"This place is huge!" Carter said as he and Robert joined us. His strawberry eyes shifted around the red-carpeted lobby lit with the white light from golden chandeliers.

I smiled. Seemed that he had cheered up. He'd been looking down on the way here despite saying that he would still aim for his dream back at the testing site.

"I thought you were a nobleman," Ling said as she crossed her arms. "Why are you acting like a country bumpkin?"

"I sort of am one. My sister, brother-in-law, and niece live in the countryside now. Hey, Nate, can I borrow your phone?"

Nate took out his phone and handed it over to him. "Sure, here you go."

"Thanks."

"Can I talk to them too?" Robert asked.

Carter nodded. "Sure. I bet sis will be surprised to hear that we met each other here."

"Before you call, we need to announce your teams," Koukyuu said, staring at a white tablet.

"Teams?" Kanja asked.

"Oh, yeah, Adela mentioned those to Ling and me! She said that usually the class is split into groups of four," Carter said.

"True, but this year it'll be a little different. There's only going to be one group of four and two groups of three. You'll be using these teams for future exams, such as the Novus Magus Secundus exam you'll be taking later this year."

Carter's eyes sparkled. "That's great! So, what are the teams?"

"Wait, why are you so happy? You failed, remember?" Ling said, tilting her head at him.

"About that," Robert said, stepping forward. "I gave my spot to Carter."

"You did what?" Kanja said, eyes wide.

Carter lowered his head. "It's true. He did give it to me." Our gazes fell on the golden ticket in his hands.

Ling crossed her arms and sighed. "Well, this is certainly a strange situation. Do you really think you'll make it in Nine Petal when you couldn't even pass its entrance exam? You'll be eaten alive."

"I'll prove my worth by defeating all of you!" His strawberry eyes flared as he lifted his head.

The Xianian touched her chin and smiled. "That so? You did manage to defeat Kanja, but she's the second weakest among us after Huo."

Huo grumbled. "I'm a newbie!"

"True. That puts Kanja in a worse position."

Kanja glared at her but quickly turned away. Seemed she still hadn't regained her confidence despite having passed.

"I said I will, so it'll happen," Carter said, glaring at Ling.

Ling shrugged. "That's not how things go, boy. Proclaiming something while lacking the power to back it up simply leaves one looking like a fool. You saw what happened at the exam."

Nate chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Carted asked, narrowing his eyes at Nate. "Do you doubt me too?"

He shook his head. "No. It's just that Ling's words just now reminded me of someone."

Koukyuu snickered. "True, your brother used to be like Cart."

"Exactly."

Which brother were they talking about? Nate has four brothers, five if one counts the missing Dan.

"Uh, so what are the teams?" Jude asked, poking his head out from behind Mira. Hoped that the two of them got to be together.

Ms. Key clapped her hands. "Right, sorry about that. Let's get back on track, Koukyuu. We can talk about your boyfriend later."

"B-boyfriend?" Carter yelled, eyes wide.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Koukyuu said, averting her gaze.

Ms. Key chuckled. "Let's not delay any further, Kou."

Koukyuu sighed and stared at her device again. "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you, Sonata? Anyway, I'll only name the first two groups, the last one should be obvious as there's only ten of you."

"True," Jude said, glancing at each one of us. That mask really was helping him.

"The first group consists of Carter, Kanja, Mira, and Jude."

"You heard that? We're in the same team, little guy," Mira said.

Jude jumped and hugged her. "Y-yeah! We are!"

Nate laughed. "You two remind me of my siblings."

"Which ones? You got a ton," Koukyuu said.

"Hmm, I would say all of them."

Sonata cleared her throat, causing Koukyuu to return to her tablet. "Anyway, the second team will be Nate, Ling, and Aurelius."

"Seems we're on the same team," Ling said, staring at him and me.

Nate nodded. "Yeah, looks like it."

I sighed. Wished I could've been in the other group. Apart from Nate, I didn't feel incredibly close to Ling. Though, this is a great chance to learn more about Xian.

"What?" Ling asked, catching me staring at her.

I smiled. "Nothing."

