Each week on Saturday, there would be Physical classes where the students could practice their spells and can also challenge one another.
Learning and Practising were of great importance otherwise all the things learnt in life would become useless if they cannot be put to any use.
All of the students in Alex's class were brought to the training ground which was enough for 1000 students to fit.
It was decided into two sections.
On one side, Martial Arts warriors were practising while on the other side it was Magician.
The current class leaned more towards duel rather than self-practice.
Both classes could also challenge one another so that they get used to fighting various opponents but it was allowed only once a month.
...…..
"All of you have been making steady progress. Many of you have also stepped into the intermediate stage and a few of you can even cast Tier 5 spells at such an age."Professor Nina, who was the instructor of the practical class, spoke.
"You all have been learning for one and half years and progressed by leaps and bounds."
"Focus more on understanding and rectifying the mistakes you have committed in the battles and try to look out for your flaws."
"Before starting the matches, I want you to know one thing. Spells aren't the main things that decide the winning factors. Your approach, your application and your versatility in using the spells are also important factors."
"There have been cases where basic spells were able to overwhelm intermediate spells while some Mages who don't have any natural attributes were able to use enhancement spells in such a way that they were able to outlast the other."
"Now, let's begin."She clapped her hand and stared at everyone.
" Do any of you want to start first?"She asked casually.
"Miss, I want to issue a challenge."
" Joey, you can come forward," Nina nodded and called him.
All of them stared at Joey and could already imagine what was going to happen next.
Joey had reached early Master rank and was 20 years old. He was one of those who could cast Intermediate spells in between Tier 4 and Tier 5."
Joey, taking heavy steps, walked up the stage and started down and said"I want to challenge Alex."
"What! Me" Alex exclaimed with a flustered expression and shrink back.
His acting was enough to draw sympathy from everyone but everyone knew just how confident he presented himself so all of them thought that he was trying to put down Joey by indicating that Joey was bullying a newcomer.
"I am just a newcomer and I don't even know some basic spells so why are you challenging me? Isn't it wrong?" Alex spoke in a panicked tone.
"Don't you have shame, you coward!" Joey sneered.
After receiving everyone's gaze, Alex unwillingly walks up to the stage.
Nina walked to the side to supervise the match and in the meantime, the typical villain started the act and threw his dialogues.
"You are destroying a precious flower. Leave her and I will forgive you for your impudence. A flower like her doesn't look good with cow dung like you." Joey muttered.
Alex raised his eyes and stared at Joey who boasted confidently.
He was confident in his looks so how dare this bastard compared his impressive look to that of cow dung.
Either the heavens must be blind or this guy must be blind unable to discern what true beauty is.
"Begin the match!'" Nina shouted.
Joey, who prepared himself to cast a spell, suddenly let out a muffled groan as he felt a sudden change around him and his expression instantly changed.
It was as if, the gravity of the place increased by many folds or a huge mountain had been put on his shoulder that was trying to bring him down to his knees.
"Kurghh!"Joey gritted his teeth trying to stop his body from kneeling.
Joey felt a suffocating pressure out of nowhere but as he mustered his strength and was about to look forward, it vanished instantly as if he had been hallucinating.
"Huh...what was that??" Joey muttered under strained breaths and looked around.
He could freely swing his arms unlike before and felt as light as a feather
"Maybe I messed up the spell or I hallucinated. Yes, that must be it." Joey tried to calm himself.
Joey chanted his spell and the ground trembled and large chunks of spiky rocks sprouted from the ground which charged toward Alex with a flick.
"Rock Spikes!" Joey shouted.
Alex stared calmly at incoming rocks and pointed his index finger down and spoke with a relaxed expression.
"Gravity Enhancer!"
DUUUSH!
BAAAM!
The rocks hurling toward him were suddenly halted and plunged into the ground and crushed into pieces.
Alex increased the pressure and made the air denser by increasing the density of the space around him on several margins concerning a large volume of air.
The space around him was similar to 3 times the gravity of this world.
Alex's eyes narrowed as he stared at Joey's bewildered expression.
"What kind of spell was that?" Joey asked with a surprised expression.
Alex wanted to laugh and mock this guy. This is where most people fail.
The most important thing for a magician is imagination and vision. A simple low-level spell can be moulded and twisted into various forms.
But many just follow the traditional route and learn the spell that had been taught to them or written in the book.
"Huh...What happened? Weren't you previously spouting all kinds of bullshit calling me a coward and spineless?"
Alex's rude and straight remarks shocked everyone and the person to whom the words were aimed was utterly embarrassed.
Joey gritted his teeth and he raised his hand.
Three fireballs flew straight at Alex forming a line.
While the fireballs were flying, three firewalls appeared beside Alex, surrounding him.
The raging fire almost surrounded Alex, and most of the students serving as spectators couldn't see his figure within it.
Nina saw the scene and couldn't help but worry about Alex as she saw three huge exploding fireballs hurling toward Alex.
She thought Alex might panic as he was new so she thought of stopping the match.
Fireballs were basic spells but exploding fireballs were intermediate spells and the current spell was enhanced by overcharging on top of that, the effective damage radius of these three fireballs was sufficient to cover every target within 50 metres.
So, if Alex couldn't neutralise the attack, he might be killed or injured badly for real.
Nina also didn't know whether Alex knew intermediate spells or not and since the earlier spell was new, she wasn't able to ascertain its type.
"Ohh! So, we are playing with fire.Huh." Alex stared at the raging firewalls around him and the fireballs that came for him.
Alex opened his palm and a bluish flame appeared on his palm and the firewalls around him seemed to back off and flickered as if they had met their king.
The bluish colour of the flame was due to higher explosive strength and under Alex's fine control it was burning purely of mana condensed inside it.
It was a mini packet that could create a big explosion if required.
