Li Wei watched the Cyan Steel Wolf.

He made no move to cast his Magic.

The curse of the Ring of Arrogance restricted him.

He had to be attacked before he could launch an attack on the Cyan Steel Wolf.

Before that, if he showed even the slightest hint of offensive intent, the Power within him would be sealed, rendering it unusable.

It was a shackle that bound him.

The cruelest of curses.

The Cyan Steel Wolf stalked around the arena, closing in on Li Wei.

It was looking for an opening to strike.

Soon, it discovered that it didn’t need to look for one at all.

The human across from it showed no signs of being on guard.

Seeing this, the Cyan Steel Wolf lunged straight at Li Wei.

In the stands, the spectators grew more and more dismayed as they watched.

"He doesn’t even have any combat sense. It looks like his Level was really just bought with resources."

"Just fail him. Keeping someone like him will only bring shame to the Elemental Tower."

"Someone needs to give the Mage Association a piece of their mind. How did they even vet the candidates? To think they’d let someone like him in."

...

Some people couldn’t bear to watch any longer and turned to leave.

The Cyan Steel Wolf pounced on Li Wei, opened its cavernous, blood-red maw, and snapped down on his head.

The crowd watched in silence. No one made a move to intervene.

This was only an Illusion within the Secret Realm.

Even if Li Wei were actually bitten, he wouldn’t die.

The next second.

BANG!

A burst of fire erupted from the Cyan Steel Wolf’s mouth. It then crashed headfirst to the ground, dead on the spot.

Everyone froze, completely stunned.

"What just happened?"

"What was that?"

"How did the Cyan Steel Wolf die?"

Although it was an Illusion, it had been created based on the strength of a real Tier Two Magical Beast, a Cyan Steel Wolf.

This meant that Li Wei had just instantly killed a Tier Two Magical Beast.

It wasn’t difficult for a Tier Two Mage to instantly kill a Tier Two Magical Beast.

The problem was, he hadn’t performed any Casting at all.

Or rather, no one saw him use any Magic; the Cyan Steel Wolf had just died for no apparent reason.

The instructors who had been about to leave stopped in their tracks and turned back to look at the arena.

"Send in another Magic Beast. A Tier Two Rock Armor Turtle this time."

A moment later, the Cyan Steel Wolf’s corpse vanished.

A Tier Two Rock Armor Turtle materialized in the arena.

Li Wei saw this and simply assumed the exam was still in progress.

He looked at the Rock Armor Turtle, which peered back at him from inside its shell.

Their eyes met. Neither made the first move.

After a long silence, the crowd in the stands grew restless.

"What in the world is he doing?"

"Why isn’t he attacking the Rock Armor Turtle?"

"Have the Rock Armor Turtle attack him."

Upon receiving the command, the Rock Armor Turtle reluctantly emerged from its shell and attacked Li Wei.

Finger-thick spikes shot out from the shell on the Rock Armor Turtle’s back.

BOOM!

With a loud crack, countless spikes shot toward Li Wei.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

A Shield made of Hexagonal Crystals materialized in front of him, blocking all the spikes.

Li Wei felt the power of the Ring of Arrogance around him rapidly diminish.

He raised his hand and launched a Fireball.

WHOOSH!

The Fireball shot toward the Rock Armor Turtle.

In the stands, everyone wore expressions of shock.

"What kind of Defense Magic is that?"

"Why didn’t we see him perform the Casting?"

"The Fireball Skill?"

KABOOM! BANG!

The Fireball struck the Rock Armor Turtle, blasting the creature, with its astonishing Defense Power, onto its back.

Even the incredibly sturdy shell on its back cracked.

The spectators were utterly astonished.

"What kind of Fireball Skill was that? Why was it so powerful?"

"The Rock Armor Turtle’s shell is broken! The power of his Fireball Skill is probably comparable to Tier Three Magic."

"That’s just absurd!"

