Chapter 11

On September 1, the university had a freshman lineup where the rector and directors of the institutes gave inspiring speeches. Ivan, Olga, Pavel and Marina chatted merrily among themselves during these speeches. After the speech of the university leadership, the newly admitted students, who took first place in the ranking of the main departments among newcomers, were asked to go to the center of the site where the lineup was held. Likewise, since the major departments of space, chaos, necromancy and poison did not have new students, for these elements students were taken to head the list of the respective minor departments. Ivan left the chairs of chaos and necromancy. A total of 16 students graduated (There were no students with elements of blessing and sound). The woman in charge of the event on the site announced:

- Now we will determine the strongest of the leaders in the ratings of newcomers. Consider this as a Leadership Bonus on Exams. There will be 4 rounds of elimination fights, the opponents will be determined by lot. The first 4 places will be awarded.

Ivan's first opponent was a girl from the main ice chair, with elements of ice and water. Immediately after the signal to start the battle, Ivan's opponent began to release mid-level magic, to which the student simply used Control, which is an entry-level magic, and threw the opponent out of the arena before she released magic.

Ivan's second opponent was a girl from the main pulpit of the spirit, with elements of spirit and lightning. Ivan and his opponent began to release initial-level magic at the same time, but the girl managed to be the first and attacked Ivan with an impulse of the spirit. True, thanks to the fifth spiritual boundaries, Ivan did not feel anything and threw the surprised opponent out of the arena.

Ivan's opponent in the semifinals was Nikita from the main call-up department, with elements of call and wind. At the beginning of the battle, Ivan and Nikita both summoned their draft beasts: Ivan had a Kosolapy, and Nikita had a Gray Wolf of the level of the senior Leader of the Pack. Ivan used Control to knock the Gray Wolf to the edge of the arena and hold him there, while Clubfoot pounced on Nikita, not giving him a chance to complete the star map of the element of space and summon the contract beast. Nikita tried to escape from Clubfoot with the entry-level wind magic, but he could not escape from the older Pack Leader. Thus, Ivan won and went to the final.

Ivan's opponent in the final was ... Lyudmila. "So I thought, the element of space is imba, at the intermediate and primary level, especially, considering my spiritual boundaries with Lyudmila." Entering the arena, Lyudmila said:

- You and I often fight now, well, surprise me this time.

- Certainly - Ivan answered with a sly smile.

Ivan, having drawn his conclusions after the previous battle, at the beginning of the fight did not call Clubfoot and the skeletons, but immediately attacked his opponent with Control. Lyudmila responded with a Control of a similar strength and a Control confrontation began. After a couple of minutes of constant use of Control, Ivan realized that he was losing, due to the fact that Lyudmila summoned entry-level magic a little faster and soon the moment would come when he did not have time to defend himself. "So, it's bad, and I don't have any other attacking elements, and the usual attacking magic of the initial level cannot in any way withstand the Control with 5 spiritual boundaries. It means that this tactic was also wrong, and last time I somehow did not notice that it releases magic faster. " Ivan decided not to use Control over and over again, but to support it to block Ludmila's attacks. It ended with the fact that Ivan and Lyudmila both exhausted the energy of the element of space. Ivan immediately summoned Kosolapy and on time: the summoned Clubfoot protected Ivan from the projectiles of fire magic of the initial level of the third stage that flew at him. Of course, Kosolapy was not hurt at all and rushed at Lyudmila. The girl grabbed an object resembling a magic wand from her pocket and a stream of flame poured out of it with the power of 3 levels of medium-level magic, reinforced by a large spiritual seed. Lyudmila lowered her wand when it became clear that Kosolapy could not withstand the flow of flame. Ivan nodded to his opponent and sent the bear back. Ivan summoned three skeletons, but Lyudmila managed to release the Fiery Fist of the first stage, reinforced with a large spiritual seed. True, she released it specifically over the heads of the skeletons, and Ivan gave up, realizing that it was not a mistake, and he had no cards left in his sleeve.

Lyudmila went up to Ivan and said:

- Well done, you would have won if I had not used the one-time attack artifact. But I was taught to use every means to win, so excuse me.

The woman responsible for the event congratulated Lyudmila on her victory and announced that those who took the first four places would receive points of the university-wide rating and one magical artifact or tool for the intermediate level to choose from. To select an artifact, four students followed the woman to the educational building, where magical artifacts and tools were prepared in a special room. Lyudmila was the first to choose, and after considering all the items, she took a magical artifact capable of restoring half the energy of the nebula of one element, after which it must recharge for half a day. Ivan took a reusable vessel for the souls of creatures of the level up to the Leader of the Pack, in which two souls lay.

Leaving the office, Ivan met Pavel, Olga and Marina, who were waiting for him. Olga immediately said:

- I blew again! Although this time she used an artifact, it doesn't change anything.

- Yeah, after she used such a powerful artifact for the average level, I wonder even more who she is. In addition, she said that the artifact was disposable. - Ivan said.

- I will try to ask around, she is with me in the same main department, besides, she is the second in the ranking of the main department among the newcomers, - said Marina.

- Enough to discuss this girl, let's better go to the bar - Olga said, after which Ivan and Pavel immediately agreed, and Marina just went for the company.

From the next day, academic days at the university began - theoretical pairs in departments and duels between students in the same rating. You could call any student who was in the rating not lower than you, and the winner was awarded points according to the place in the opponent's rating and his results in magic fights. Duels were held using elements corresponding to the rating: in duels according to the rating of the department, only the element of the department can be used, or, if the element of the department at the level of the cultivation of opponents does not contain attacking techniques, then it was allowed to use the second element, but only at one level and stage, in duels according to the general institution rating, only the elements of the institute can be used, and in duels according to the general university rating, all elements can be used.

Of course, first of all, students gave preference to promotion in the ranking of the main department, because the laggards fly out every six months. Ivan, in order to raise the draft rating, it was necessary to acquire a contract beast, but those that could be bought did not fit Ivan's standards - the student believed that there was no point in getting a contract beast that could not develop into a commander. Ivan asked his friends, but they had no idea where to get such a beast. The student's parents, who could help in this matter, were on an expedition to Siberia, there was no connection with them. Therefore, Ivan decided to ask Lyudmila, with whom he usually only exchanged a few words when crossing the chair of space.

Somehow in early October, Ivan found Lyudmila at the department, came up and asked:

- Hello, listen, do you know where you can get a contract beast, developing in maturity to a commander?

- Hello, if such beasts could be easily found, all summoning mages would have such. - said Lyudmila - But I'll find out, in case of success you will have to.

A few days later, Lyudmila went up to Ivan and said:

- Hello, you are very lucky, my sister recently discovered a magical creature - a cub with an aura of the element of chaos. The problem is that he moves quickly, but that's why my sister hasn't caught him yet - she has no time. Now he is in the area of ​​Lake Ladoga, my sister gave me a device tracking this creature. Will you go fishing? Anyway, you don't have to appear at the university, by the way, I'll go with you - I won't trust you with my sister's device.

- Oh, thank you very much, I don't know how to thank you, let's go tomorrow morning? I need to call some more friends. - Ivan said happily.

- Yes, let's see you tomorrow then - said Lyudmila and left.

"I wonder why she helps me so much? We didn't even really become friends. You have to be on your guard with her "

After talking with Lyudmila, Ivan immediately called his friends - Olga and Pavel agreed to go, although they advised not to trust Lyudmila too much. Marina did not agree to go, as she lagged behind in the ranking and was going to persistently cultivate.

The next day Ivan, Olga, Pavel and Lyudmila went to Lake Ladoga to catch the animal.