“Zachariel Strom,” Zachariel replied to the middle-aged man.
“Zachariel Strom? Never heard of it. You guys, have you heard of it?”
The people behind shook their heads.
“Ah, I remember him! He’s one of the Prospect candidates announced this year!” A high-pitched voice resounded at the back of the group.
“Asher, he’s a Prospect candidate?”
“Yeah, don’t you see that insignia on his left chest?” Asher pointed at Zachariel’s chest where the insignia was located.
“Insignia-?!” The middle-aged man was dumbfounded. He only realized until now that Zachariel was actually wearing his school uniform.
`What kind of disciplined student is this?`
The middle-aged man awkwardly laughed.
“Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Hallvard Ketillson, leader of the Lowthorn mercenary group. They are my co-members.”
“I’m Asher Dewitt.” The high-pitched male waved his thin hand. He had short yellow hair and small black eyes. He wore a caramel-colored blouse where the sleeves reached down to his elbow.
“I’m Daniel Rigg, nice to meet you, Zachariel Strom.” He placed out his hand to Zachariel and the latter shook it. His pleasant tone indicated that Daniel approved of Zachariel. `Not bad, at least he’s not arrogant.`
He wore a robe commonly used by the mages. The dark-blue robe complemented his black hair that reached to his neck.
“I’m Florence Turner, kid.” She had a menacing look on her heart-shaped face. She was carrying a spear on her back that was strapped on her leather armor. Her red long hair had further signified her very fierce nature.
“Hey, Florence, don’t scare him like that!”
“And who are you to talk back to me, Daniel?” She raised her eyebrows at him as she replied in a deep tone. Daniel was clearly infuriated about her reply.
“Stop it you two! I’m sorry about them. I’m Chloe Kidman, nice to meet you two!” Her angelic voice was very pleasant to hear. She had short ginger-colored hair that hanged on her diamond-shaped face.
The small girl wore a light-colored robe opposite of Daniel.
“Ah, about your companion, Zachariel, who is she?” Hallvard asked Zachariel.
“She’s Lia Milelli, a classmate of mine.”
Lia bowed to the mercenaries. “Nice to meet you too!”
The mercenaries approved of them. Hallvard looked back at the magic screen.
“Oh, looks like it’s finished now.”
The mage with the dark mana essence won in the end. His opponent surrendered after he began to experience the effects of mana exhaustion.
“Kid, I admire that analysis of yours earlier. Have you already fought before? Or did someone teach you that?” Hallvard was rather excited to hear Zachariel’s answer.
“No sir. I’m just a newly enrolled student.” His answer disappointed Hallvard. `Well, traditions are still traditions.`
“Hey, Zachariel. Want to have a go at me in the arena?” Daniel invited Zachariel out.
“Daniel, don’t bully a fresh student. You’re such a pathetic senior, don’t you know that?” Florence mocked him.
“Florence, I’m not the bully-type and I’m certainly not a pathetic senior. I just want to spar with him. Anyway, kid, what do you think?”
Zachariel thought about it. `Are they friendly though? I don’t want any mishaps to happen when I’m not around Lia or the other classmates.`
“I would like to but we’re about to conduct our training session later. I don’t know if-”
“Go for it, Zachariel! Luiz and the others won’t mind if we’re delayed for a few minutes! I’ll reason with them later!” Lia interjected. She wanted to see how Zachariel would fight.
Spectating a Prospect candidate’s fight should be interesting.
“Ah, is that so, Lia?” Zachariel twitched his mouth. `You want me to fight an experienced fighter? Won’t I get beaten up badly?`
He thought that she must be getting back at him because he forgot his memories of her.
`Damn it, I need to recollect what happened before as fast as possible or else-!`
“But I don’t know if we could trust them yet. What if they are bad guys or something?” Zachariel whispered at Lia.
“What are you talking about Zachariel? Look at them, do they look bad guys to you?” Lia pointed at the amiable mercenaries who didn’t have a tinge of evilness in their aura.
“All right, all right!”
Zachariel approached Daniel.
“So, have you decided?” Daniel asked him.