"No matter how you look at it, the Fireball Skill is only Tier One Magic. How did he do that?"

"It’s incomprehensible."

Suddenly, someone clapped their hands. "I’ve got it."

The others all turned to look at him.

The man said, "It must be because his Extraordinary Traits are incredibly powerful."

Everyone was speechless. ’As if we needed him to point that out.’

"But the question is, what exactly are his Extraordinary Traits?"

"It doesn’t say in his file."

"It says here he first awakened Extraordinary Traits on the Elemental Side. So it’s probably an Extraordinary Trait that amplifies the power of Fire Element Magic."

"Amplifying a Tier One Magic to the power of a Tier Three... that’s just monstrous!"

"We still don’t know the specifics. What should we do now?"

"Based on his performance, his practical combat deserves a perfect score. But his theory grade is terrible. Even with a perfect practical score, his total is only sixty points."

"Sixty points only gets you into the Red Level Class."

The instructors exchanged glances.

"So, what’s the verdict?"

"It’s a shame, but according to the Rules, this is the only way."

"Alright, have him exit the Secret Realm."

"The exam is over."

Li Wei heard a voice, and then a brilliant white light filled his vision.

When he came to, he found himself in the Secret Realm Plaza.

Everyone was discussing their scores.

They were all eager to see which class they would be assigned to.

Li Wei hadn’t even seen his practical combat score.

He felt uncertain.

Before long, the names of all the participants appeared on a stone monument in the Secret Realm Plaza.

Li Wei found his name near the very bottom.

Total score: sixty. Rank: sixth from the bottom.

Assigned to the Red Level Class.

As a Tier Two Mage, he was directly placed as a second-year student in the Red Level Class.

Essentially a transfer student.

Now that he was in the Red Level Class, if he wanted to switch, he would have to wait for the year-end exam.

An outstanding performance on that exam would give him a chance to move to a better class.

No one from this batch made it into the Purple Level Class.

The top scorer had 94 points and was assigned to the Blue Level Class.

He was the only one to make it into the Blue Level Class.

’Carl?’

Li Wei looked at the name of the person who had entered the Blue Level Class, a flicker of surprise on his face.

He hadn’t expected the unassuming Carl to get the highest score.

Carl, now in the Blue Level Class, was surrounded by a crowd, suddenly the center of attention.

He went from being an unknown Mage to the hot new talent everyone wanted to get close to. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Carl spotted Li Wei and walked over with a confident smile. "Li Wei," he greeted.

Li Wei nodded. "Congratulations."

Carl asked, "Which class did you get into?"

"The Red Level Class," Li Wei replied.

Upon hearing this, the surrounding crowd erupted in derisive laughter.

"Hahaha, what’s with the act? What’s the use of being rich?"

"I bet you just bought your way to that Level, didn’t you?"

"You’re not cut out to be a Mage. You should just go home and inherit your family’s fortune."

The crowd jeered at Li Wei.

They assumed Carl had approached Li Wei just to mock him.

In the crowd, only a few people remained silent.

They, too, were in the Red Level Class.

Some had even lower scores than Li Wei and were too ashamed to say anything.

Carl’s expression faltered at their words. He looked at Li Wei, clearly embarrassed.

He felt responsible for the criticism being directed at him.

Li Wei, however, looked completely unfazed.

"Are you done barking? Get lost. You’re in my way."

Everyone froze at his words.

One of them exploded with rage. "Who the hell do you think you are? How dare you insult me!"

"You have no idea who you’re messing with! A commoner like you dares to talk back to a noble? You should be dragged off and executed!"

"Don’t hold me back! I’m going to kill him!"

The one who had shouted rushed forward, then glanced awkwardly at the people beside him.

’I was just posturing,’ he thought. ’Why isn’t anyone stopping me?’

"What’s all the commotion? What’s going on here?"

Members of the Elemental Tower’s Disciplinary Committee saw the conflict brewing and walked over to investigate.