Sam looked at the rest of the participants, not knowing what to do. After a minute, he raised his hand, hoping to gain the attention of the elders. When the three elders saw him, they frowned.

One of the attendants in charge of overseeing the needs of the competitiors ran towards him.

"Student, what do you need?" The attendant asked Sam, while looking at the peculiar looking formation on the table.

The formation looked like a cylinder that was formed by stacking the circles on each other with the help of orbs. On top of the cylinder was a slightly conical shape that covered up the stop.

Each of these circles contained a bunch of elements all of them creating a formation.

The attendant was lost in daze as he looked at it.

"I am done." Sam said calmly.

'"What?" The attendant came out of the daze and asked. He thought he heard wrong.

"I am done with my formation."

"Student. I hope that you are not making a mistake here. It is good to be confident, but if your formation doesn't meet the standards you will be eliminated. You should continue to work on it."

The attendant hurriedly said as he looked around.

He was genuinely hoping that no one was there to here Sam's words. Because once a person declared that they are done with the formation, they are done. They cannot tweak with it.

The attendant who is more aged and experienced, didnt want a kid to lose his position in the competition because of a momentary impulse.

At least, that is what he believed.

In his eyes, Sam just made a formation that barely meets the requirements and decided that it would be enough to pass.

Sam looked at the old man and sighed. Ever since he came to the academy realm, it has been a while since he saw eyes like that. Everyone who was in a position of a teacher or in a position of authority within this realm are all drunk with arrogance and obsessed with their pride and superiority.

This guy being an attendant showcased the concern to a student who is not even from his academy. And this is the first time he has seen it.

However, his concerns are wasted on a wrong person.

Sam was about gently insist that he is done, when one of the Elders who wore the Hel academy robes came to them.

"You are done student?"

"Sir…" The attendant was about to say something when the elder gestured him to stop.

Sam just shrugged and said.

"Yes, I am."

"You are Sam, aren't you? The winner of the freshman tournament."

"I am."

"Seems like the arrogance of the freshman tournament has gone to your head. Not only did you…"

"Can you please spare me the lecture and just tell me what do I need to do now."

Everyone was expecting a lecture as soon as the elder started speaking. However, Sam is a bit done with these words. It is one thing for Manson who was a senior to him in the academy to speak to Sam like that.

But this elder, particularly of the Hel academy has no business butting his nose into his business.

"You little…"

"Elder, I don't take swearing well. Particularly, when it comes from the people who have no actual authority or seniority over me."

".."

"And I am also known to be petty. I might just take it out on someone of my size from your academy if I get pissed off by whatever you are going to say. So, please be careful with the words you omit out of your mouth."

"YOU…."

The Elder lost his cool and his energy raged. The surrounding students all flinched at the sudden hit of energy. Their formations collapsed and all the preparation they have done was gone

"ELDER MANGUS."

A sudden yell came from the Thor academy's elder.

Elder Mangus turned around to look at his peer.

"Is this the etiquette an elder in charge of the competition should show?" His voice is stern.

After Mangus stayed put, he turned to the students and said.

"Those who have experienced the disturbance from Elder, you can now restart your test." He then turned to the old attendant and said.

"Please mark their names separately so that they could be given the appropriate time."

The attendant bowed and went to do his job.

The Thor academy's elder then turned to Sam and looked at the formation on the table.

"I heard that you are done."

"Yes, sir."

"If you want, you can stay here and wait until the whole test is concluded. Or, you can sit and rest along with the audience. However, you need to be in the premises until the competition is over."

"Alright. However, can I ask you something?"

"Please."

"Can I expect a fair test from the Elders?"

His words stunned everyone. The students, the Elders and most importantly Mangus.

The elder of Thor academy gave a disgusting look to Mangus and said.

"I understand why you would think that. But the Thor academy is in charge of this competition and we won't stake our honor just to satiate one Elder's pettiness."

