"I quit!" Ansgar said in a weak tone, causing the chain of attacks to stop.
It didn't take much time for Brian and Esmeralda to also surrender, but by then every other person was eliminated.
'I have to say Ansgar was quite useful. If not I wouldn't have known what to expect in the second line.' Blake thought as he began formulating a plan on how to pass the exercise.
When the exercise was cleared, Professor Gibson went ahead to randomly select another set of 10 students, and surprisingly Blake and Luciano were among them. Also, Camilla, Layla, and Kade were in the same set as them, making the set a highly anticipated one.
'Let's see how my plan works out.' Blake thought as he was done planning, but that was when Camilla walked up to him.
"Would you like to team up with me?" Camilla asked as she looked into Blake's eyes.
'Is it because I commended her the other day that she thinks I will accept her request?' Blake mind-chuckled when he heard her request, and was about to reject it, but that was when Luciano walked up to both of them.
"By now you should know that teaming up is useless, if not he would have teamed up with me. Also, why do you ask such questions when you know he would reject it?" Luciano said with an indifferent expression.
Camilla was angry and getting tired of Luciano being mean to her even though she was trying to turn a new leaf.
The worst part was that not only could she not beat him because of their rank, but she couldn't even show displeasure or talk back because he was part of the royal family.
Ignoring him, Camilla turned to Blake for his reply but he didn't waste any time rejecting it leaving her heartbroken.
"I understand your decision. Good luck in the exercise." Camilla forced a smile as she left the 2.
"You still haven't told me why you are mean to her." Blake said to Luciano.
"I don't like her." Luciano furrowed his brows but soon returned to his expressionless face. "Good luck in the exercise."
"Preparation time is over. Everyone, please take any position on the 1st line." Professor Gibson announced.
"Begin!"
Once the start of the exercise was announced, Blake didn't take it slow just like the last set, he dashed forward at full speed as he prepared himself for the first pattern.
After the1st set of students, Blake had watched the replay of the match closely and had noticed that there was a pattern. The 1st 10 meters were mostly single target mana spells like mana blades, arrows, and so on. Which increased in quantity as they moved forward.
The 20-meter mark was a combination of single target mana spells from the last 10 meters and AOE spells. The 30-meter mark was the combination of the last 2 and explosive spells to push them away from the 2nd line.
Unlike the others who were casting spells right from the get-go, Blake was dodging them and only punching or kicking them with mana encased hands and feet, but never did he stop.
With the different passive boosts granted by his 3 elements, and his body being more refined due to being the highest in terms of cultivation, Blake was the highest when it came to overall physical abilities followed by Luciano who was so good for an unknown reason.
'I wonder how many years it took for Professor Gibson to reach such a level of mana control.' Blake thought as he made his way into the 20-meter mark.
At that point, the spiked barrier of mana was coming from the front while 4 mana blades came from both sides.
'Does the mana control come with advancing in realm or by practice, because how is he able to tune all the attacks of 10 students to their power level?' Blake didn't bait an eye at the wind blades beside, as he conjured a mana drill thrice the size of his arm.
BOOM!
The drill went through the spiked wall, but Blake didn't stop there. He fired the mana drill at the 5 mana blades that were hidden behind the spiked wall.
BOOM!
Blake didn't waste time as he encased his body in a layer of mana and jumped right through the explosion and shortened the distance.
[A part of it is gotten by the advancement in realm, but there is a reason why he is the top Professor when it comes to arcane magic.] The system said. [Oh, Luciano isn't doing badly. He is just a tad bit slower than you.]
No doubt, Blake was leading the race with Luciano behind him (in distance). When the exercise had begun, they had both dashed forward at full speed, leaving the other students and spectators confused.
It was the same for when they watched Blake expend unnecessary mana to break through the spike man wall when he could spend less by blocking the wind blades by the sides and moving out of the way.
The funny part was that their act of wasting mana was actually proving to be the better option because they were leading, while some of the rest were stuck and about to be eliminated.
'The most challenging part.' Blake mentally prepared himself as he went past the 20-meter mark into the last 10-meter stretch.
This time the spells of the previous rounds had more than tripled. All around Blake were more than 30 mana blades and mana bombs were fired at him from all sides.
'Nice try, but I have no plans of running.' Blake said when he sensed the mana shackles coming from underneath him, but he remained unfazed.
In an instant, a powerful shockwave of mana erupted from Blake, followed by another shockwave to counter the attacks hidden behind the first.
BOOM!
After the attacks were stopped, Blake didn't waste time to reach the 25th-meter mark, but that was when he began sensing a huge amount of mana.