The tremors underfoot kept building. They held their breath, eyes locked on the several holes hidden in the grass.

One rune stone, not seated firmly, rattled loose and rolled down the slope. The next second a massive brown rat shot out—spines flaring until it looked like a giant sea urchin.

"What a huge rat!" Jack yelled.

An adult Needle-Spined Rodent reached two meters nose to tail; even without the tail its body was a meter twenty. Raised spines—twenty centimeters—could punch right through tender human flesh.

Spooked by the smoke, it was fiercer than usual. It squealed while bolting, then halfway stopped as it caught human scent. Saliva stretched in strings from beneath two big yellow buck teeth.

This one had fled fast—hadn't inhaled much smoke—its sense of smell still sharp.

Whiskers quivering as it parsed the odors, it suddenly lunged—straight for the nearest target: Gladys below.

"Gladys, careful!"

Before Luo Wei finished, steel rang—Gladys's sword crashed against its skull.

Sparks spat where edge met spines. She'd used seventy percent strength; the rodent was untouched.

"Screee—"

Enraged, it gaped a fetid mouth crammed with dense sharp molars. Spines shivered; it levered her blade aside and surged at her.

Gladys's eyes lit. She slid back two quick steps, turned her wrist in a flourish, set her stance, then drove a thrust straight into its mouth.

"Skik!"

A short, sharp cry. It staggered, trying to recoil.

Gladys stepped in, shoved the blade deeper. Before the great incisors could clamp her arm she twisted hard, ripped a blood-slick half-length back and wedged the flat crosswise between those teeth.

"Kenino Gamani No Leido!"

She snapped a chant, flicked her wand with her left hand, and pitched a crackling orb of lightning into its throat.

Muffled booms thudded in its stomach—thump, thump. It convulsed, collapsed; whiskers were scorched to curls.

Chin lifted, she kicked the carcass into the water, then wheeled, eyes blazing at two more rodents barreling downhill.

Smoke from the dung balls thickened. Rodents poured out, scattering like headless flies.

Needle-Spined Rodents saw poorly. They relied on smell and hearing. With smell wrecked by the smoke, only hearing remained—and Siria's junior squad wasn't giving them a chance.

Axina, strongest in wind and water affinity, raised a wind barrier to pen them, then shaped great spheres of water to seal over mouth and nostrils—drowning them.

Hol, specced into dark and earth magic—dark arts barred here and earth lacking punch—used Earth Entangle to bind them, then smashed heads one by one with his iron pot.

Stolen story; please report.

Turned out the heirloom worked. Thick, solid walls—one full-bottom slam and a rodent's mouth twisted, eyes skewed, foam spraying.

Spines Gladys's sword hadn't cut shattered under repeated blows.

Bang, bang, bang—

The pot kept pounding; those trying to scramble uphill got their skulls smashed into flat-headed lumps.

"Alorowa Silisoro Falahasila!"

Jack reeled through a long fire spell, brewing a huge fireball and hurling it down. Spiny hide wouldn't burn through, but the flesh beneath was seared—maybe a third cooked.

"Fireball!"

"Fireball—fireball—fireball—"

Luo Wei, long accustomed to using fire for light, had the spell honed to perfection. Her wand spat compressed fireballs like a machine gun—no restraint—blasting the armored rodents legs-up.

Can't kill in one? Ten more; shake their brains to pulp.

Dazed rodents and clods of soil flipped skyward. They crashed belly-up—another fireball slammed their most vulnerable spot between the hind legs. A high "Skik!"—legs went rigid—dead.

Across the field, Axina watched Luo Wei's dazzling tally, nearly snapping her wand.

No. She could not lose to Luo Wei.

"Kayele Lirayemado! Kayele Lirayemado! Kayele Li—"

She chanted madly, mana surging severalfold. To speed their deaths she used wind to ram the water spheres deeper into their nasal passages.

The poor rodents—drowned? No. Choked out first.

Spectator stands: silence—professors from Siria included.

After a span, instructors of the Ten Great Academies began, one after another:

"Heh… your Siria students… rather unconventional methods, hm?"

"That kid smashing beasts with an iron pot—good raw strength. Headed for alchemy, I wager?"

"Tsk—white-haired lad's swordwork is decent, but he bares his teeth every swing. Facial spasm?"

"My my—suffocating magic beasts with water. Credit where due—most wouldn't think of it."

"Little cruel though…"

"Cruel? That black-haired girl wins. Look—she keeps blasting that spot. Tsk tsk… tsk tsk tsk."

"How does a girl pick up that trick? If no teacher taught her, I don't buy it."

"Has she had a talent test? Mana that deep? You didn't slip senior students into the junior bracket, did you?"

"Professor Moses—enlighten us. You're their escort. You must know."

Professor Moses: …

She did not know!

She did not want to explain!

She had not taught them any of that!

Inside the field, Siria's junior squad entered cleanup.

The battle hadn't even lasted as long as their prep—under twenty minutes and most rodents were down.

Fakers playing dead got finished methodically.

Jack hadn't expected it to end so fast—he'd only killed two. He looked up—done.

Four teammates watched him, waiting for him to finish roasting the last one so they could tally and harvest.

His pride at two kills evaporated. He wiped his face, cursing himself inside.

Proud? Of that? Look at them—so many magic beasts—any boasting?

Jack clenched his fists. With teammates this strong he had to push twice as hard. Even if he couldn't add much, he couldn't drag them down.

Luo Wei drew the dagger from her boot, severing tails from the rodents she'd slain, tying them with rope.

Gladys clambered up holding two fistfuls. "I—eight tails!"

"Gladys, amazing!" Luo Wei praised.

Gladys eyed the bundle at Luo Wei's feet. "You more."

"Only one more," Luo Wei said, standing. "The ones that ran at you were larger females. You're still ahead."

Doubt flickered in Gladys's eyes. Weren't stronger males supposed to be better?

"How many'd you kill?" Hol asked, dragging a string of tails.

Gladys: "Eight."

Luo Wei: "Nine."

"Double me," Hol sighed. "I only killed four."

Side glance from Luo Wei. Oh? Killed—or crushed?

Those skulls were paste.

Jack shuffled over with two tails, dejected. "You're all better. I only got two."

"That's already great," Luo Wei said, comforting. "You just didn't have a proper weapon."

Unlike Hol's iron pot.

Axina approached with five tails, face dark enough to drip ink.

She'd tried—but still couldn't surpass Luo Wei.

No—unfair framing. Fire spells in the junior tier hit harder. When they advanced, water—and especially ice—would flip the order.

After that self‑soothing, her expression eased.

Luo Wei counted the tails in her hand. "Total twenty-eight Needle-Spined Rodents—twenty-eight points. First fight: success. Rest a bit."

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