Cæ's training in the Borthwein body-casting mastery lasted about an hour, helping him gain a more intuitive mastery of Borthwein's movements and corresponding magic. He felt himself growing more and more familiar with the magic, allowing him to get closer and closer to perfectly activating it himself.

Eventually, it would allow him to master Borthwein entirely, allowing him to make progress with the martial magic corresponding with the light element, the first of the six martial magic styles that he intended to master.

An hour later, he emerged from the martial magic chamber once his training session was completed, heaving a tired breath.

It wasn't easy to train his martial magic; it required not just a lot of physical labour but also a lot of mental labour. Forming the connections between the corresponding eidos and the movements that he was making was not easy.

Of course, he didn't need to even bother, given that he had pure magic, making the job easy for him if he truly wanted to. A single exercise had been enough, and he intended to do a little more than the quickest that anybody had managed to master Borthwein.

This way, he could avoid wasting time with something that he didn't need while simultaneously protecting his status as a pure mage. It was a rough compromise that truly was the best that he was able to come up with, considering conflicting priorities that were of roughly equal importance.

"Huff…" he heaved a deep breath, gazing at the auburn evening sky, enjoying the chill winds after a long training session and the gentle warmth of the setting Sun.

He would have loved nothing more than to go to his dorm room and crash, falling asleep.

But alas, he had other work to do.

He glanced at the watch on his wrist before heading off to another combat facility in the magicademy in the senior section of the campus.

It was where the training session for the Capture The Flag team.

Cæ needed to train with them in case he lost to Virlyd, as agreed upon.

However, he wasn't exactly pleased about the arrangement.

It increased the amount of time that he needed to spend on training, and it proved to be an easier deal for Virlyd, who had already earned the ultimate risk from his peers.

Cæ was not eager to test whether he was able to command the same respect from the team of Capture The Flag as Virlyd would be able to.

The answer was obvious.

STEP

He arrived at the two giant glass doors with a sports bag in his hand.

Inside were fourteen members, having gathered in a group, already in a light sweat. At the very centre of the group was none other than Virlyd himself, speaking to the other seven players on the team that he was nominally leading, all of whom Cæ recognised.

The remaining individuals appeared to be older mages who had been selected by the magicademy to train the students in Capture The Flag. For such niche games, one needed to bring in specialists who had experience in the game, and the Elendir Institute of Magic had done exactly that for each of the niche sports.

CLACK

Cæ opened the door to the expansive combat facility, instantly drawing the attention of every single person.

Students and mages, engrossed in a discussion, turned to find themselves catching a glimpse of Cæ, studying him with varying expressions.

Some gazed at him with a hint of disdain and displeasure.

Others smiled at him friendlily.

Some regarded him with a neutral expression.

"Cæ," Virlyd remarked with a calm, composed tone. "Good to have you here. I've just concluded my first session, so you can get going immediately."

The two men exchanged a deep gaze before Cæ nodded.

"Will do."

Virlyd exchanged words of farewell with the team and the trainers before picking up his bag and leaving the combat facility, passing by Cæ with a light nod.

CLACK

Cæ watched him depart from the facility before turning towards the fifteen members in the vast combat facility.

STEP

STEP

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STEP

They simply stared at him in a deafening silence as his footsteps echoed across the facility. He simply dropped his bag to the side, along with the others, before heading to the group that continued gazing at him with varying expressions.

"Pleasure to meet all of you, again," Cæ began as his stormy grey eyes swept across each of them. "I look forward to working with you in the event that I lose my final battle against Virlyd."

His words evoked a reaction in several of them.

"Of course you're going to lose to him. Why did you frame it like there was any other possibility? Are you feeling full just because you won the final round? You wouldn't have lasted that long if not for us tiring him out and giving you time to complete your final spell."

Cæ turned towards the young man who had uttered those words.

His eyes were sharp and cold, with prominent bags under them, while his messy black hair fell down in the front, partially obstructing his vision. Yet, what stood out about him was the many chains that covered his entire body, wrapping him up in chain armour.

They had a silvery-bronze colour to them, the classic sign that they were made of orichalcum, a special metal that possessed mana-conductivity.

Cæ recognised him very well, of course.

He was Kyrell Singe, one of the seven finalists for the selection process for the Vertir Duel Competition. The cold displeasure on his face made it clear that he resented Cæ for winning the final round, defeating even Virlyd.

"I'm not full of myself," Cæ replied with a calm intensity, as stormy grey eyes bore deep into the depths of the Kyrell's dark eyes. "I simply stated the facts as they are in the resolution that the Student Council has come to."

Kyrell snorted at those words but didn't respond.

