Master Hector gave the signal for the youths to start.
Immediately, Melissa saw that in the arena, a barrage of two Wind Blades were making their way towards her.
She could intercept them with her one offensive spell, but she had limited mana, she could only dodge through the blind spot the two Wind Blades created.
The two Wind Blades covered the center and right side of the arena, she saw through a gap within them, she could go left, but that she wasn't sure if she could dodge in time.
Olsen fired two more Wind Blades at her, this time covering the blind spot, at this point even if Melissa wanted to risk it and tried to head left, where the Wind Blades weren't as crowded, she was too far, and already wasted time preparing herself to evade the first two incoming attacks.
The Wind Blades approached fast, two came up front followed by one that was step behind, due to the width of the arena, she could narrowly dodge the sharp blades, but it was too risky.
With no other option, she counterattacked, with her own Wind Blades, releasing them vertically so that they could collide with her opponent's spell.
Whooo
The soft sound of two Wind Blades striking each other rang out, in an effort to save her mana she only used one Wind Blade. She wanted for her opponent to waste his mana, whilst she saved up hers.
Swoosh Swoosh
The sound of the crescent Wind Blades crept closer to Melissa.
Olsen hadn't stopped just yet, as Melissa was defending herself, Olsen came at a closer distance, not too close, he wanted for the Wind Blades to approach at a faster rate.
Seeing the incoming attack, Melissa quickly activated two of her Wind Blades to counterattack him. Olsen casted his spell in a simultaneous manner, one Wind Blade following the other.
She didn't have enough time to dodge the quick blades, she could only defend with her offensive.
"This is very bad, due to his oppressive attack I'm now rendered to a passive state!" Melissa grasped her situation, he was pressuring her greatly leaving her with no other option than to keep up with his attacks, exhausting was little mana she had to begin with.
Whilst the blades approached, Olsen threw two more, at an angle, as he got one step closer, he was now about eight steps close to her.
Melissa, perceiving this, hurriedly casted a Wind Blade.
But it was too late, she could only defend against one of Olsen's Wind Blades, one of the blades sliced onto her abdomen.
"Cunning bastard." Melissa cursed him, she had seen how he had casted at an angle, but her reaction wasn't as fast, resulting in her bloody injury.
Due to her reflex she looked down, it was the first time she had been injured to such an extent, she subconsciously wanted to place her hand in order to stop the blood flow, this sequence of events distracted her from the fight, due to her limited combat experience.
Swoosh
Another Wind Blade rang out, shortly after it left a slicing wound that spread across Melissa's chest.
Melissa groaned from the pain, clenching her teeth.
She had been utterly defeated.
"This is my loss, Brother Olsen's techniques are too good." Melissa kneeled, as she covered her bloody wounds.
"Haha, Friend Melissa's performance wasn't so bad either, I enjoyed sparring." Olsen happily replied, as he extended a hand towards the bloody girl in front of him.
He was now in a good mood, now that he had washed the stain that Melissa gave him, and for her to tell him that his performance was excellent bumped his mood even higher.
He wasn't overly happy, for he had injured what was in his eyes a young lass.
"Pity that she's from the Fangs…" Olsen looked at her with mixed feelings.
Melissa wanted to curse him, for choosing her as his sparring partner, it wasn't simply fair!
He had much more mana than her, for him defeating her was very simple, but he had still done so.
"If you weren't from a good background I would've cursed your three generations! Don't you have some dignity so as to not bully the weak?" Melissa added in her heart, but outwardly she smiled, at the evildoer who stretched his hands.
She would've much rather sparred with someone who had about the same mana as her, that way she could actually practice with classmates at her same level.
"Brother Olsen is truly kind hearted." Melissa said, buttering him up.
"This is like him killing my mother, then providing help during my emotionally collapsed state, then me saying thank you for doing so." Melissa ridiculed the situation in her mind.
Although she knew it was coming, the resulting situation still left her with a sour taste.
She accepted his hand, and headed towards Master Lithia.
The rest of the matches had already ended.
Master Hector supervised the matches, most of them would result in the same thing, a battle of Wind Blades. Ultimately resulting in one would get injured, as a result of exhausting their mana, or being hit at an angle, sometimes both opponents would come out injured.
