was left of his energy to unload his special Infernus Endum attack on the wolf approaching him. The remaining flames came together, and they hurried to the animal, which opened its mouth, letting the saliva slime trickle through its sharp white teeth. It roared so loud that everyone walked backward. The pink-haired girl opened her eyes for the first time, and the fire dissipated in the air. The battle had taken on epic proportions and Lucian had gone beyond what was expected. Alec remained unscathed - the thought of giving up didn’t even cross his mind. He had no energy left, but as long as he could stand up he would fight until the last blow.

  "Enough," said the teacher, to everyone's surprise, "It's a tie."

  "Let us finish," Alec said, despite being extremely tired.

  "I want to win," Lucian said, still with his body bathed in light and a pond of whiteness in his eyes.

  "As much as you may not like it, your safety comes first and I don’t know how much longer you'll be able to keep control of your spirit animal,” Tom replied, pointing to Lucian, who was also beginning to show signs of weariness.

  His knees trembled, his bluish veins bulging more and more, and his body seemed like a balloon vulnerable to a single touch. After the teacher's orders, Lucian took a deep breath. The light returned to his body and although there was some resistance from the wolf, Lucian managed to do it in time without losing full consciousness. However, he exhausted all his energy and eventually landed on the ground. One of the healers rushed up into the ring and examined his vital signs. Using her energy - flowers of unique beauty that spread her nanorobots through Lucian’s body she gave him enough energy for him to open his eyes. He still had half of his HP, but his body couldn’t deal with his efforts.

  "A spirit animal?? Isn’t it a myth?" Max asked, adjusting his glasses, and approaching the teacher with a small notebook and pen in his hand, now that the fight was over.

  "No," said Tom, sighing, and looking at the digital picture in front of him, "open file 233. You should only learn this in the second year, but since you have a student who can do it, you better learn it already."

  In a few seconds, letters appeared in the transparent frame, arranging to form the word "Spiritism" in large letters. The room changed - the ceiling fell, the windows closed, the curtains moved, preventing the sunlight from illuminating the room, and the remaining lights went out.

  "What is a spirit animal?" Alec asked, quiet as a sigh to Neil.

  "I have no idea. I had never seen or heard about it.”

  Tom slid the picture to the next page, which contained a description of what a spirit animal was, and information known about it. It took a few minutes for everyone to read it silently, as the professor confirmed if Lucian was better.

  "Spirit animal is the perfection of the nature that lives in everyone’s body. Some mortals have been assigned to carry one of the celestial spirits, which can offer them limitless power or seize the human body if one does not resist the pressure.

  It is not known how many spirits there are, how to obtain them, or how to control them. Each experience is unique and cannot be imitated. There are only three cases of spirit animals on this continent.

  In some places, the story of a human, who dominated the lion’s spirit and traveled from city to city helping people without asking anything in return, are shared as a myth, a history which was passed from generation to generation since the great separation. No one knows if he really existed.

  The gods have decided to bless us with yet another proof of their existence, leaving us in charge of solving the mystery."

  Silence fell on the room. The world swung around Lucian, who was still indisposed, and unable to rise. Fear ran on the faces of some, with trembling lips, wide eyes, and hands rubbing their clothes. Others, especially Alec, smiled inside, thanks to the unique opportunity that had been given to them.

  "It'll be interesting," Alec said.

  "You're in love with this, aren’t you?" Neil asked, "If I can ... The symbol on your t-shirt ... it's from a gang, isn’t it? It has two black dashes in the middle...”

  "To become the strongest, I have to defeat the strongest, and he seems a good start," Alec replied, pausing to explain the second question, "Yes. It was a long time ago and just for survival. It's not something I like to talk about.”

  "Do you just think of getting stronger?" Neil asked him, avoiding the other subject.

  "I have my reasons for it," said Alec, with a mortifying look that compelled Neil not to ask which ones.

  "The director's Phoenix is a spirit animal, isn’t it?" The pink girl asked, turning all the attention to her.

  "Yes, it is. You may have heard this, but he is considered one of the 10 strongest people on this continent. I fought him once, some time ago. I didn’t last more than 5 minutes. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what happened. I saw him moving his hand, and I woke up two hours later in the infirmary. However, there’s still much for you to learn. Spirit animals are just the beginning,” said the teacher, priding himself on having fought the director, and sharpening the curiosity of his students “class is not over. Since you asked the question, you're the next one to go onto the ring.”

  She yawned but didn’t object. She walked to the ring, wrapping a loose strand of hair in one of her fingers. She introduced herself, saying that her name was Lucy and that she didn’t like to battle but she wouldn’t make her adversary’s life easier.

  "Lucy ..." Neil whispered lowly.

  To face her, a girl with long black hair, a double chin, smaller than Lucy but a body that was three times her weight. As she walked, the floor around her shuddered, and she smiled, making little pauses to lick her lips.

