The Copy Mage

Damian communicated to Kong not to fight back against Elder Ray and despite just barely finishing the first round in time and being very fatigued, he rushed over to the observing stands that only the elders had access to.

He didn't care what the consequences were, and he wasn't about to let Kong get hurt or worse, put down, just because he helped him to stop the cheating that was taking place.

"There is no need to come up here, just go back to where you were, I will sort everything out" called out the Great Elder who suddenly appeared beside Elder Ray.

"You filthy beast daring to attack an elder, I will make sure you never see the light of day" he bellowed as he went to strike Kong's head, but he suddenly stopped as he looked to his side to find the old man.

"I will let you off for what you did to my disciple in this round. The kids may fight between themselves, but if you want seniors like us to get involved, I will make sure you, your son and your entire family are never able to step foot in this academy again" whispered the great elder before taking Kong from his clutches.

Kong climbed onto the old man's shoulder and stuck its tongue out at Elder Ray as it began laughing and teasing him, while Damian let out a sigh of relief seeing that Kong was okay.

The moment he relaxed his body, Damian felt himself falling back, and he had overexerted himself during the first round, but before he fell, Milo and Cole appeared at either side of his body and held him up.

"You made it just in time. What happened?" they asked, since they were unable to watch what Damian had been doing while they headed towards the finish line.

While Damian was speaking to them and telling them what had happened, Kong jumped off the great elder and went over to Damian, who thanked him and let the monkey beast rest on his shoulder.

"You will all have 2 hours to rest and recover. The next round will take place in the arena and if you arrive late, you will be disqualified," announced the great elder sternly before turning around and walking away.

Usually, they would only be given an hour to recover, but seeing how fatigued Damian was, the great elder, who was amazed by his performance, doubled the resting time.

The students had no reason to complain while none of the elders had anything to say about it, and wouldn't dare to voice their opinion anyway, as it was clear that he wasn't in the best of moods.

His status was on par with that of the principal within that branch of the academy, while his strength was rumoured to be unbelievable and he had displayed his speed when appeared beside Elder Ray in an instant.

As he walked away, the elders also began to disperse and Damian caught a glimpse of Elder Ray just as he was about to leave, and it was clear that he was angry, but also intimidated by the great elder.

[Thank you for the protection old man. For that, I am forever grateful] he said to himself.

Spending the two hours wisely and recovering as much as he could, Damian made his way towards the arena with his friends and arrived a few minutes before the second round began.

But there were some of the last to arrive and most students were too afraid to stroll in last after how serious the great elder was when he gave the announcement.

They stood around in the arena for a few moments and in the centre of the arena, there was a large staircase that could fit a few dozen people.

It was the famed Pressure Stairs and there were 10 large steps in total.

Most would only be able to make it to the second step, while the third step was the requirement to enter the Inner Academy.

The purpose behind the test was not to test one's physical strength or capabilities, but one's resolve and will power.

Using Arrays, Runes and beast cores, they formed a staircase that would produce pressure that varied and increased depending on one's strength.contemporary romance

That made it so that it was completely fair and those that were stronger would struggle just as much as those weaker than them, making it a competition to see who could push themselves the most.

"10 of you at a time begin climbing the stairs. If you reach the third and above, head to the left side of the arena, if not, please leave the arena or you can head to the right side to continue watching," 

It wasn't the great elder himself that was controlling and overseeing this round up close, but he was watching from the watching stand of the arena, and beside him were quite a few other elders, looking for any possible disciples, and interested to see the results of the students.

10 by 10, the students that were left began climbing the stairs, and those that didn't have enough drive and determination would fail miserably, while there was only a handful that had managed to surpass the third step.

The highest so far had been the fourth step and Damian and his friends hadn't experienced the pressure of the staircase for themselves, but were still confident that they would be able to surpass the fourth step.

Since they were the last to arrive, they were the last in the queue and had seen how much all the students before them had struggled.

However, that didn't intimidate them in the slightest and merely made them more excited as they walked towards the staircase with two other students that had previously arrived just before them.

"Want to place a bet on who can reach the furthest?" asked Cole, confident in his willpower.

All of them were thinking the same thing and Milo suggested that the one that climbed the least steps would have to buy all of them food, and they all agreed as they began climbing the staircase.

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