Chapter 60: Initial Success The second set of battles finished and the third set started immediately. Reynolds was part of the third set. As long as he didn’t meet an opponent in the Eighth stage of the Arcane Plane, his chances of victory were high if his opponent is in the Seventh stage. Luckily, his opponent was a Water Elementalist in the Seventh stage of the Arcane Plane. They fought for a couple of minutes before Reynolds got the upper hand. His opponent tried everything he could to reverse the situation, but the moment he allowed Reynolds to gain the upper hand, he lost the match. Another two minutes passed before he finally gave up. He sighed while leaving the platform, his dream of participating in the competition was over. Reynolds walked down from the platform with a smile on his face. He’s currently one step closer to earning a spot. The last set of battles soon started, there was only one battle taking place since twelve had already been fought over the last three sets. The battle didn’t last long, it ended with a victory for the student in the Eighth stage of the Arcane Plane. After the last battle ended, the instructor walked towards the center of the platform. He called all the students who successfully advanced to the last round. “Since we have fourteen participants and there are only eleven spots, the last round will be different from the previous ones,” The instructor said in a clear and calm voice. “We would be using a ranking system to determine the final eleven students. Each student will have to battle with the rest thirteen students and the number of wins you acquire will determine your rank” He explained further. Conversations immediately started amongst the participants, with this new system, they wouldn’t have a problem even if they lost. It was good news for the remaining few students in the Eighth stage of the Arcane Plane. Grey felt excited about this, with this new system, he would be able to battle with each of the students at the Eighth stage of the Arcane Plane. Currently, there were only seven students at the Eight stage of the Arcane Plane. There were two, in particular, he really wanted to battle with, they were the ones he felt were the strongest amongst the participants. Including Grey, there were six participants in the Seventh stage of the Arcane Plane. Klaus was the only one who was on the Sixth stage, and this made him stand out from the rest. Having the weakest stage amongst them, the chances of him qualifying was not good. But they wouldn’t write him off yet. Surprisingly, Klaus had only fought just one battle in the three rounds which took place. From the strength he displayed when he defeated his opponent, he had a shot at getting a spot. The instructor brought out the box as usual which had fourteen plaques inside, numbered accordingly. The students all stepped forward to pick a plaque. “Each student will get to fight four battles each day. This round will last for four days” The instructor told them the rules of the round. “Now go home and rest properly, tomorrow the fourth round begins” The instructor left after this statement. The participants all nodded their heads before turning to also take their leave. Grey was about to step off the platform when he saw Damian staring at him, he nodded as a way of greeting. Damian did the same before walking off the platform. “Seems like he has his eyes on you” Klaus didn’t miss the little exchange between Grey and Damian. “He’s not that bad, his grade is most likely blue” Grey replied after giving it some thought. “Yeah, but he’s too…, hum…, how should I put it…” Klaus thought of the right word to use. “Moody?” Reynolds joined in the conversation. “Yes, that’s the word. He’s too moody” Klaus said. “You don’t expect everyone to be like you right?” Grey raised a brow. “How can you live a life that isn’t fun?” asked Klaus. “You can’t,” Reynolds said firmly. “You see, even Rey understands the importance of fun,” Klaus said pointing at Reynolds. “Bastard, what’s that supposed to mean?” Reynolds cursed out on hearing Klaus’s remark. Reynolds and Klaus immediately got into a heated cursing episode. The surrounding students all looked at them with weird eyes, Grey tried creating some space between them, so others wouldn’t think he was with them. “And where do you think you’re going?” Klaus called out to Grey when he saw him creating a distance between them. “Fu*k” Grey cursed. And soon, the two-man cursing team turned into a three-man team. In the midst of cursing, they managed to walk back to their seats. On seeing the boys acting this way, Alice couldn’t help but giggle. Being with them, especially Klaus was always fun. There was rarely a dull moment in his life. After leaving the group, Grey headed towards the valley for his training. He was a little bit more experienced about it and knew he shouldn’t try it all through the day. It wouldn’t be great if he was exhausted before his battle. On his way to the valley, he passed through the place the blast occurred. The trees were all destroyed, after the blast. Grey didn’t come back to the main spot it exploded, so he didn’t know the extent of the damage. Seeing the damage it made, he took in a deep breath. He still felt lingering fear towards the orb that exploded. The blast would have surely taken his life had he been close to it. He smiled wryly when he thought of it before walking towards the valley. When he entered the valley, a huge shadow suddenly launched towards him. “Brown” Grey called out on seeing the shadow. He placed his hand on the body of the Griffin, his fingers ran through the hair on the neck of Brown before reaching the fur on the body. ‘What a magnificent creature’ Grey was awed by the Griffin. When he went in, Chris was not in the valley. He guessed he must have gone out, this was not the first time he comes and didn’t find him in the valley. Sometimes even after his training, Chris still wouldn’t have returned. Grey still prepared the meal since Brown was waiting patiently for it. When he was done with eating, he immediately started his training. He could feel he would be able to inscribe soon. He hoped to successfully learn to inscribe before he heads to the competition, which would give him a trump card when battling with those at the Ninth stage. Grey calmed himself and focused on making the inscription midair. After some time, a symbol suddenly lit up in the air, but it died down just as quickly. Grey was exhilarated by the initial success, this shows he wasn’t far from it. Maybe he could even succeed today or the next. He continued his training, and sometimes he would be able to get the symbol to last longer, while other times he wouldn’t be able to make it appear at all.