  "I think she’s also a powerful mage. I remember noticing her outside. She was the only person I saw from the first year since I arrived, that had agility below 50, but an attack around the 130.”

  "Lucy will win, you'll see," Neil replied.

  A fierce battle was expected, but what happened didn’t live up to expectations. The battle lasted no more than 30 seconds. Even the professor had his mouth half-open, frowning, and stumbling over his own words. Lucy had decimated her competitor, not giving her even a chance to counterattack. She used her mastery of the earth’s power to hold her adversary with thick branches, which tightened around her body until she lost consciousness. The other girl, Annie, had no chance. When she realized what was happening she had no control over her hands and bowed her head accepting the inevitability of her fate.

  Other battles followed - some more interesting than others, but none that attracted everyone’s attention as Alec and Lucian had. He was already on his feet and watching his companions from afar. The teacher asked to speak to him at the end of the class, claiming that there were subjec
ts that needed to be discussed, as well as hinted that it was better for the class to keep what had happened to themselves.

  The last battle put Neil against the shooter Trent. He had a pistol on his back - a mixture of red and black, and a fine barrel whose accuracy was seen as perfect in 99 percent of the shots, like Max, who was healing Annie while learning what he could about all fighters, explained.

  "It's a recent model and the most expensive on the market. If this was long-distance combat it would be almost impossible to beat him depending on the speed at which he fires and how he adapts to his adversaries."

  Neil swallowed hard and didn’t move. His hands trembled and sweat ran down his forehead. He seemed to have given up before the match even started. Anxiety consumed him and prevented him from demonstrating his abilities in front of so many people. The teacher ordered them to move. Trent didn’t hesitate and fired two bullets simultaneously, which moved in a zig-zag, striking Neil on his shoulders. Blood appeared on the surface, which scared Neil enough for him to scream for a pause. His HP went down halfway.

  "There are no breaks. Fight back. Make your dad proud" Tom said, trying to motivate him.

  "I will never be my father. Never."

  Alec bit his lower lip, and even though he didn’t know who Neil's father was nor the meaning of that conversation, he moved toward the ring, calling his colleague. He approached Alec while Trent reloaded the gun and waited for his target to position itself once more.

  "Neil, you don’t owe anything to anyone. You don’t have to be your father, but you have a chance to show who you are. Do you want them to recognize you as the boy who ran away from a training battle, or as the boy who overcame his limits? "

  Neil's eyes widened. He smiled at Alec, got up and walked to the center of the ring, activating the colorless t-shirt, mingling with the environment.

  "It's not a bad idea, but I can hear the beating of your heart. You’re still doubting yourself," Trent said, hitting Neil’s belly, who was a few feet away from his right side, with the weapon’s grip. Neil shrank down and dropped to his knees, his hands around his body, "Do you give up?" Trent asked, reaching out to help him up.

  "Not yet. If there are people who didn’t give up on me, I cannot give up either.” He answered, standing up, his knees shaking, and blood flowing through the inside of his trousers.

  Trent let him get up, following him with the aim of the gun, ready to fire at any sudden movement. Knowing that he had no advantage as a ninja, Neil decided to improvise. He looked into Trent's eyes and began to run forward with open hands, occupying much of the ring as he could and making it impossible for him to escape. The ring floor trembled, and Trent fired bullet after bullet in despair. He had nowhere to run, and although Neil had his shirt covered in blood, and 20 HP, he didn’t slow down. He gripped his enemy and squeezed him until his bones snapped. His cries echoed through the room, as did the uncomfortable sound of Neil's teeth grinding. Trent tried to work out a solution, shifting his shoulders, and hitting the opponent's face with his forehead. Neil was close to his limit and his strength dissipated, granting Trent a split second, which he took advantage of, escaping the torturous hands, and clutching at his weapon on the ground. He fired his special attack, a bullet with a drill-like tip that hit Neil on the left shoulder, sticking out his back, piercing his skin and his chances of winning. He fell flat on his face, inanimate.

  Alec and Max ran into the ring. Together they turned him and Max started to heal him. Luckily, the bullet hadn’t hit any vital arteries. The teacher told everyone to wait until Neil woke up. Only later, he admitted that he liked what he saw and that everyone had potential.

  "There are things to improve. You’re still impulsive and many of you don’t know how to fight using your own power nor how to adapt at the way your opponent react to it. Don’t worry, we will train. You can leave. Good job, Neil. Your dad would be proud.” Said the teacher, sitting down and writing on the students’ individual sheets, “ah, and someone warn the boy who left he better not do that again. If he doesn’t want to lose, he should get stronger. The class is over. Lucian, we still have to talk"

  He turned off the equipment that prevented them from seeing their colleagues' stats, and a wave of exclamations passed through the room. They were amazed at what they didn’t know, a few "didn’t I tell you?" mixed with "He has all that power? I never thought.“ But above all, something caught Alec's attention. He kept his eyes on Lucian's stats.

