The next day, the sophomores gathered at the combat field as this was time for their combat test, and the points gained here had more weight than their written test.

And of course, the first thing was for everyone to reveal their advanced skill. Advanced skills could be Adaptive or Innate and were usually more potent than the normal.

It took pushing to the edge to develop such a skill, which was why the test was after their trip. The most entertaining aspect of this training to Godfrey was watching the combat instructor's summon make different paper constructs.

His summon, the Great Origami Wasp, could spit out paper constructs of any type, like walls, mannequins, and even moving humanoid soldiers made entirely out of paper, and this paper was even more durable than diamond.

"No one has been able to damage the instructor's constructs so far. I guess that's why the instructor is the instructor. Even other teachers respect him," some students behind Godfrey spoke to each other.

Isolde nudged Godfrey. "Do you have an Advanced Skill?"

He replied with a nod. "I guess so."

She squinted. "You guess?!"

Just then, Dale went to the field and manifested a double-headed hammer out of lightning. Blue lightning crackled menacingly through his body, but the combat instructor scoffed.

"It's powerful but not exactly an advanced skill. Had your summon formed something that would aid it, then it might have been," he said dismissively, yet still gave advice.

With a grunt, Dale stormed back into the seats while Cecil came out and brought out her summon.

The Titan Yaoguai named Bane exhaled heavily from its mouth, flexing its dense muscles below the white fur before throwing a punch at the wall constructed by the Great Origami Wasp.

Space bent, compressing air and releasing it. A huge portion of the wall tore off, ripped apart by the violent air.

Godfrey squinted while the instructor nodded. "Good."

"Show them one more, Bane," Cecil said, watching everyone's expressions as Bane stomped the earth. Compressed air burst forth before its feet touched the ground, opening a wide, gaping crater.

"This is absurd! Cecil is way stronger than Dale with such a destructive advanced skill!"

"And she's been hiding!"

"Space and air. Although not exactly controlled by your summon and only a result of extreme strength and mana interference, it makes out as a remarkable skill. You did well," the combat instructor said, and a proud smirk graced Cecil's face.

"Godfrey. You're next." Everyone watched Godfrey step out, especially Cecil, Snow, and Dale.

A golden diagram flared and Mountain stepped out. He held his great oval shield up and it transformed into the Achilles Shield. The sight of the shield alone made even the instructor's eyes narrow.

At Godfrey's request, a paper archer was formed, and he fired three arrows at the shield. All three of them barely scratched it.

The instructor raised an eyebrow. "How durable is your shield?"

"Nothing has destroyed it yet." Godfrey's reply made him chuckle.

"Let's see how it does against a skill of my own." At the instructor's mental order, the wasp unleashed a hail of paper bullets, each as big as .950 JDJ bullets!

The hail made the hairs on the neck of some students stand. Cecil's eyes widened while Isolde felt a bit concerned as the number of bullets was massive.

'Is that?!' The instructor couldn't believe his eyes as his bullets ricocheted right back to the Origami Wasp. It had to evade, deactivating its skill in the process.

"You've got to be kidding me. So you can't even hit him!" Dale ground his teeth. "It's his fault Cecil has surpassed me, and he's even grown stronger!"

Cecil's expression became ugly. She had taken pride in her Advanced Skill, hoping that once the test period came she would crush Godfrey, which was why she kept silent all this time — but who would have thought he developed such a formidable defense skill?

"That's a remarkable skill. Seems like Aegis Shield but more powerful and stable. What did you call it?" the instructor asked.

"Achilles Shield," Godfrey replied as he retrieved Mountain.

'That's a nice name. I thought he was going to name it Thick Metal Shield,' Isolde said with an amused tone inwardly.

As Godfrey left, Snow took his place. His summon flew out of the portal he opened, and with a flap of its wings, silver glimmers, a type of glimmer they had never seen before, gathered, forming a ballistic bolt.

The bolt streaked forth like a silver meteor, reminding Godfrey of Ballista's Trail Blazer. His face darkened as the silver arrow exploded through three thick paper walls before bursting into red glimmer and petrifying whatever remained of the paper wall.

"Excellent! You've birthed a new glimmer. I have not seen a Glimmer-Wing Butterfly with silver glimmer and such explosive might." As the combat instructor praised Snow, Godfrey clenched his fists.

How could he not see that Snow had copied his skill and made his summon replicate it in its own way?

"That skill just now was ridiculously powerful. Has Snow taken back the second place?" His classmates muttered amongst themselves.

None of them had the faintest idea that the original version of this skill belonged to Ballista, not even Isolde, because apart from Snow, the others were students from Polaris.

"Isolde, you're next."