"Yahoo, we're on the same team, Tammy!" Lidia said, high-fiving the silver-haired girl. Tamara smiled back.

Ling sighed. "Wished she were on my team."

"Want me to trade spots with her?" I asked.

"So, what are the matches for the tournament?" Carter asked before Ling could respond.

"Right, we should show them," Ms. Key said, glancing at Koukyuu's tablet.

"You sure it's a good idea? We aren't going to begin until tomorrow," Koukyuu said, scratching her right ear with her tablet pen.

Ms. Key smiled. "It might give us more interesting matches."

"That's assuming they know what their opponents can do."

"True, but didn't you let Lei's class know some of their matchups ahead of time?"

"Yeah, I did. Guess I might as well give them a preview."

I glanced at Ling and Tamara. The latter was rumored to use sound, but was there any truth to it? If she had that kind of magic, one would think she would use it to speak.

"Here you kids go," Koukyuu said, holding her tablet up to us. There would be two elimination matches. That way the two who made it and the rest of us could be neatly divided into four matchups. Maybe they should've restricted it to eight or sixteen for a more manageable number to work with for the tournament.

"Oh, the boy geniuses are up against one another!" Carter said, turning to look at Huo and Jude.

"And you're up against Lidia," Huo said, smirking.

Carter's face turned pale as he turned to look at Lidia. "Y-yeah."

"Yikes, Lidia's your worst possible opponent. A water mage and a cute girl," I whispered.

"I know," Carter said, spazzing.

"H-hey!" Lidia yelled.

"Let him be, it'll pass," Nate said, chuckling.

I glanced back at Koukyuu's tablet. "Looks like my first match will be with Ling," I whispered.

Ling smiled at me. "That was quicker than expected."

I blinked."You wanted to fight me?"

She nodded. "Yeah, since we first met on the boat. You did too, didn't you?"

"What makes you think that?"

"I rubbed the wrong way, didn't I?"

I smiled. "Yeah, but you aren't as bad as I thought." Except for what she said about Kanja. She did have a point about Carter, though. He couldn't be claiming stuff like he was. However, I could see him making it far into the tournament. Hopefully, the two of us could meet in the final. We were on different sides of the bracket, so the final was the only chance we had to fight.

Ling's eyes narrowed as she side-eyed Carter. "He said the same thing during the test."

Carter laughed nervously.

"Anyway, you kids should go get some rest. The matches will start tomorrow."

"Hmm, my opponent is Jude," Huo said, glancing at the kid.

"You got the type advantage," I said.

Huo lowered his head. "Not really. My fire likely can't do much against his ice in the state it's in."

"Same goes for me," Carter said, sighing. "But before I get a chance against him, I have to get past Lidia."

Huo narrowed his eyes at him. "So, you expect me to lose, huh? Well, ditto for you!"

Carter gawked. "I-I, why are you so rude?"

"You are too, implying that I'll lose my first battle."

Cart fidgeted. "True, but you are a newbie fire mage from a country of water mages."

"See what I mean?"

"You two want to do some last-minute training?" I asked.

The blond rubbed the back of his head and nodded. "Sure, I'm up for it! I slept most of the day anyway, so I'm not tired!"

Huo sighed. "Sure, I need it."

"Alright then, let's go," I said, waving at him.

"Wait, do you even know how to get to the deck from here?" Kanja asked, following after us.

"Not really," I said, smiling awkwardly.

She crossed her arms and sighed. "You three are going to get lost."

"Let them, it might be a good lesson for them," Ling said, smirking.

"Hey!" Carter yelled.

"Think she might be right," Huo mumbled.

"I'll accompany you," Robert said, walking toward us.

"Alright, you can be Cart's sparring partner this time," I said, grinning.

"Huh? Thought that we were going to spar."

A smile crossed my face. "I rather we work our way toward it. Consider it extra motivation to make it to the finals."

Carter grinned. "As if I needed any more, but I accept your challenge! You better not disappoint either!"

I nodded. "I'll try not to."

Robert averted his gaze. He gave up his spot for his friend, but it probably still hurt not to have the chance to join us in neither the tournament nor Nine Petal.

