TBATE - Havaca Rises

Chapter 20 - Suffering from Success

"3, 2, 1, GO!" Kaspian shouted.

[Thunderclap Impulse]

In a fraction of a second, both Kaspian and I were clashing our blades in the center of the arena with several large cracks appearing beneath us. Freyja hissed in anger as I refused to let her slice through Kaspian's inferior rapier. Backing off we both circled each other looking for an opening and moving in sync we clashed our blades repeatedly until I got the chance to kick Kaspian in the gut, sending him flying to the edge of the arena. Shock apparent on his face as he coughed up blood, "I must say, no first-timer has ever managed to harm an examiner in the history of the adventurer's guild but you did, not only that it wasn't a mere scratch but a kick strong enough to cause internal damage," Kaspian said. "Ready yourself Havaca, I will now test your limits," he said pointing his rapier at me.

Sensing Kaspian was gathering wind mana at the sole of his feet I nodded and prepared my mana zone. As he began to charge towards me, I coated the ground with ice and shot icicles in front of him, slowing down the formation speed so that Kaspian could react to it. Following his instinct, Kaspian barrel rolled to the side narrowly avoiding the spikes, while launching dozens of air bullets my way. I instantly summoned a thick wall of ice to block his attack and then swiftly repositioned myself to dodge his blade from behind. Kaspian quickly reoriented himself mid-air and landed deftly on the ground preparing to charge at me once more, unfortunately for him, his feet were entangled in thorny vines made of ice. Even if he were to break free the frostbite and blood loss would no doubt hamper his ability to fight. Not wanting to give the guild master any time to recover, I quickly dashed at him, slicing his rapier in half and drawing a stream of crimson from his neck. Freyja hummed in delight as everyone watching was dead silent, processing what just happened.

Using fire, I melted the ice and took Kaspian over my shoulder, carrying him towards the still stunned emitters. Minutes later everyone was still waiting on the verdict from the guild master as he and the other examiners fervently discussed my performance. "As you all know 15% of all adventurers are A rank, 8% are AA rank and 1% are S rank. A rank is the highest rank one can attain from a rank examination, however, Havaca was able to over-power and dominate me, an AA rank adventurer. For this reason, we think that is a testament to his strength and makes him deserving of at least AA rank," Kaspian announced. Following Kaspian back into his office he handed a golden identification tablet with my info engraved on it. "Mr. Havaca, you can now take the test to become S rank. You have to solo clear 5 A rank dungeons, 3 AA rank dungeons, and 1 S rank dungeon," he said.

Giving him a curt nod, I took my leave and headed straight to the teleportation gate. Thanks to Iris, this world now has access to social media and it seems that word my exam has already started to spread. Reaching the portal, I held up my id tablet and release some pressure as the guard was about to accuse me of stealing it. Entering the beast glades, I saw the same poor bloke chasing a skunk-looking mana beast, feeling pity for the guy I easily impaled his target with an ice kunai before taking off deeper into the glades. After finding a suitable spot I made a spatial barrier that if someone saw it, I would look like a cluster of trees and if you were to walk through it, you'll get teleported to the other side instead of actually going through it. Once satisfied with my work I sent Regis out to hunt and called for Sylvie to transform.

While in her fox form Sylvie has access to some magic but due to her size, I couldn't find anywhere in Xyrus to train her in dragon form. "Man, you've gotten so big, I'm starting to think you could be S class just with brute strength and the durability of your scales. For the next two weeks, I'm going to train you, I'll teach you how to make infinite spinning mana arrows, dragon' stomp, dragon's breath, and some other spells based on your affinities. You have affinities for fire, lightning, wind, earth, and gravity," I said as I began thinking of a training regimen.