Chapter 5- Selection begins.

The guard at the gate took Ivagi's token and let him in. Ivagi was told to wait outside. There were many other people here to join the Academy. It was quite famous in Arkhem and even across the continent.

A bell rang, and the crowd looked in the direction of the sound. An old man with white hair floated down to the podium. He was quite short but had a lavish appearance. One of his eyes was missing, and he had the face of a warrior.

He spoke, "Welcome, everyone, to the Zelda Academy! Our academy accepts only the best of the best. There is still time for you to leave if you're too scared to take part in the upcoming selection ceremony. It will be a tournament between different students, and only the top 100 will be accepted. Ten of you will be accepted as core disciples. The tournament will commence once everyone's grading is completed. You can start moving to the training station now."

The crowd cheered and started conversing.

Ivagi was sitting in a corner since there wasn't anyone he knew. He looked pale because he didn't get much sleep last night and had a severe headache.

"Ohhh, you're here. What's up!" A figure arrived beside him. It was Luwen. He looked at Ivagi and noticed his pale face. Ivagi told him he needed to meditate, not wanting to worry him. Luwen understood and silently left.

Just then, the tournament started. It was a one-versus-one format, and people had to wait for their turn. Some were defeated quickly, and some got scared and quit. It was the way of this world—the strong dominated the weak. The big fish ate the small fish.

After a while, Ivagi's number was called, and he slowly moved to the arena. It looked like a coliseum, but the material used here was adamantine stone. He stared at his opponent—a masked person standing still on the opposite side.

Ivagi quickly dashed around the arena in a zigzag motion, but the opponent didn't move an inch. Ivagi then jumped up and threw a punch. The masked person dodged it and countered with a punch of his own. Ivagi was about to dodge, but just as he moved away, he was pulled back to his original location. The punch landed, and Ivagi was knocked back. He was confused and stared at his opponent gloomily.

The masked person finally moved and got very close to Ivagi. The same thing occurred again—Ivagi couldn't dodge. The audience was shocked and thought the masked person was unbeatable.

Ivagi panted and jumped into the air. The masked person followed, but Ivagi used one of his spells to create a smoke screen. Silence filled the arena, and the audience grew frustrated as they couldn't see the fight.

Suddenly, the smoke cleared, and the masked person came into view. He was down, his helmet broken off, looking melted. Ivagi stood there with a cape over his head. The crowd was annoyed, but Ivagi was announced as the winner. He hurriedly rushed back to his private room, sweating profusely. He looked pale and breathed heavily.

He looked at his hands and removed the cape covering his head. His pupils had changed into a serpent's shape. His right hand emitted the same smoke as before. One of his fingers looked melted and had turned black. He grunted and screamed silently. His head ached again, and his surroundings changed. He was shocked, his pupils shrinking. A vortex appeared, and a lady's arm reached out from it. Then, thousands of snakes slithered out of the cracks in the vortex, wrapping around Ivagi and swallowing him. Ivagi screamed in agony. The pain was unbearable—it felt like being struck by lightning while the snakes' venom burned like an active volcano. Ivagi fainted.

When he woke up, everything had returned to normal, but he was traumatized and filled with fear. He looked at his arm and noticed a black dot on his pinky fingernail. During the fight, Ivagi had been injured inside the smokescreen. While he was down, the masked man rushed at him, but Ivagi disappeared from the spot. He smiled creepily and grabbed the masked man's head. Just as he was about to kill him, his senses returned, and he quickly stopped.

He was confused and lost. He didn't know why this was happening. He decided to cover his hands with a cloth that had sealing runes. This cloth would be given to students once they passed, allowing them to protect anything valuable or seal an area.

Meanwhile, the grandmaster of Zelda had noticed the strange power fluctuations during Ivagi's fight and ordered someone to investigate both Ivagi and the masked man. Ivagi was now under watch. He knew he couldn't hide this for much longer—the headmaster and the elders were extremely powerful. So, he decided to lay low after the tournament and slowly train while searching for Sister Erza.

Soon, the tournament was over, and it was time for the different elders of the guilds to select new members. Many shining stars emerged among the competitors, especially a youth named Yonas. He won his match in under three seconds, using a single spell to make his opponent faint. Many guilds had their eyes on Yonas.

There were six guilds in the academy: Purple Moonflower, Abyssal Scavengers, Ice Water Howlers, Crimson Snakes, Diamond Puppeteers, and God's Messengers. Yonas chose to join the strongest guild, God's Messengers, and was kindly accepted by an elder. Rumors said this guild only accepted two members every selection year and was shrouded in mystery.

The Purple Moonflower guild had the most members. If someone was selected by them, their future was secure. The Ice Water Howlers weren't as strong compared to the others, but their elder was comparable to Zelda Academy's headmaster.

The Diamond Puppeteers recruited only those with strong physiques. They had a unique body-refining method that made their members as tough as diamonds.

The most mysterious and ominous group was the Abyssal Scavengers. Most people avoided them, and the guild rarely pursued new members. It was said that they used unorthodox training methods and even had criminals among their ranks.

The guilds slowly started picking members. The top 10 could join any guild they wanted. Many were selected and went to their respective guilds. Ivagi, however, was left out. After a long time of waiting, no one picked him. Their gazes simply swept past him. Almost all the spots were filled.

Finally, Ivagi made a decision—he chose to join the Crimson Snakes. This guild had few members and used reptilian methods for training, conducting research on them. It was said that the guild's elder was a legendary dragon. Many would have already joined this guild if not for its strict training and methods. Members trained six times a week and still had to complete numerous chores for the guild.

Fortunately, the guild provided him with a monthly allowance and low-rank pills for training and recovery. Ivagi's personality had changed significantly over the past few months due to the various events he had experienced. He had much to worry about and little time. He closed his eyes and began absorbing the surrounding ki energy, converting it into qi liquid and filling up his dantian. His dantian was now like a vast sea, brimming with vitality. Drops of green Qi liquid slowly fell and filled the dantian continuously.

Ivagi had learned a lot since he started training as a conjurer. Although it hadn't been long, he was able to master basic spells like Illuminate, Smokescreen, Body strengthening, etc. He was currently practicing one of the spells on the book given to him by master Rokan. The spell was called"Qi thunder blade". Although he could learn this spell right now, he needed to have a bit of control over thunder to use it.

Ivagi went to the guild's library to search for thunder spell books but most of them couldn't be accessed by him currently. So he could only give up on this idea right now. He decided he would modify the spell to make it a long range blade slash spell. By gathering a large amount of qi on his palm, he could quickly shoot out a slash of Qi blade. Although he couldn't display it's full power without the thunder infused, it was still effective for many situations.

Two days went by in a flash and the selection ceremony was over. The newly selected members and disciples were called in by their respective guilds elders. Ivagi was also called and he went to the main hall.