After dropping that casual bombshell, he then told everybody to come into the arena and grab a practice weapon of their choice from the arena vault.
"Now that that's all behind us, we can get to the fun stuff!"
He spread his arms wide while laughing.
"Do you know the best part of the first day? Anybody can raise their hand."
A man with short, dark green hair and long ears, and a slim but nimble-looking body raised his hand, standing near our group of three.
It was the prince of the elven kingdom.
"Yes, rank number two, Klein Reid."
Klein Reid ranked number two?
I studied him while he answered.
"The Ranked Battles, on the first day, you may challenge for any rank, but only once."
Professor McKannan nodded his head.
"Good, Klein is correct, today is a glorious day."
The Professor continued to smile.
"We start at the bottom of the rankings and work our way up. Until everyone has a chance to fight for a higher position, unless, of course, you maintain rank number one, then you can't challenge anybody, of course."
"Alright then, let's get started. There are two hundred and forty-three new students. For the first two hundred and thirty three we will have three fights going simultaneously, so we can finish everything today. For the top ten, we will just have one fight in the arena at a time."
Professor McKannan clapped his hands together.
"Lets commence."
The fights at the bottom were slow.
They used chants and stood still, basically getting hit by each other until they fainted from their spells or got knocked out by the opponent.
Many Orcs did welll on these lower levels because of the pure strength they had, they simply punched the nobles trying to use spells.
This went on and on until the rankings got into the double digits; that's where it got interesting.
River went to watch his sister fight. Clarice Norton ranked 42.
Not that I didn't have any interest in that fight, but I was watching something more interesting.
Rank 86, Ezra Louch, a human, challenges Rank 32, Silvana Raul, an elf.
That was the fight I was watching at the moment; it was quite a disparity in ranks, but the fight was close as can be.
Ezra wielded two short swords and wielded impressive wind magic, amplifying his speed and evading Silvana's water magic expertly.
Silvana, on the other hand, sent out never-ending water-based attacks, from beams to straight water blades.
The fight continued in a stalemate of sorts before Silvana and Ezra both got tired and went for one final attack.
Silvana condensed her water into one final beam, while Ezra enchanted his body and went in for a final attack with his short swords.
Last second, Ezra dodged out of the way and put his blade to Silvanas' neck, ending the fight.
"Rank 86, Ezra Louch wins! Silvana Raul, your rank has been swapped with Ezra, you are now Rank 86, while he is now Rank 32."
"After you recover, you are free to challenge anybody except Ezra to get a higher rank. "
I wasn't surprised.
Ezra was evading her beams of water the whole fight, I think he could've stayed back and made her tire herself out if he wanted to, that last move was more for dominance.
Similar fights were happening all around me, but I had yet to get a challenge.
Neither River nor Alice, until the fights got into the top ten.
"Rank 5 River Norton, you have been challenged by Rank 8 Klaus Cavendish."
"No surprise there."
Alice muttered.
"Why isn't that a surprise?"
I asked Alice, confused.
"Klaus and River have been rivals of sorts since they were kids."
"They both hail from respected military families, so they were around each other all the time, always fighting."
I nodded in understanding.
"Who's stronger?"
I asked.
"They are usually pretty equal, but I think River might have the edge this time. He trained for the entrance exams with his father for months."
River was already walking into the arena, with Klaus walking in from the other side.
I stayed quiet and watched in anticipation of top-ranked fighters dueling it out.
Professor McKannan started the countdown.
"3"
"2"
"1"
"FIGHT!"
Klaus started right away with a pillar of earth shooting from the ground directly at the River.
River side stepped the pillar and coated his great sword in fire, before doing a two-handed overhead strike directly at Klaus, who was already within melee range.
But Klaus was prepared; he shot another pillar from the ground, hitting the side of the sword and throwing it off course, out of Rivers' hands.
Before following up by slamming his hammer into the ground and using the pole to swing his body into a roundhouse kick at Rivers' head.
"Interesting choice,"
I muttered.
River responded with an arm blocking the kick and the other arm grabbing his ankle before spinning his waist and slamming Klaus over his shoulder.
Klaus slammed against the ground, leaving his hammer on the other side of River's body, where he lost grip as he was thrown over River's shoulder.
River, still holding onto Klaus's ankle, goes for another attack before receiving a pillar of stone right into the middle of his back, shooting him forward and losing his grip on Klaus.
Both stand up rather quickly, but have no weapons anymore.
"Just like old times"
Klaus said with a smile.
"I'm stronger now."
River smirked.
River charged first this time before sweeping his legs the second he got into melee range.
Klaus jumped over the front sweep.
River smirked.
Before Klaus could land, he recovered and infused his fist with red fire mana before sending a fist directly into Klaus's chest, sending him flying away with a burnt circle in the middle of his clothes.
Before he could get up, River was already on him, ready to strike.
But before he could punch again, a sound came from the voice amplifier.
"Fights over, Rank 5, River Norton is the winner. Klaus Cavendish stays at rank 8."
River slowly made his way back to our group.
"Good fight."
I tell him as he arrives and sits down.
He smiles.
"Thanks, but sadly, I think that's everything I got unless I get challenged again. That Pillar to the back fucking hurt."
I nodded to him in understanding.
"Looked like it."
Alice agreed.
The fights continued.
Rank 7 Nora Reid, an Elf princess, fought with rank 6 Grok Azog, an orc.
With Nora winning and them switching spots.
The fight went so smoothly that Rank 6 Nora Reid decided to fight Rank 4 William Necross, a human noble.
That fight ...went horribly.
Not even thirty seconds went by before Nora was on the ground, breathing like it was her last breath.
She was bleeding from her arms and legs, with a giant gash on her back.
The Professor stopped the fight right away.
William used a rapier and used the wind and earth element expertly.
But surprisingly enough, even after his win, he didn't challenge anybody; he just kept his fourth rank.
Because of that, it skipped to Alice.
Here comes my name, I thought in excitement.
"Rank 3, Alice Rividen challenges Rank 2, Klein Reid."
End of Chapter 14