World of Energy

As he was falling through the hole, he tried analyzing his surroundings. He couldn't see a think in the pitch black pit and there probably wasn't anything for him to grab. 'The only thing that's getting me out of this is a spell', he thought. He closed his eyes and started concentrating all the Energy he had left into his hands. A large gust of wind shaped like a ball.

'It's either do or die at this point', he said with exhaustion.

He flexed his arm and threw the spell down with maximum force. After a few seconds, a loud noise reached Ichiro's ears. Immediately after, he was boosted upwards, like he was using a jetpack.

He landed on the floor, next to the old man.

'Impressive, young one', he exclaimed looking at him.

'Not so impressive when you're about to die.', he mumbled at the old man. 'What were you going to do if I failed?', he asked.

'There is a teleporter at the bottom of the hole. It brings you back here'

'First, how is there an actual bottom to that void? And second... was all the Energy I wasted in vain?'

'No, not really. I use this test to determine whether or not you are able to withstand the practice I'm going to assign you to. And I will have to place you in a ranking system. But I'm going to tell you about it later. For now, welcome to the Tsurugi Academy!', the old man said.

'Hah... yeah, thank you.', Ichiro mumbled.

'Now, I'm going to show you the way to the guest room, that's where you'll be staying for a while.', Wu said.

'Alright'.

The two of them started walking around the building. As Wu was showing Ichiro around, he explained to him how their ranking system worked. Depending on the abilities of the fighter and the raw power, there were 4 ranking groups that they could be in. S(the best one), A, B and C(the worst). Group C wasn't a bad one, but the people placed in that rank were either lacking experience or the basics. There are 10 people in rank S, 12 in A, 12 in B and 15 in C, also ranked . To promote to the next rank, the respective had to fight the one who was placed first in their rank group and win 2 out of three fights to promote. In battles, the fighters are using weapons, but no physical damage is made. The fight damages the Life Force, which can be regenerated by resting. The one who's Life Force reaches 80% or below during a fight, loses. There are three rounds and the loss condition for the last one is 40% Life Force or less.

'This is really darn complicated. Is this all though?', Ichiro asked in confusion.

'Yes. There are actually two more things I need to mention. We have another rank. The SS rank which only one person is part of, you'll meet her soon. She'll be the one you'll face to determine which rank is suiting for you', the Sensei said.

'Well, I hope I'm not going to get instantly killed..'

'No, she'll be on the defensive pretty much the whole fight'.

After Ichiro entered his room, Wu left, telling him to meet him in the main hall three hours later. He unpacked his things, which were not many and sorted them out a bit with the little space he had avaliable. He pulled out his katana from his backpack. That sword was his grandfather's which made it very special for him, as he was the only person in his family he didn't hate . Yuichiro Shuuya, his grandpa, was one of the strongest Energy users of all times. He could use Water, Air and Fire, which was absurd for those times. Nowadays, using two elements was slightly above average, while using three was fairly impressive.

Ichiro picked up his katana and took a battle stance. He tried concentrating his Energy on the sword. He wanted to use the first form of his Aura. Aura is basically the Energy he uses, but Aura is the physical form of that Energy. Every element has Aura. The Water Aura has 8 forms, or abilities. The Fire one has 10, while the Earth one has 13 and the Wind one has 9. The combined ones, such as Lighting, all have 6. All the forms have their own names, only changing slightly depending on the weapon. There are zero Auras which can be used without weapons. Ichiro wanted to master Wind Aura 1 (Stream Slash). The ability allows it's user to form small air currents around the target as Wind slightly damages the enemy's Life Force depending on the duration.

After about an hour and a half of practicing, he still was at square one. He only had a couple weak Wind spells that didn't require any weapons. And usually those are the weakest. Only one non-elemental skill was actually doing something. He had one spell named Enhance. He was the one to actually come up with it. The skill simply enhances every muscle in the user's body using their Energy and some of their Life Force. Ichiro was able to scale it up to 110%. It's a lot considering humans usually use about 60-70% on a regular basis.

After a while, he got ready and started walking to the hallway Wu was waiting at. A girl was standing next to him. For what Ichiro was expecting she was rather... short.

'So, you're the new guy, huh?', she said confidently.

'Yeah..'

'Ichiro, the fight can start any second from now. The start of a fight isn't announced.', said Wu.

The old man backed up and casted a barrier spell on the two of them.

'Now then, show me what you got'.

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