Ascension: Strongest Fateless Mage

Fragard gritted his teeth in frustration as he looked at the Life Crystal of his little brother that was broken into pieces in his hand. "If he died on Gaia continent, then only one person can kill him. Who is the current headmaster of Skyward Academy?"

"It's Noril," a protector standing left side of Fragard said. "I have fought him, and he is a tough nut to crack because of his Force Spiral magic labyrinth's awakening spells and his Labyrinth Artifact that is combined with a rare space-attribute magic item."

The right-side protector nodded. "He is indeed a powerful Master Mage. However, the clan head is one rank higher than Noril. You should be able to deal with him."

"But we can't do anything on Gaia continent," a middle-aged woman said as she raised her head towards the clan head. "The Magic Guild Association won't let us create trouble there. If they found out that we broke the rule, they will wipe us out."

"Yes, clan head. Gaia continent is off limits. That tiny place is fragile and would break easily if multiple people above Novice rank stayed there. Moreover, it is a major source of people for the MGA. They recruit people from Gaia continent and train them for their constitution," another person said.

Fragard frowned and spoke, "How about we get help from an Empire? After all, senior members of the MGA are from well-known kingdoms and empires. If we can bribe a higher-up of the MGA to give up on Noril…"

Many people's faces changed after hearing that.

The left protector shook his head and explained, "We can't do that. It will cost us too much to bribe a higher-up."

"Then what do you want? I forget about my brother's death?!" Fragard bellowed, "Noril must die!"

"Let's all think of a solution together," said the protector on the right side. "It's not like Noril will always stay in Gaia. He will definitely return to Astral Land, and that will be your chance, clan head."

'Bastard, it's because of you that your brother was doing things without thinking about consequences.'

'Glad he is dead, but I hope this clan head doesn't bring down the entire clan because of his damn revenge.'

The people in the hall cursed in their minds. Most of them were unhappy with this development.

…

Because of the Magic Eruption spot and special shop event, a total of 28 students managed to become 4th class magicians.

Two days later, Zevien, Vernisia, Erica, Dan, Tigger, Kerolin, Leena, Jacky, Roman, and Hemil went towards the training area together.

"Let's do Obstacle Race training first," Dan said with a grin. "Erica and I have tried it while you were in Starlight city, but we couldn't even clear the first stage."

"We should be able to clear it this time since we've learned a tier-2 movement-type magic spell and also became 4th class magicians," Erica said.

The group entered the Obstacle Race's training center. This training center was situated at the foot of the mountain, and from this training center to the top of the mountain, a glass roof covered it all with a ten-meter wide passage.

After Zevien and the group entered inside, they saw a screen that displayed a student climbing the mountain from that ten-meter wide passage while dodging the obstacles that were produced from some kind of device at the top of the mountain.

The rule of this training was simple. One had to climb the mountain via that passage while dodging the obstacles. The student gets 100 points when starting the training challenge and each object that hit the student deducts points from 100.

The obstacles were all phantom-type created from mana. The moment they touched a student, they would disappear and deduct a point.

To pass the first level, a student needs to dodge every single obstacle and keep their 100 points until they reach the top of the mountain. Once they pass their first level, and it's recorded in their badge, they can unlock the second level.

1st and 2nd levels of the obstacle race were for 5th and 4th class magicians. The 3rd and 4th levels were for 3rd class magicians, 5th and 6th levels were for 2nd class magicians, while 7th and 8th were for 1st class magicians. Naturally, if someone's magic power went past 3000 while they were in the 1st or 2nd level of the obstacle race, their record wouldn't count.

"I'll go first," Dan said after the student reached the mountain with 89 points.

He moved towards the entry door and stood in front of the gate, which scanned his badge before it opened and an electronic voice sounded. "Dan, First level. Enter the passage in three seconds."

Dan entered the passage that was ten meters wide and five meters high since the tunnel was covered by glass.

Outside, Zevien and the others saw Dan appearing on the screen as he started running.

"The current record for the first level is 14.38 seconds by Lamia," Kerolin said as she pointed at the leaderboard of all levels. "So you must also climb fast while not getting hit by any objects."

"There are rewards," Leena said as she pointed at the reward poster on the wall. "If you clear the 1st level within 30 seconds, you get 100 Skyward merits. If you break the level 1 record, you get an extra 150 merits."

"Shhhh, stop talking and look at Dan," Erica snorted. "Although the obstacles pattern will be random, you can be prepared if you observe these obstacles. Look, they also throw phantoms of cats and dogs at you."

Ten seconds had passed, and Dan had so far dodged every obstacle while maintaining his speed. He was using a tier-2 magic spell, Air-Pressure jets, and his 1st awakening spell, Demonic Armament was also activated as it increased his physical capabilities by a large margin and also gave him a burst of flying move.

After eight more seconds, he finally reached the top, but he was hit by two obstacles near the end.

"Idiot!" Erica stomped her foot and walked towards the entry door. "I'll go now and teach him a lesson. How can he fail near the end?"

Everyone wryly smiled hearing her.