“Yes, but senior Daniel, I still haven’t registered for the arena though.”
“Oh, that’s easy. Come with me.” Daniel rejoiced in his heart. He had a competitive spirit and always wanted to spar against the Prospects and Prospect candidates.
“Take care of him well, Daniel!” Hallvard waved at them. Daniel replied with a thumbs up.
“Are they not coming with us?” Zachariel asked in confusion.
“Nope, we’re just going to register, not to meet his Imperial Majesty,” Daniel assured Zachariel.
They went to a counter for the arena registration.
“Hello sirs, how can I help you out today?” The male staff greeted the two.
“I’d like to register my junior for the arena. Care to help him out?”
“Ah, yes! I certainly will!” The staff worked on something when a magic screen popped in front of Zachariel.
“Hello young one, kindly have your emblem scanned in front of the magic screen!”
“Ah, yes.” Zachariel retrieved his student emblem and then put it in front of the magic screen.
“A young student wanting to have a taste of the arena. You’re also a Prospect candidate?! Wow, I admire students like you! Mr. Zachariel, please kindly fill in the information displayed on the magic screen.”
The display in the magic screen changed. Zachariel was required to input his arena callsign name and have his picture taken by the magic snapshot.
`Sentinel. Is that good? Sounds lame to me. Damn it, just do it, Zachariel!`
He inputted Sentinel but the magic screen blew up. Daniel and the staff were dumbfounded. `Do you really have to blow it up like that?`
`What kind of mana output is this? Just inputting data in the magic screen would result in it blowing up! What if he conjured a skill or spell instead? Won’t the entire area be reduced to rubble?`
`No, he probably just doesn’t have good mana control. Yeah, yeah, it’s probably that.` Daniel comforted himself.
“Ah, can I input the information instead? My junior has some problems here so…” Daniel made an excuse.
“I guess… it’s possible?” The staff hesitated. This had not happened before. Letting others input information may lead to problems, but seeing how close the senior was to his junior, the staff could only compromise.
“Alright Zachariel, what callsign do you want to have?”
“Sentinel.”
“Hmm, Sentinel. It’s average, but it’s your choice anyway.” Daniel inputted ‘Sentinel’ as his arena callsign name.
“Please kindly have your picture taken, Mr. Zachariel. Just enter the room and look at the magic snapshot at the front. Once the light flashes, you can then go out.” The staff instructed Zachariel.
`It won’t blow up this time, right?`
Zachariel went inside the room beside the counter. He went inside a saw an eye sticking on a branch. It wriggled as it curiously looked at Zachariel.
`This thing is a snapshot?`
The branch wriggled a few more times before it stretched upwards and looked down at Zachariel. Zachariel closed and covered his eyes when the lights flashed out of nowhere.
After that flash, the eye returned to being stationary.
`That should be it, right?`
He went out to see the results.
Daniel and the staff sighed in relief when no explosion happened.
“Alright, I have already processed your information, Mr. Zachariel. Here’s your arena emblem.”
He gave the arena emblem to Zachariel.
“Also, the arena has a point system wherein you can buy weapons, materials, and other necessities that you require in your cultivation path.”
“You can earn the points either through winning in the arena, a commission on the bets from the other people if you win a match or through selling items in one of the counters for the arena point exchange.”
“Note that you cannot bet for yourself or to your enemy whenever a match is scheduled.”
Zachariel had taken note in his mind about the point system.
“Good! Now, can I schedule a match with my junior now?” Daniel was excited.
“Yes, sir! We have one available arena right now. I’ll need your arena emblems to register your match.”
The two of them passed their arena emblems to the staff.
“I’ll process it now. Please wait a moment.”
Daniel and Zachariel discussed with one another as they waited for the staff to finish.
“Senior Daniel, how many arenas are there anyway?”
“Well, there are six quadrants here and each quadrant holds up to 12 arenas. There are 4 more on the third floor but that’s reserved for big fights.”
Zachariel was amazed.
“Also, each arena is very large. Those on the first-floor cover at least an area of 1 square kilometer. Just imagine how big is that. The rest of the area are just roads, the counters, the public lounge, and the public training room.”