"To think that we will have to work with a slum mongrel like yourself when you eventually lose to Virlyd…" Miranda Mylwyne's tone was carefully measured and strangely formal. "What an unfortunate outcome."

Her tone was pleasant, yet her words were venomous.

She gazed at him with a hint of mirthful contempt.

He didn't even need to study her professionally groomed hair curls or the hand-fan that she carried around, covering her venomous smile from him. He already knew from the data that Serulia had collected for him that she came from an affluent family, which reflected in her affluent bearing.

"Is there any part of my background that affects my membership in this team, Miss Miranda Walyn?" Cæ directed a chilling gaze at her.

The air grew tense at his direct confrontation.

She sharpened her poisonous purple eyes with a hint of displeasure, sweeping a tuft of her golden hair behind her ear. "I simply question your competence and whether you truly belong in this team. The Student Council simply plucked you and placed you in the Capture The Flag without having gone through the proper competitive process."

Cæ huffed lightly at her words. "I do recall going through the competitive process. A process that I emerged victorious in. Would you rather the Student Council have simply accepted me as the representative of our magicademy?"

She stiffened at those words.

It was clear that she would hate him being selected because she didn't think he was worthy of it compared to Virlyd, but also because she didn't like the fact that he had won the battle at all.

Cæ simply huffed lightly, turning away from her to the others.

His reputation in the magicademy was generally good among affluent female students, simply because they had begun to garner a strange… interest in him in their juvenile infatuation. But there were those who still harboured contempt for him based on his background.

Of course, there were also those who had come to genuinely respect and admire him regardless.

"Cæ."

Her voice was gentle while her tone was friendly.

She smiled at him sincerely as she stepped forward, extending a hand to him.

"Welcome to the team."

A small smile uncharacteristically emerged on Cæ's face just the briefest of moments, disappearing as quickly as it came as he shook her hand.

"Thank you, I look forward to working with you."

Her light blue eyes lit up. "When I heard that you might join the Capture The Flag team as the eighth member, I was definitely pleased. After all…"

She threw an angry glare at Miranda Walyn.

"…you are an excellent mage."

Miranda snorted wordlessly, unwilling to pick a fight with the heir of the Vritra Family. While her family was quite affluent, it didn't compare to a family that controlled a portion of an entire country, even if it was much smaller than Elendir.

"Your background does not matter to me, but I do object to your presence nonetheless."

Cæ turned towards the young man who had spoken up.

The young man was absorbed in a book even as he addressed Cæ, never once taking his eyes off it. He shifted his thick, circular glasses even as he continued studying the leather-bound books with runes and magic circles inscribed on them.

Cæ recognised him, of course.

He was Dranst, one of the seven finalists of the combat selection process. Cæ recalled reading his powerful long-range magic with minimal delay thanks to the grimoire in his hands containing all the magic circles he would use, allowing him to skip out on having to cast the circles midair to trigger an eidos in his mind.

He had put a lot of pressure on Virlyd early in the battle.

Cæ could see why he had been chosen as a part of the Capture The Flag team with his excellent skills.

"You take issue with my skill, even though I made it as one of the seven finalists and even won?" Cæ raised an eyebrow.

The man finally shifted his sharp eyes to Cæ.

"You have only spent a single year learning magic. You have yet to master the Fundamental Form of Automation," Dranst pointed out with an unfriendly tone. "Your combat prowess is impressive, but Capture The Flag isn't exclusively about combat. It will test your magic mastery and diversity."

"I have registered for a lot of courses this year," Cæ replied calmly. "By the time I'm done, I will have gotten my hands on a lot of diversity. And even if combat isn't a complete overlap with Capture The Flag, it is certainly an important element of the sport, especially the magic version of it. There is no doubt that I will be an invaluable part of the team."

"That remains to be seen." Dranst huffed, returning his attention to his grimoire.

"I personally think that you will be a great member on our team, Mr. Cæ," Seol Gordnt, the remaining member of the seven finalists, smiled at Cæ good-naturedly.

He didn't leave a strong impression in his presence or his performance, as he was the first one to be eliminated in the final round, but he was, without a doubt, one of the strongest students in the magicademy, even if much, much more ordinary compared to many other students on the team.

"Is there anybody else who has a problem with me being on the team?" Cæ raised an eye, sweeping his gaze across the remaining few members of the team, before his eyes stopped at one particular member.

Silian Sylvester.

The adolescent gazed at Cæ with sharp eyes, yet he remained silent at the question, simply closing his eyes and turning away.

"…Good to know," Cæ remarked, heaving a deep breath.

Compared to the respect that they gave Virlyd, his position within the team was off to a much worse start.

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