Sam chuckled at this. Almost as if he was being tickled. In reality, he felt like he was being tickled by those words.

After all, just in the freshman tournament a couple of months ago, he faced rigging. Not just by anyone, but by the one and only son of the Thor academy's Dean.

So, these words obviously sounded funny. Sam was almost tempted to poke at it a bit, but he refrained from doing so. He didn't want the Thor academy's dirty secret to be out. Not from his own words at least.

He went to the gallery and sat there looking at the others perform.

The time passed by relatively quickly. While he was in the middle of it, he saw Rashma come back with some blood on her hands. She must have destroyed that poor guy who threw a spear at her.

(A/N: Apologies. In the prev Chapter, I mentioned Marron instead of Rashma. It is corrected now)

While the time went a boring pace for Sam, it is not the same for the other students, spectators and even the elders.

There are many exciting designs among the participants. After everyone is done, the evaluation started.

All three elders raised their hands and conjured energy attacks aiming at all the tables at the same time.

*BOOM*

A resonating and explosive sound clouded everyone's ears as all the attacks landed at the same time.

*CRASH* *BOOM* *CRACK*

Sounds of varying level appeared from various tables. There are many tables that were destroyed with just the first round of attacks.

Most of the formations collapsed because the balance between the elements has been ruined. Most of them overreached and tried to go with more elements or more layers. This made the formation complex and the balance was barely reached.

So, the first significant disturbance caused them to be destroyed.

The second round of attacks conjured. This time they are a lot less in number and a bit more lethal.

*BOOM*

Second attack.

Third attack.

Fourth

Fifth

The attacks came one after another.

By fifth attack, less than a quarter of the formations left.

"All the people that endured until now, will be eligible for the next round of preliminaries."

One of the elders announced. However, they didn't stop for the students to be excited and the attacks went on.

There is no reason for them to attack. The ranking in the prelims will have no impact in the later rounds. But the scores will be given and the rankings will announced.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

Ten more formations collapsed.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

The attacks went on. Sam looked bored. Unbeknownst to him, he is actually the center of the attention, at least his formation is. Sam finished first. No one ever is close enough to beat his record. Five minutes…

Even the elders are not confident to lay down a formation like that. That too with elemental harmony.

*BOOM*

It was twenty fifth attack before only three formations were left. Sam's still standing proud. Only two more people were left along with him and both of them are from Viswakarma's academy.

Sam didn't find this surprising. Those guys are obsessed with these professions.

*BOOM*

Thirty fourth attack.

The remaining two collapsed and Sam's alone stood. The two elders from the Thor academy and the Heimdall academy stopped their attacks.

This is enough. The winner has been declared and that winner made the whole competition look like a joke.

What two hours? What preparation? What harmony and balance?

Sam's formation only conveyed one statement.

"This is child's play."

The elders wanted to go and rip that formation apart. However, the elder from Hel academy who is more pissed off than anyone else kept on attacking.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

Fiftieth attack landed.

*CRASH*

Dust rose and a massive energy fluctuation could be felt from the place of the formation. Mangus grinned like a mad man.

Sam smiled at this and stood up as he walked away from there.

The dust settled and everyone was ready to be dispersed. The Elders left and the gallery was emptied. If the formation test took two hours, the evaluation took more than that. The next round is tomorrow, while some other competition will be done in the afternoon.

For that, the students of the Thor academy under the guidance of the Elder in charge started cleaning up the area.

As he passed by, the elder saw something in Sam's rubble.

He frowned and waved his hand, the rubble cleared up and in the middle was something that shook him. A stone slab in the shape of a perfect circle. The circle exactly outlined by the red circle they drew.

He just understood something. Sam's formation collapsed at fiftieth attack. But it didn't lose directly to the attack, instead it was destroyed, because the rest of the stone table collapsed from the attack and couldn't withstand the formation.

All of a sudden, the elder had a bad feeling about this.

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