“Hello sirs, your match is already registered. You can head to Arena NE-12 now.”
The staff interjected on their small discussion. “Alright, let’s go now.” Daniel took the lead. They moved towards a grook gathering point.
“How do I ride this demon beast, senior?” Zachariel asked.
“Oh, they’ll lower themselves if they spot you approaching them. Just jump to their backs and put your hand at that glass on a pedestal that is mounted at that huge saddle. It’s similar to riding a horse. That glass would act as the rein for you to guide it. Got it?” Daniel explained.
“Thank you, senior.”
He approached one of the grooks and it bowed down to him and laid flat on the ground so that Zachariel could ride on it.
Zachariel went up and saw the ‘glass’ that Daniel mentioned. It was actually a magic screen layered under the glass.
`This is a map of the entire area? And I can guide the grook with this? How amazing.`
There were several buttons displayed on the map, and he selected the option NE Quadrant.
It zoomed in to the NE Quadrant and it displayed the list of places that he could go to.
He selected Arena NE-12 from the list and the grook prepared for flight.
`Wow, this is good! It’s automatic and I don’t need to form a pact on this demon beast to order them around.`
He noticed a shrinking meter at the top of the magic screen.
`Is this the tolerance level of the grooks that Lia said earlier? It must be. I’ve got to keep an eye on it.`
“How is it, Zachariel? Easy, right?” Daniel shouted at him.
Zachariel replied with a thumbs up. The two of them went to Arena NE-12 with the grooks.
Meanwhile, back at Lia and the Lowthorn group.
“So, which Great School are you two enrolled in?”
“We’re in the Great Weaponry School, sir.”
“Oh, so you’re actually a junior of mine!” He patted Lia as he laughed out loud. “Little girl, I can sense that you want to become stronger, right?”
“Ah, yes! I just want to be able to help the Imperium and…” She blushed when she thought of what to say next.
“Oh, you have a crush on that boy Zachariel? You want to fight alongside him, right?” Hallvard teased her.
Lia covered her face while Hallvard laughed at her reaction. “You’ve got a long way with you girl!”
“What is leader talking about right now?” Asher was confused.
“A dense boy like you wouldn’t get it, Asher.” Florence mocked Asher.
“Dense, what do you mean by that?”
Florence rolled her eyes and ignored him.
“Oh, looks like Daniel and Zachariel have registered their match now. We’ll get to see some action soon. I hope that little kid won’t disappoint the Prospect title.”
She smirked because as far as she was concerned, Prospect candidates like Zachariel weren’t good enough for being her training partner, what’s more, an arena opponent.
Only the Prospects could make her go full battle in the arena.
“Lia, sorry! We’re late.” Luiz and the others have finally arrived. Luiz wore a brown blouse and leather pants.
“Huh, where’s Zachariel?” Luiz didn’t find Zachariel.
“Oh, he’s currently having a match with a senior fighter!” Lia said excitedly.
“Arena match? Hey, Lia, don’t tell me Zachariel went into trouble?” Luiz was worried.
“Don’t worry! He’s fighting against one of this senior’s member. They are good people!”
Luiz saw Hallvard and the other Lowthorn members.
“Ah, is that so?” Luiz scratched his head in embarrassment.
“Are these the classmates you’re about to train with later?” Hallvard asked Lia.
“Yes!”
“Hey kid, don’t worry. Your best friend is fine. Daniel is not the type to bully students, he just wants to have a spar with your friend.” Hallvard assured them.
Luiz and the others looked at each other.
“I guess we could only wait, Luiz. Iria, Kaela, and Ksenia are still not here anyway. We’ll watch Zachariel’s match then go train on the second floor after that.” Luka patted Luiz’s shoulders.
“Fine, we’ll do that. Are you guys fine with it?” Luiz asked his classmates.
“Oh yeah! I want to see how Zachariel fares on combat. It could probably help us improve if we could see him fight.” Teddy Brix went along with them.
Buvalu, Remko, and Tony were there and they nodded with approval as well.
“They’re starting now!” Lia was no longer in the mood to chat with them and excitedly stared at the magic screen above.
