On Earth, Nick always steered clear of the few people who had earned reputations as powerhouses in the magical circles. Not necessarily because he doubted he could plot his way to victory with enough time, but simply because it was a risk not worth taking.

Though mana was thin by the time he died, a few old families possessed enough relics and artifacts to support powerful mages, and his grandfather always advised him to choose his battles wisely.

To Old Nick, voluntarily facing a duel with a mage who could reshape the environment to his will and had nearly ten times his mana would have been madness.

To the current Nick, it was just an opportunity to push himself further, and it was exactly what he'd been looking for.

The clearing rumbled as Battera extended his mana, the Tower's dimensional spell allowing him to interact with the natural world as if it were truly there.

I have never fought a druid this powerful, but the fae got pretty close. I guess I should stick to the same tactics and just deny him his connection.

Just as the trees began to uproot themselves and the grass started growing and thickening in preparation for a full-scale attack, Nick began establishing the new laws of the land.

A [Vacuum Sphere] suddenly appeared between the two mages, formed too quickly to cause significant damage to a Prestige class, but still strong enough to destroy any nearby plant life.

Nick used the brief reprieve to create a series of shields around himself, repurposing the strong gales released by his spell to form a powerful [Wind Armor], which he then layered with several other magics.

The ground split beneath his feet, a crack widening as rocks and dirt erupted upward, pinging off his shields but causing little real damage.

Nick remained exactly where he was, anchored by his mastery over the air, and launched a hail of [Jet Streams], sending them out to test the old druid's defenses.

Green flashed as a translucent, elephant-sized totem appeared around Battera, its carved eyes disdainfully gazing down at him as it interrupted his magic.

For a moment, Nick felt an incredible pressure, but it quickly disappeared as [Blasphemy] rejected any attempt to deny him his spells.

He smirked and zipped away just fast enough to dodge the swipe of the summoned bear that had charged at him while his focus was on the apparition.

If I weren't so familiar with divine power by now, I would have thought Battera had summoned an avatar, but luckily, I can tell it's a very different thing.

Just before he could reach his intended destination, a beam of sunlight cut through the dust cloud that was refusing to settle in the middle of the clearing and slammed into his shields, cracking several and sending him flying back several feet from the impact alone.

Nick didn't let that successful hit distract him from the gathering mass he sensed somewhere to his left; instead, he sent a barrage of annoyance-fueled [Spirit Blasts] toward its source, aiming to undermine the spell's stability.

A soft sound of surprise reached his ears just before the spells hit true, and a wide grin spread across his face. Yeah, didn't expect me to use spiritual magic so directly after I showed you [Daydream], huh?

Unfortunately, the barrage wasn't enough to fully disrupt the magic Battera had prepared, and soon, Nick was being swarmed from all directions, as insects the size of his fist flew at him with murder in their minds.

Of course, none of them could hope to reach him, but he could guess that wasn't the old man's purpose for creating them. He should have known they would be ineffective after he tanked the solar beam, which meant this was just another distraction.

Spreading his senses around the messy clearing, Nick had to filter out the multiple sources of excitement that were the observers, which forced him to slow down.

Where is he? Damn, this is frustrating. I haven't lost track of anyone in a fight in so long that I don't know what to do.

Xander's words echoed in his mind, and he had to privately admit that perhaps the old swordsman had a point that he relied too much on his mystical senses.

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Still, just because he couldn't find Battera, it didn't mean he had to stay passive, so Nick crafted several more [Vacuum Spheres], letting the howling winds build around him and disrupt the insects' flight, until he finally sensed something emerge from a tree behind him.

"Found you," he muttered, and unleashed hell. Three [Vacuum Spheres] exploding simultaneously were more than he had used against any enemy he didn't want to instantly obliterate, but he trusted the old man to pull through.

As it turned out, he didn't have to worry because instead of absorbing the hits, Battera simply disappeared again, leaving the poor tree he had used as transportation to take all the howling rage Nick had unleashed.

At the same time, the insects that had been unsuccessfully battering his shields paused for a moment, long enough to tell Nick that something was about to happen, before they began exploding.

It happened so suddenly that he barely had time to strengthen his suite of defensive magics. The living bombs relentlessly struck, always targeting the weakest points in his spells, forcing him to expend more mana to keep them intact. Eventually, he had to give up layer after layer of his defenses.

By the time the swarm was extinguished, Nick was down to his [Wind Armor] alone and gasping for air. His reserves had been severely strained, and he was forced to make the tough decision to sacrifice more shields than he wanted to avoid being left powerless after the attack ended.

That decision proved to be right because when the last insect's charred corpse fell, he saw Battera materialize on the other side of the clearing and decided that if the old man wanted to play with danger, he'd oblige.

