Destroyer of Ice and Fire

"Teacher Carter, teacher Ciaran, now that I can condense arcane particles on my own, I'm a genuine arcane master now, right?"

Ayrin hopped nonstop for a while, then spread out his arms wide under the starry sky and asked his question to Carter and Ciaran.

"This guy, his stamina reserve is really not something someone ordinary can compare to. He doesn't look tired even after condensing arcane particles."

Carter exchanged a look with Ciaran. He couldn't resist smiling when seeing the expectant look in Ayrin's eyes. "That's right. You're a genuine arcane master now starting from today."

"Then you can teach me new arcane skills now, right?" Ayrin hopped in front of the two of them. "Teacher Carter, teacher Ciaran, if I can learn another couple powerful arcane skills, I'll definitely be even stronger in our matches, won't I?"

"I don't have anything else more suitable and more powerful than Evil Flaming Eye for a new arcane master with one arcane gate open. This guy Carter though, he still has an 'Ice Lament.'" A thought flashed in Ciaran's mind when she heard Ayrin. She turned her head around and looked at Carter.

"Don't be in a hurry. I'll naturally arrange for it when it's time to teach you new arcane skills." Carter actually shook his head, looking at Ayrin. "Your sole mission before the next match, if you accept, is to keep raising your pure strength as much as possible, keep raising your explosiveness!"

After a slight pause, Carter seriously said to Ayrin, "Before the next match approaches, I hope you can reach the level of shattering the ropes wrapping around seventeen huge wooden piles."

"I understand, teacher Carter." Ayrin brandished his fist without the slightest hesitation. "I'll definitely accomplish this mission!"

"Why did you arrange only pure strength training for him?" After Ayrin said his farewells and left, Ciaran walked with Carter in the dimness of the night and idly asked, "With his learning ability, it wouldn't be hard to perfectly grasp a new powerful arcane skill in a dozen days."

"I know." Carter chatted back, free and easy, "With his unusual talents… He's bound to be a mighty kaleidoscope-type arcane master in the future."

Ciara said, "What does kaleidoscope-type mean, I never heard this term before."

"Seen from Magic Crystal Academy's great master Ceau's 'An Analysis on Arcane Masters' Directions of Development,' volume three." Carter explained. "Kaleidoscope-type means someone with exceptional comprehension ability, who can learn an exceptional amount of arcane skills. Most importantly, someone who can build their advantage and suppress their opponents in battle through the sheer combination and variety of arcane skills. With Ayrin's learning capacity, he'll certainly learn more arcane skills than anyone else in the future, and he also has a very strong battle intuition, so he'll certainly walk the road of an arcane master of this type in the future. He'll overpower his opponents merely thanks to the combination of some arcane skills."

Ciaran smiled faintly, and said, "So that's why you think like me. You want to give him as much pressure as possible, right now you're deliberately preventing him from relying on the superiority of his arcane skills to overwhelm his opponents? Let his fights be harder, so that he can obtain more benefits and progress faster?"

"That's not it actually. In fact, my purpose and yours are essentially different. Apart from his growth, I most of all want to ensure that he, Chris, Moss, and the others can walk farther in the tournament, can rebuild our Holy Dawn Academy's bravery battle after battle." Carter also smiled and said, "That's why I deliberately let him blindly pursue pure strength and didn't even let him train his agility and dodging."

"I understand now." Ciaran breathed in lightly. "You want to give the opponents a wrong impression on purpose. You want them to find out his obvious weaknesses, you want them to think his strength is formidable, but his speed and agility are both very weak."

"That's right. By the time these opponents officially face him in the tournament, they'll find out he's definitely not someone with mere astounding innate strength, it's just that his speed, agility, arcane skills, and the rest haven't gone through particular training. Plus, Ayrin's progress in these areas will also…"

"Also thoroughly exceed their expectation. By that time, Ayrin's hidden facets will once again become the secret weapons to victory." Ciaran interrupted Carter. "That's why when a certain time comes, you'll make him stop training his strength single-mindedly, but let him train his speed and nimbleness and other areas instead."

"Right. After all, we'll be fighting outstanding teams in the national tournament." Carter said with some pride, "Moss' injury might be severe and he might miss a match or two, but with the addition of Stingham, merely with a team of Ayrin, Chris, and Stingham, what we have to think about now isn't how to qualify out of St. Lauren anymore, but how to preserve our secrets as much as possible and make these extraordinarily powerful teams in the national tournament perpetuate their misconceptions about us. Also, we still have yet another secret weapon stashed in the Huge Beasts Enclosure."