"Here, let me escort you boys," Koukyuu said, walking over to us.

"Thanks," Robert said, smiling.

I sighed. Nine Petal's reasoning for limiting entrees made sense, but all of the sad faces still brought me down.

***

Nate whistled as Koukyuu brought us out to the deck of the ship. All four matches could probably be done in here if the proctors wanted."

"This boat is bigger than the one we took to get to the islands," I said.

"Same for the one that brought my group over," Robert said, glancing around. "So, ready to brawl like old times, bud?"

"Yeah," Carter said, moving to the other side of the front deck.

Robert remained where he stood while Koukyuu raised a blue barrier around the two boys.

Cart made the first move by lurching at Rob, who remained as still as a statue.

"Remember, what this spar is for," Robert said, smiling as he moved his head left, avoiding his friend's punch. A beam of light flew out of his left hand, pushing Carter back.

"Ouch," Carter said, gripping his stomach. Beams of light rained, forming a circle around him. He gasped as chains flew out of the hilts of the sword.

"Déjà vu," I muttered, remembering his match with Kanja.

Carter took a deep breath and stretched his arms, shattering the chains wrapped around them. "Not bad, Rob."

Robert jumped as Carter went for a low kick. The light mage kicked Carter in the chin, sending him flying into the air.

The fire mage rubbed his chin and smiled at his friend. "Ignis!" Flames enveloped his fists. "Huǒhóng de Shīzi Quántóu!"

Robert held his hands out and formed a barrier of light as Carter's descent sped up, powered by the flames.

"Huǒhóng de shīzi tī!" Carter yelled his feet were covered in flames. He kicked the barrier, shattering it.

"Woah," I asked. "He did that with those weak flames?"

"No, he strengthened his magic using his physical strength," Koukyuu said, watching as Robert dodged Carter's fists.

"Incredible!" Huoyin said, eyes wide.

"So, it's the inverse of what I do," a voice called out. The brunette boy from the exam walked over to us. What had he meant by that?

"Oh, hey, Lei," Koukyuu said.

He waved. "Looks like the first-years are firing themselves up."

"Say, what did you mean by the inverse of what you do?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Lei chuckled. "I rather you see for yourself."

Great, now I was more curious!

"That said, that boy is likely to run into more obstacles than I have. There's only so much that physical strength can do for a person until one hits a wall that can't be broken."

"I don't know. I think that Carter's the type who won't stop until it's broken," I said.

"Or until he himself is," Huoyin added.

True...

Lei glanced up as Carter kicked Robert into the air. The light mage formed a pole out of light and slammed it against Carter's side, sending him spin-tumbling into the deck.

"I can see how he made it in now," I mumbled.

"Yeah, it's too bad that he chose to give away his chance," Koukyuu whispered.

"That's possible?" Lei asked, gasping.

Our proctor nodded. "Yes, but it's not something widely known. Robert learned of it from Sonata." She scoffed. "I bet if your class knew about it, Alto or Ulissis might've given their spots over to Aban."

Lei nodded. "I can see that too."

The way this one carries himself, he must be strong. Carter will have a lot of competition like him, not just at school but throughout the world.

The brunette chuckled. "I'm looking forward to seeing how Carter grows. Now that He's gone, I only have Ayawamat as a rival."

He? Was he talking about the friend he spoke about during the exam?

"Hey, you," Lei said, looking over his shoulder.

"Yes?" I said.

"Try to be a good rival to him, alright?"

My eyes widened. He wanted me to be an obstacle for Carter?

"Sure, but why?" I asked.

He slid his hands into the pockets of his pants and grinned. "You seem levelheaded, plus, you look strong. That boy will need those kinds of classmates if he's to rise from where he is now!"

I smiled. "Don't worry, I sort of planned to from the start!" Not just to help Carter reach his dream but also to see how far I could make it with my Vandavalian magic in a world dominated by the Tozan Hoshi and Trono styles.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^. How has it been seeing Lei in his new role as senpai? (Also, don't worry, he'll retake his main character status soon (not that he truly lost it))Oh, yeah, before I forget, I uploaded the official art for Carter and co.**