[One with the Storm] lent his [Lightning Bolt] enough power to create a crackling corona, and Nick eagerly took advantage of the countless dust particles stirred up by the numerous explosions, covering the ground between himself and his opponent in a flash. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novel-fire.ɴet

His spell roared with all the frustration he could feed it, turning a sickly yellow that showed it wasn't entirely elemental anymore, but at that moment, he couldn't care less.

His wrath struck true, but the green totem appeared again just before the old man could be fried to a crisp, absorbing the attack without a single ripple, grounding the electrical charge and simply enduring the spiritual effects.

By the time it was over, Nick was left panting and mentally drained. He could keep going if necessary, as he'd conserved enough mana for at least another round, but it would be pointless. Unless he was willing to bring out the big guns and unleash every ofuda he had prepared to buy himself time to set up a ritual, he wouldn't make any more progress than he already had.

It seemed that Battera had reached the same conclusion, because as soon as the totem disappeared, he started clapping, and the sound sent ripples through the air that dissipated the dust.

"Bravo!" The old man called, genuinely impressed by the sound of it.

With a sigh, Nick drifted down, dismissing his [Wind Armor] only when he was close enough to see that Battera had put down his staff and his posture had relaxed.

"I got a bit too involved there at the end," he muttered, annoyed with himself. Yes, fighting against an endless swarm reminded him a little too much of the crackler nests in the grassland, and the addition of the kamikaze spell definitely didn't make it any more pleasant, but this was still a test. He should have kept his focus more on the target.

"Oh, I would be surprised if you weren't a bit of a hothead, to have reached such power so young. Truly, young Nicholas, I am impressed. I know only of a handful of people who could pull off such a feat even before they entered the tower, and most of them were several years older than you are now."

The praise made him feel a little better about his performance, and he had to come to terms with the fact that he never really had a chance from the start.

The gap wasn't necessarily as big as with Xander, where he might as well have been a gnat, but Battera was still a Prestige mage. Honestly, he'd done well considering he hadn't been able to use his more dangerous skills.

Maybe using [Vitality Drain] could have helped me interrupt the insect attack before it could get going. Or it might have stopped his constant teleporting between trees. But that skill isn't something to show off easily. I think I did well by keeping it hidden. At least I got a new version of [Lightning Bolt] out of it.

The System, it seemed, agreed with him.

That wasn't too bad. Developing new spells probably wouldn't get him to the next level anytime soon, but each new piece of magic was something he could use during his next hunt. He just hoped that when the time came, he'd be able to fight something more rewarding than what the grassland had to offer.

"You were quite good as well," he finally remembered to say, "The exploding insects almost had me, and the totem you used to shield didn't even flinch when it tanked my attacks."

His voice grew dangerously close to whining by the end, but he couldn't help it. Battera hadn't used any Prestige-tier magic, yet he walked away with nary a scuff on his robes, while Nick was sweaty, cranky, and nearly out of mana.

"Ha!" A new voice called, "Hear that, old man? The kid thought he could make you sweat for it! You must really have fallen low."

The newcomer was easy to identify as one of the hidden observers from his signature, but Nick still had to fake a start of surprise at his appearance. It wouldn't do to let them know I could sense them.

The truly outrageous imperial mustache he was sporting was enough to turn heads, but along with the monocle, top hat, cane, and white gloves, this man looked like he was ready to pull bunnies out of his hat.

He was also at least as powerful as Battera, meaning he was a Prestige-tier mage who could easily crush Nick, so he nodded respectfully despite having many thoughts about his attire.

"It is the privilege of youth to think they will surpass the old. It is the prerogative of the old to remind them of their place," a third voice added, this one a woman in psychedelic red, purple, yellow, and blue robes that would have looked like a bad tie-dye job if it wasn't for the extremely detailed fractal work on them.

Nick looked at the proctor for help and found Battera looking mildly annoyed. "You leeches couldn't even wait for me to send him off? You know that it's Tower policy to wait for the official results before offering an apprenticeship."

"Why," the magician said, pressing a gloved hand to his chest as if he were deeply offended, "I would never break protocol! I was just passing by for a chat and happened to see part of this test and thought it was a good idea to make myself known to our young prospect here!"

Without waiting for a response, he then turned to Nick and offered his hand for a handshake. "Pleasure to meet you, Mister Crowley. My name is Edgar Pollen Shoe, and I am a Master of Dimensional Magic here at the Tower."

"Hey!" The woman called, marching over to grab Nick's other hand. "Don't hog him all to yourself." Then she turned to Nick, and her expression smoothed out into a friendly smile. "It is wonderful to meet you, young Nicholas. I am Simeona Angel, Mistress of Light Magics."

Nick smiled at both of them. Let the bloodsport begin.