Isolde stepped out, and from a purple diagram, a giant dragonfly emerged. Above it, high above the school, violet portals appeared, and from them, meteors streaked out.

Everyone's faces paled, not just the sophomores but also other students. It felt like watching an apocalypse; even the instructor lost himself, speechlessly looking at the sky streaking with meteors enveloped with flames and smoke.

In the next instant, the meteors were teleported away, leaving everyone's heart pounding hard against their chest.

After a while, the instructor cleared his throat. "I'll announce your score. Isolde undoubtedly came first, second place goes to Snow, third to Godfrey, fourth to Cecil, fifth to…"

Godfrey didn't even listen to whatever the instructor said after hearing his rank. His eyes landed on Snow, who wore a smirk, glancing at him from the corner of his eyes.

"Now, this is just the first part. Tomorrow will be an actual combat test to show how your summons fare in a fight. Skills are powerful, but without good execution, they're useless," the instructor announced and dismissed them.

On their way back, whispers fell into Godfrey's ears.

"So Godfrey has dropped to third place."

"His skill wasn't bad, but Snow's skill is just too impressive. I mean, he birthed a never-seen type of glimmer," someone else replied.

"Godfrey didn't look happy."

"He was beaten. How is he supposed to be happy?"

"There's still tomorrow," Isolde encouraged, concerned when she saw Godfrey's dark expression.

He nodded but just couldn't let go of the thought that Snow had developed this glimmer he was being praised for by stealing the idea from him, and he wanted to step all over his face like it came out of his own head.

Trail Blazer was a unique skill, almost like an innate one, not like the regularised Item Manipulation and Elemental Infusion.

"Like I said…" Hearing Snow's light voice made him turn. The white-haired boy was walking beside him. "No one made you king." Snow's eyes gleamed.

"You might have defeated me once, but I was careless back then. I will let you understand why I'm still and will always be better than you by tomorrow."

His voice was light but not low. The entire class, walking through the corridor, could hear it. Snow had made a declaration, and from the skill he just showed, this wasn't a weak threat.

***

The next day, the instructor made everyone pair up with a partner. Each victor would then face off with another victor, and the cycle repeated.

Mountain breezed through it all until the Golden Knight-Captain once again stood before Cecil, the same summon it couldn't fight over a month and some weeks ago.

The Titan Yaoguai's eyes blazed with bloodlust. It still had not forgotten Ballista, and Mountain looked like him.

It launched a powerful kick; space twisted and compressed air blasted out.

Mountain activated Black-Out State, his golden armor turning crimson as he rose from 5.0 to 6.0.

The gauge screen picked up the new tier, forcing Cecil's eyes to narrow. 'Wasn't it just…'

The rest of the words couldn't leave her throat as Mountain, standing at eight feet tall with a bulk rivaling the Titan Yaoguai's, effortlessly blocked the ape's punches and kicks before slamming his ironclad boot into the creature's abdomen, sending it flying and tumbling on the ground several times.

The instructor's eyes narrowed. 'I might have to re-evaluate that summon's defense.'

Cecil couldn't believe her eyes, all her planning, everything went to waste with just one kick, and there wasn't even a dent on the Achilles Shield.

Was that thing even made of metal? And Mountain didn't even use Ricochet or Reflect. Was he going easy on her?

She just realized it. The gap between them had grown even wider.

Mountain proceeded to his next opponent and discovered it was the Glimmer-Wing Butterfly. Snow stood below it while Godfrey stood beside Mountain.

Both summon and summoner gazed at each other.

At a mere thought from Snow, the Glimmer-Wing formed the ballistic bolt made out of silver glimmers. It hovered before the butterfly before blasting out at full speed, like a bolt actually set loose from a ballista.

Mountain lifted the titan round shield a bit up, planting his feet into the earth. The arrow struck the shield heavily, forcing Mountain back a few steps with both sides of the earth scorched, becoming like where a volcano just erupted.

A hole appeared on the Butterfly's chest as its wings froze, and it fell from the sky, raising dust in the wake of its devastating fall.

'Just what in God's name is that shield?!' The instructor panicked as he rushed toward the summon. Snow lay beside it, unconscious due to the heavy damage dealt to his summon.

Snow had no idea how the Achilles Shield was formed, how its durability was a result of bearing the brutal power of the Trail Blazer. Achilles Shield was Trail Blazer's bane, a development to counter it.

Copying it gave him the same end that almost killed Ballista when the shield was first created.

'Godfrey has almost killed Snow twice! At this point, Snow might as well stay out of his path or die at the third try.' Cecil's face paled at this thought.

...

A/N: We've crossed the 600 powerstone milestone! Going fast on 500 golden tickets!!

Cheers!

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