  "That's weird. So he's not a knight?” Neil asked.

  "Not really. It means that he was hiding its full potential. This just got even better!” Alec said, his eyes glowing red.

  Lucian

  Class: Wizard

  Specialization: Ice

  HP: 300/300

  Attack: 200 + 30

  Defense: 140

  Agility: 150

  Wisdom: 155

  Items:

  Swordsman’s Ring: + 30 attack (contains surprise sword)

  Chapter IV

  "Thanks for the support," Neil said as he walked along with Max and Alec.

  After class was over, the three of them remained in the room waiting for him to fully recover. Max's supposed friends had left him alone, and at Alec’s invitation, he accompanied them, as they all were all heading to the world history class. Alec didn’t answer him. He just bowed the corner of his mouth and was interrupted by Max when he was about to speak.

  "You're the son of a big city’s general, right?" He asked. He had the pen behind his ear and his notebook in his hand. His heart was beating fast and followed the speed of his words.

  "Yes... I don’t like people to know that. People tend to expect a lot more from me than what I can do," Neil replied, struggling to smile as usual, “How did you know?”

  “I heard rumors that the son of a general would be in our class. As soon as the teacher said that I knew it had to be you.”

  It was possible to see by Neil’s writhing lips, his slightly bent eyebrows, and his eyes that reflected the lack of hope, that it bothered him. The environment grew heavy and no one said a word. They walked silently, contrasting with the huge noise in the hall. The windows reflected the rays of light that illuminated the corridors, letting in the smell of jasmine and lavender.

  At the room’s door was Matilda and a small man, the smallest Alec had ever seen, who were arguing sternly. He had a white beard that reached the floor and he dragged it on it, as he moved his hand, shouting and stating that he wasn’t done with them. Matilda bit her lip before replying that it was the director's orders and she was not allowed to do anything about it. Even so, he didn’t look satisfied and insisted that he wanted to talk to Loras and try to explain to him that there were other options. Matilda asked him to keep calm because they were in public and it was a matter of extreme secrecy.

  "I hope you tell Loras I want five minutes alone with him. He needs to know I don’t agree with him. Now disappear from my sight, kid. I have a class to give." The man said, his face wrinkled, his eyes half-closed, his beard serving as a mop.

  She replied that she would handle it and turned her back, sighing and walking towards Alec, who called her. Her face changed from the stereotype of a person who’s disappointed, to someone struggling to maintain a semblance of happiness.

  "You already made friends? Well done. Has last year’s winner talked to you or hasn’t he shown up, as usual?"

  "I haven’t seen him. I think. I didn’t watch the tournament last year. By the way, who’s that?” Alec asked, pointing disguisedly at the white-bearded man.

  "Professor Lynx. He teaches the world history’s class. An extremely intelligent man, but enjoys being in control of everything too much and rarely gives other people a chance. Sometimes I wonder if he's the age he claims to be, or if he just grew up fast."

  Neil seemed absorbed, distracted since she'd arrived, and kept his gaze on Matilda, even as Max spoke.

  "What were you talking about?" Alec asked, risking and seeing if he wo
uld find out what was so important that they couldn’t discuss it in the middle of the corridor.

  "That's what you wanted to know, isn’t it?" She replied, smiling, "Are you going to his class? You better hurry up. He hates students who are late, and don’t interrupt him if you don’t want to get an hour-long sermon."

  She wished them good luck and headed in the opposite direction, to Neil's disappointment, who walked backward to see her leave. Max didn’t blink, and Alec was focused on the secret that stirred the calm and put those who knew on edge.

  "We better go," Max commented.

  The room was different from the previous one, having no ring and no moving ceiling. The tables were arranged in rows of 3, horizontal and vertical. Several students sneezed at the mixture of the scent of talcum powder and the dusty books on the two shelves behind Professor Lynx's desk. Alec sat down next to Neil, and Max behind him. Shortly after, James entered the room, ignoring all the glances and sitting next to Max. His frantic entrance, going against the tables and dragging the chair to sit, caused discomfort in the teacher.

  "Apologize to your colleagues. You’re already over 18, don’t act like a moody child." The teacher said in a monotonous, and sleepy voice.

  James inhaled, and clenched his teeth, before giving a fake smile and apologizing. Meanwhile, Diana opened the windows, letting a few rays of sun in, and the smell of nature which beautified the room, cradling them in the scent of spring.

  "Okay, let's start the class. Anyone know how long ago it all started?” He asked, with a smile at the corner of his mouth, which folded his black wrinkle above his right upper lip.

  Nobody answered. The students looked at each other, longing for one of them to risk answering so others would not have to. The teacher's eyes sailed across the sea of students, landing on Alec and Neil's desk.