Few battles would play out differently, due to students' heart spelling different spells, but few did, after all, the most popular spell within the classmates was Wind Blade. Master Hector knew that as the students progressed and gained access to new spells, their battles would play out differently, but for now these youngsters were seedlings, it was good to get them used to battling other magicians, even if it amounted to who could throw Wind Blades and win the fastest.
…
The matches came and went.
The most notable was the battle between Saro and another youth.
"Friend, I've already won." Saro said to his opponent.
"Huh?" His opponent looked for a little bit, before realizing that his left foot had stepped out of the stage.
Saro had used the Wind Wall and managed to push him off the stage.
"I see, you heart spelled Wind Wall, rendering my Wind Blades useless." The youth had low mana so he tried his best to save up on his spells, but Saro had rendered them useless, ultimately approaching him, and making him pass the red chalk.
…
Altogether the matches came to an end, but there was one lad who hadn't sparred at all!
It was the unlucky fellow, the one who was the odd one out in the proficiency test, the one who handed the papers to the students, and now yet again the odd one out.
"Master Hector seemed to forget about me…" He slowly muttered under his breath.
He was so unassuming that even the teacher had escaped his existence.
He sighed: "Should I even bother?" He looked down. "Maybe my luck isn't too bad, and I'm actually lucky since I won't get injured?" He thought as he looked at the stone ground.
But then he realized and thought, "Wait, isn't this an opportunity for me to gain experience, maybe I'll shock the world with my talents!" He looked up, now with eagerness to tell Master Hector of his lack of participation.
But it was too late, the mortals on the side were cleaning the stages up, not even leaving the chalk in place, his classmates were already exiting the private section of the student grounds.
He looked down once again, "Maybe not… I changed into these sparring clothes for nothing…"
Although the time spent in the academy was short, Master Hector dismissed the class. It was better if they digested the results of their matches and practiced accordingly. He had strongly encouraged them to keep on training at the student grounds to further their skills, perhaps even some might begin sparring in their free time, these habits were important to instill into them when young.
…
Sarina's room
The sun shone upon the window, unfortunately for the sun, it could not display all its might as curtains covered the window, only a slight amount of sunlight penetrated the room.
The sunlight slightly shone on Sarina's body, she was now wearing her white nightgown, despite it being daybreak, she didn't need to switch to her maid outfit.
Sarina smiled, she widened her arms and legs, as if she were to make a snow angel in the bed itself, the white bed cover furrowed at her movements.
"With this everything is finally set, my luck truly is abysmal, being a mortal girl in a clan in the outskirts."
Mortals in big cities in the kingdoms had it in some terms better than others who were born in a clan village, although their lives were cattle, they wouldn't be openly executed if they were to somehow step into the world of magicians.
"No matter, I must persevere." Sarina dismissed such mundane thoughts, as she closed her eyes, as of now she was completely healed.
From the poisoning incident she had gained three mana stones, Sarina scoffed at the amount given, for a mortal such an amount was quite a fortune, equaling to months of pay, but for her it was chump change, but nonetheless graciously took on the stones.
"Maybe if I acted more pathetically they would have pitied me more." Sarina thought, with her savings and added bonus she had enough mana stones in theory to awaken her fissure. In total she held four mana stones and seven pieces, making it almost a complete total of five. That was quite some for a mortal like her, in terms of currency she should be one of the richest mortals in the whole estate.
Unfortunately, she still needed heaven's acknowledgement in order to awaken her fissure, which gave her a slight headache. She had already planned for that, but the plan wouldn't be realized until summer.
Sarina when she first regressed from her past life thought about renouncing her position as a maid, but she saw the many benefits this provided, safety, income, and housing. Although it came with restrictions it wasn't without its benefits. It wasn't like her to act without thinking, now being back into the Spring Clan she had her own plans for the Fangs.
"These people have quite a fortune in their hands amassed." Sarina saw the Fangs as gatekeepers to treasure, which she was most eager to get her hands on.
Knock knock
Sarina turned her head towards the noise that was made at her door.
"You can come in."
The door opened, and two guests welcomed themselves into Sarina's humble abode.
Kylina and Lisa.
