Manaless Mage

Chapter 171  The Second Stage of the ranking event

      "I would like to say he didn't sense me… but he did… it was clear with how he was looking around, that he sensed someone staring at him." She mumbled to herself. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

   Now that she was came out in the open, her face and body were now fully visible.    She had long wavy black hair, that fell all the way down to the middle of her back, and striking green eyes.

   Her face was very beautiful, to the point that it surpassed even Susan's, and her green eyes only served to complement her beauty even more.

  She was putting on a set of black shirt, and fitted black trousers that clung nicely to her figure, displaying her well-sculpted curves.    Her face morphed into a slight frown, and she slowly walked to where Harry was just standing a few minutes ago.

   She still had the same puzzled expression on her face, as she wondered just how that brown haired Elementalist was able to sense her.

   The spell she casted was a spell that could completely erase one's presence, whether it was her breathing, or foot steps, it totally erase them all.   Unless one was a stage four Elementalist, they would never be able to sense her in that state, even if they were standing just few steps away from her.

   And from what she could sense, that Elementalist was only a stage one Elementalist, yet he could somehow sense her.

   However, despite being surprised at Harry sensing her presence, what surprised her the most was his strength, and the power contained within his spells!

   At first she thought he was stupid, which stage one Elementalist would have the guts to go up against a stage three mana beast, especially one as powerful as that black bear.

   But as the fight went on, she realized how wrong she was.    Although he only casted tier one spells throughout the fight, each of them were so powerful. The strength of the spells were so high that they were practically on par with even tier three spells!

   During the most part of the fight, Harry's back was what was turned to her, and she only managed to catch a glimpse of his face. But she was still sure she could definitely recognize him if she saw him again.

   While she only managed to catch a glimpse of his face, that was more than enough to recognize him, and his features weren't that difficult to remember also.    She only arrived few minutes ago, attracted by the loud smashing sounds she was hearing from this particular area of the forest.

   Since his back was turned to her, she wasn't able to properly see when Harry finished off the stage three mana beast using wind needles, a tier two 'spell'.    So she thought the only thing he used during the fight were tier one spells, which made sense to her, given that he was only an Elementalist in the first mana core stage—or at least, that's what she thought.

   For a moment she even doubted that what he was using were just tier one spells, because of how powerful they were.    It wasn't just his spell power, there was also his high physical strength and insane speed, that even she had difficulty following.

   Mana beasts were known for their high physical capabilities, but yet that stage one Elementalist sent a stage three mana beast flying just with a single punch! Never in her life had she seen a stage one Elementalist with that much strength!

  She sighed as she turned her head to the ground. As she was staring at the ground, her brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and the expression on her face morphed into a frown.    She clenched her fists tightly, so tight to the point that her knuckles turned pale, and she kept on gritting her teeth.    'Just who is he? How is he… so strong? Even I wasn't that powerful at the first mana core stage…' She thought, before slowly lifting her head up, with a determined look in his eyes.

   'I thought I was the most powerful among the current generation… but it seems like I still have a long way to go.' She thought.    'I will train even harder… and make sure only I am the best. Whoever you are… I will surpass you.' She mumbled inwardly, making up her mind to train even harder and get even stronger.   However, she still couldn't help but wonder who that Elementalist was, from his rank one weapon which wasn't even sharp enough to pierce through the bear's skin, it was clear that he wasn't from a wealthy background.

   If he was, he would have surely brought a better weapon, a rank four weapon at least.

    From his appearance, he seemed to be around her age, so he was probably a student of Vane academy.    'I wonder… will he also participate in the coming world tournament?' She thought, with a slight smile on her face.

   On her wrist was a watch, that looked similar to the one Harry was wearing. She raised her wrist up, and tapped on the small button that was at the side of the watch, causing a holographic map to appear on top of the watch.

   Her eyes scanned through the map, stopping at a particular zone that was mark with a dark red colour.

   A weird glint flashed through her eyes as she read through the warnings given regarding that particular zone, however, that didn't stop her from changing her mind.    'A mana beast at the peak of the third stage… it would be tough for sure, but I should be able to handle it, after all, I'm powerful enough.' She said to herself.

***

One week later,

   Within the blink of an eye, a week had passed, and the second stage/phase of the ranking event was finally here!

   Each stage in the ranking event had an interval of one week, so with the first stage taking place last week, it wasn't surprising the next was taking place the following week.    The one week interval was given so that Elementalists and combat mages would have enough time to recover their mana, and also their strength, and no one would be able to complain about not having enough time to fully recover their mana.    The past one week in the academy had been filled with a lot of hype, discussions about the Elementalists that would emerge on top and advance to the next stage, and even bettings on the ones that would lose.

   Almost all the students in the academy were currently gathered in the event hall, and as one would expect, the hall was noisy, with the audience shouting and mumbling about who would either win or be disqualified during this stage.

    Unsurprisingly, most of the elite students who had been disqualified in the last stage were absent from the hall.    They were too ashamed of showing their faces during the second stage, so they simply locked themselves in their dorms, focusing harder on their training, hoping to utilize the dense mana in their dorms fully, since this might be their last month in the elite dorms.

   Except for Ria and Corey, who still came to watch the second stage of the event. They ignored the scornful and mocking looks the directed at them by the students sitting close to them, each here for their own reasons.

   Just then, the commentators voice rang through the hall, instantly bringing decorum among the audience, as they all focused their attention on his words.

[As you all know, it is finally time for the second stage of the competition!]

[Today's competition is going to be a free-for-all between groups of five that was randomly selected from the winners of the last competition!]

[Every Student who…]

   Harry's eyes squinted his eyes slightly as he stared at the card in between his fingers. At the sides of the card was the no '7' written boldly, which indicated the no of the group he was in.

   The rules of the competition that would be done in the second stage of the event had alresdy been explained to the winners of the last stage's team match a few days ago, so the commentators' explanation was only for the audience.

   Just like the instructor said, the participants of this stage would be randomly organized into groups of five.

   Then the students in the groups will then take part in a free-for-all fight, in which the last one standing will emerge as the winner, while the other four will be eliminated from the event.

   There were twenty five groups in total, meaning that only twenty five students will be able to advance to the final stage, while the remaining hundred will the eliminated from ranking event.

***