"Judging from what you're saying, you'll keep hiding Belo for the next match?" Ciaran smile grew a little sweeter. As she grew older, as she went through some experiences, she lost much of her enthusiasm for the tournament. Only the extremely rare genius characters in the tournament could attract her attention. But now the tournament seemed to have recovered its allure anew, and it made her full of expectation.

"If it's possible, I won't even let Stingham expose too much of his strength. After all, only team Golden Lion and team Iron Forest have a clear understanding about him. These opponents outside don't know much about him." Carter said, sighing with emotion, "If Ayrin can keep fighting beyond expectation in the next match, then people's scalp will go numb with shock when we make our entrance in the national tournament."

…

In an empty space in front of a body training gym inside Iron Forest Academy, six or seven great iron army cooking pots were set up, all sorts of vegetable soups and meats gurgling inside. The smell was thick enough to whet anyone's appetite.

The academy was the one putting the most emphasis on physical strength among the four great academies of St. Lauren, so the canteens in Iron Forest Academy always had been the best among these academies as well. And, as the team representing the academy's honor and its future, it had teachers in special charge of their meals every day after the end of their training.

These stews that looked very much like potpourri were also a specialty of Iron Forest Academy, with many meats and medicine extremely beneficial for the body added inside them.

At this moment, all the members of team Iron Forest circled around these iron pots. All of them waited for Ferguillo's command, then they could start digging in.

"Boss, something huge happened!" Someone shouted in alarm all of a sudden. Two male students of Iron Forest Academy with especially bulgy-looking muscles charged out of the shadows in the distance.

"Like there's anything huge that could happen." Wilde immediately made a contemptuous gesture at the two musclemen. "You just came to freeload our food just like last time."

"Something big really happened this time, we didn't come to eat for free." The two musclemen rushed in front of Ferguillo. First they respectfully called him boss, then they said, flustered and discomfited, "That Stingham transferred to Holy Dawn Academy. Golden Lion Academy directly forfeited!"

"What!"

The expressions on Wild and the others went through an abrupt change. All of them leaped to their feet.

"Keep calm." Only Ferguillo stayed calmly seated. He merely frowned a little and asked faintly, watching the two musclemen, "Let's hear it, what on earth happened?"

"It seems like Stingham transferred to Holy Dawn Academy because of some unknown agreement. Now he's already living in the Ivy district. The people in Golden Lion who showed a little prowess in the last tournament all graduated already. Only captain Hansen has some strength to speak of now. Their morale's totally gone now that Stingham's suddenly gone. Maybe Golden Lion Academy thinks it'll affect their school's reputation too much if they lose too tragically, so they used the pretext of some collective accident during training and directly threw in the towel. We also requested people to ask around after we heard the news about Golden Lion Academy's forfeit, then we learned it was originally because Stingham went to Holy Dawn Academy." The two musclemen explained in a confused gabble.

"Stingham was a freshman in Golden Lion Academy, and he never represented Golden Lion Academy in a formal match. According to the rules of the tournament, he can represent Holy Dawn Academy and fight as soon as the next match!" Wilde and the others turned ashen. "Since Golden Lion Academy gave up, we're next up against Holy Dawn Academy. Holy Dawn Academy must definitely have done something shady, they're targeting us on purpose!"

"No need to guess whether there's a conspiracy or not." Ferguillo swept his gaze across Wilde and the others. "The competition has rules, and everything was done within the rules of the tournament, so there's nothing unfair about it, and there's no need to complain whatever. Anyway, Stingham, Ayrin, or Chris, these are people we have met sooner or later."

Ferguillo's voice had always seemed to exert a special magic on these violent men. These violent men who were itching a few seconds ago to go out and fight calmed down completely. They sat down, a little embarrassed.

"Eat eat eat." Wilde blew on the hair covering half his face. "This match still comes down to a match between Chris and the boss."

"But Stingham…" The two musclemen who rushed here to spread the news were a little flabbergasted.

"Are you guys idiots. Sit down if you want to eat, beat it if you don't want to eat." Wilde gave the two of them a stare. "Don't tell me you guys really think that Stingham fought to a draw with our boss. The boss put up an act to confuse the opponent, don't tell me you fell for it just like that?"

"What you're saying is, the boss was only faking it that day and didn't go all out?" The two musclemen's eyes bulged all of a sudden.

"Why do you ask since you already know the answer. Just don't run your mouth off and spread it around." Two members of the school team both separately knocked the two musclemen on their heads.

"Got it!" The two musclemen sat down, overjoyed. They scrambled to grab a lunchbox and nab some food. They couldn't resist saying at the same time, "You guys don't get lazy just because the boss is strong though, you have to help him handle the rest of them."

"Shut your traps." Wilde narrowed his eyes. "Anyway, when the day comes, none of us other than the boss will leave the field still standing."