They had visited her many times, sometimes to chat during their free time, others to ask how she was doing, and to give her the meals of the day. It wasn't just them, even the young masters and the young missy would pay a visit.
Kylina welcomed herself whilst carrying a bed tray that atop welcomed a bowl that contained some sort of soup, with vegetables floating atop. Lisa carried a porcelain white plate that had slices of bread spread with jam and fruits. Undoubtedly, they had come to give Sarina her meal.
"Ha, thank you guys, without you, I would've died of malnutrition." Sarina thanked her two friends.
"No worries, we had to give this treatment to the Matron too." Kylina casually explained, whilst placing the bed tray in Sarina's bed.
Sarina spoke with her voice tinged with worry: "Yes, the Matron, I was so caught up with my situation that I forgot to give her my sincerest wishes of recuperation towards her."
Lisa accommodated the plate in her hands into the bed tray that Kylina had adjusted. "The Matron is doing just fine as of now, she is feeling even more motivated now. It seems the whole situation has changed her, she now seems more kind…?" Lisa at the end spoke as if she didn't even believe herself. She deliberately watched her words and did not mention the word 'poison'. She didn't want her friend to think back at the traumatic event.
Little did Lisa know that she was talking to the culprit herself, who had feigned victimhood.
Kylina nodded rapidly, adding on: "She asked us how we were feeling and doing, let me tell you when I heard those words, I thought our lovely Matron had been replaced by someone! Truly heaven breaking. Despite our concerns, she started to work this morning, which alleviated our pressure greatly."
When humans go through a life and death situation, they tend to reflect back into their past, view their actions in a new light, as if being in third person.
The Matron had realized her aloofness and coldness to the young ones who were directly under her. Her perception and attitude towards life did a complete spin in her personality. Perhaps, dying as she was, would've left her with many thorns in her heart, completely revamping her values.
Sarina exhaled as if washing away all her worry: "The Matron seems to be doing excellent, the household has become livelier I see." After speaking, she then looked at her meal, and grabbed a spoon to eat away at the soup.
Kylina asked: "How are you feeling?"
Sarina looked in her direction and replied, "To be honest, I'm in great condition, that master doctor treatment was wondrous, right now I feel a bit bad to be pampered by the two of you, especially when the Matron has resumed her duties."
Lisa shook her head: "She's a woman of experience, and you are too fragile, you can't compare yourself to her, give yourself a few more days of rest, to not just physically, but to mentally prepare also." Lisa gave her thoughts, she wasn't too concerned about her physical condition, but her mental, perhaps the situation had given Sarina mental scars tied to her maid duties.
"Okay okay, just a few more days." Sarina complied with her senior maid.
Kylina smiled: "Good, we need you in perfect shape, don't push yourself too hard."
The two maids and the out-of-commission maid chatted some more. Until Kylina and Lisa had to attend to more duties during the house.
It had been two days since the whole situation. During this time, Sarina stayed in her room resting peacefully, as if she was a princess, being taken care of by everybody.
Throughout the duration, Sarina relaxed herself, something that in her past life she had little of, she was constantly being pursued, once she had become a prominent demonic figure during the begging letter half of her life, the righteous pursued her, and by then end of her life, due to the whisperings of the Lincoln kingdom the region moved in search of her, after obtaining the inheritance of a Sovereign, it was only until the end that she managed to learn the spell and use it, whilst she fought the Law Immortals of the Lincoln Kingdom.
…
The sun departed, its celestial body half across the horizon line, dimming the sky in a crimson tone that affected the whole Verdant Great Plains.
Evening had come, and the dutiful maids prepared dinner for the household, busying themselves in the kitchen.
Sarina, still in her white nightgown that covered her body, and the extremely ugly leather slippers, walked out of her room.
Closing the door, she surveyed the area, she sensed the sounds and the smells of bread, poultry and other various scents that intertwined lingered in the air. Occasionally, she would hear one of the maids call out to another.
She looked opposite to the kitchen, looking at the main hall and past that, the domestic hall.
Once she observed that nobody was near, she made her way to a certain room that wasn't far from her own.
Kylina's room.
Grasping the handle, she turned it, opening the door that separated the corridor and the room itself. She swiftly and quietly made her way to her bed, and placed a letter.
In the front of the letter it read: "For Kylina."