^^ The Nexus, early stages ^^

--- 96 Days AD ---

I leaned back, solving the puzzle ring in my hands in a manner of seconds, and tossed it back to Tizzy, who seemed annoyed.

"Alright, no need to be a Smartass." She huffed.

"Hm. Anyway, about this Jyardan, I know you usually spend it with your brother, but-"

"Class? Attention! Good. As you all know, Jyardan is always your day where there are no classes. You're also aware that there is a tournament that decides your continuation in your current courses. Yes?" The teacher stood up and addressed the class suddenly.

"Yes?" Most of us answered, confused.

"Good. Most of you are unaware as to when this tournament takes place. The preliminaries will decide if you're even close to capable of performing admirably in the tournament. Understand that winning is not what matters."

"Then what does?" I asked.

"What matters, is performance. The tournament is nothing but a stage in which you can display your abilities before the professors in a relatively safe, controlled environment. Even if you don't win, it doesn't mean you're not skilled enough to advance." She shook her head.

'Ahhh, the naturals will win, but that doesn't mean the rest are idiots... It's a simple question of natural skill and ability...'

"What's that mean?" One person asked.

"I know for certain that several of you are capable of Advanced skills, but there are also Experts and Masters among you, which presents an unfair advantage." She sighed.

"How so? Isn't that part of the game?" I asked.

"The masters will most likely easily win, of course, but the rest of the contestants will show their abilities to their best, and that's what matters, and that's what will get you advanced." She explained.

I nodded, nudging Tizzy. "Seems like fun, huh?" I grinned.

She smiled, and the elderly teacher spoke again. "The preliminaries take place this Jyardan, two days from now, in the Arena. The deadline for your semester projects, in the non-combat subjects, is in a month, the same day as the finals for the tournament, 4 Dewdan's from now. (Saturday)." She nodded.

"Hmph." I muttered, thinking about my projects.

"Make sure to have them done by then, or you will not pass this semester, and you will repeat it after the break. Go on, the class is over." She waved at us dismissively.

I stood, gathering my various blueprints into my satchel, and started walking towards the Core, humming in thought.

"Which of your semester projects have you turned in?" Tizzy asked.

"All but one... In applied engineering. They wouldn't accept any of my inventions, because they were just upgrades of current technology... And they thought the Tattoo machine was a torture device... Damn... I don't know what to do..." I sighed, sitting down on the ferry bench, headed to my personal island.

She sat across from me, along with Jazz, who'd come out of her class as well. "That's weird... What's the assignment? I never took that class." Jazz asked.

"I have to build something mechanical with engineering concepts as its basis, and I need to 'present it in a way that amazes them' Hmph." I snorted in derision, quoting the main teacher. "Those Pretentious old snobs don't even understand half of the things I say, and yet they presume to attempt to educate me." I snarled.

Jazz raised an eyebrow. "Calm down."

I sighed and nodded. "Sorry."

"Hm... Then just do something no one's ever done before." She shrugged.

Tizzy snickered. "It's not that easy. Almost everything has been done..."

"Has anyone ever mapped the planets and moons, and created a three dimensional interactive model before?" I asked, rubbing my chin, pulling up said model on my gauntlet's holographic projector.

"No? That's a mechanical gadget, But that's not engineering." She blinked in confusion.

"Damn... True... What about building a pyramid?" I asked.

"That's been done, but yes it's engineering." She shrugged.

I hummed and leaned back, looking up. Then I froze.

"What about an underground City?" I asked.

She raised and eyebrow and waved a hand towards the ceiling.

"No, not a college, a City! And this took thousands of people, right? Thousands of mages, decades! If I succeed, on my own, in a month... That's a first, yeah?" I asked.

She nodded, smiling. "Yes."

I grinned and started using my gauntlet 3D hologram programming to begin the blueprints for a city, using my own building blueprints for the city, as well as the many odd buildings in Dubai. I didn't feel bad for taking their ideas, because they were only used for a loose framework, and I would redesign most of the unique buildings.

We arrived at my island, and I left Jazz and Tizzy to their own devices, entering my workshop and transferring my current project to all the monitors except one. On that extra one, I had my Core running probability for any outcome I put in.

I started designing, and soon had a circular city, with the centermost circle being a small crescent moon, and a lake.

Rivers snaked through the city, also acting as streets, with Mag-Rail bullet trains suspended overhead. Ferries and Sky-Rails would be the major transportation.

It's city plan might seem random to anyone who didn't know Glyph's, but I had ulterior motives. The Glyph's I wanted to make for the solar system, they had to be huge, to work, and to handle the amounts of energy flowing through them.

So the center ring, made of the Crescent's underlying structure, would be the Glyph I needed. I'd altered it slightly, adding a second horned ring, that would hold the Formula I'd created, to push all energy used to break the glyph into powering it.

( ^^ The Altered Glyph for 'Hold' ^^ )

I smiled, looking at my finished plans for the city, which I was naming 'Nexus', as it was the center of the solar system I was organizing, and checked my clock.

22 hours had passed in the blink of an eye, and it was now nighttime, 97 Days AD. I dropped into my bed, falling asleep quickly.

--- 98 Days AD, Jyardan ---

I rolled out of bed, cracking my back, and was surprised by Jazz being totally awake, coming out of the shower, even though the clock on the wall showed it was only 07:00.

She laughed at my confusion. "We're fighting in the arena today! Did you expect me to sleep in?!?" She giggled, and started dressing in her armor.

I nodded and got a quick shower, sliding into my own armor, though I held my helmet, for now. I kissed her quickly. "Good luck." I grinned.

"Same to you. You'll need it more." She smirked.

"Oh? Ha! Is that arrogance I hear?" I smirked.

She sobered. "No. I'm serious. There are no masters in the Adept class. You are placed in your class from the first year. That means first years have some masters and experts, whereas adept doesn't. They've already been moved on." She shook her head.

I smiled. "Ahh. Well. That makes sense. Too bad for them I'm a little more experienced in actual warfare than my prey." I grinned savagely, and playfully swatted her rump as I slipped past her.

She smiled and purred deep in her chest, and then sheathed a pair of oddly shaped daggers on her waist. "Good." She said.

"Where's Tizzy?" I asked.

"She's in her dorm. She had to get ready and didn't want to take the ferry today." She shrugged.

I nodded. "Makes sense... Alright. Gem? We'll be needing a ride to the Arena." I smiled.

Gem crawled out of my pocket for the first time in a while, and shifted to her full form. I mounted her neck, and Jazz blinked. "What is that?" She asked.

"This is Gem, my Dragon Familiar. I made her from a bird, Snake, and fish." I shrugged. "But shush, she's a secret." I winked.

She smiled. "Full of surprises... Hmph." She mounted behind me, and we took off. We were at the arena within a minute, and she shifted back to her tiny form midair, prompting me to tuck her into my pocket and catch Jazz. No one saw her, that I could tell.

I landed relatively easily, my legs aching and straining, but that was it. I set Jazz on her feet, and we walked inside of the arena.

The signs were displaying that the matches began in ten minutes, meaning we'd have been late if we took the ferry.

The first class being tested was the beginner magical warfare, which meant I was supposed to already be in the arena. Tizzy was down there already.

I leapt over the edge, dropping the thirty feet relatively easily, then jogged over to the large group of students.

"Alright! Quiet! The preliminaries will begin shortly!" The announcer/referee announced.

Tizzy chuckled quietly. "Cutting it a little close, don't you think?"

"I'm the master of close calls." I murmured.

"Clearly." She raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, we're going to pair you off on groups of ten, and ask you to begin at different parts of the arena, and then the rules are simple. Unconsciousness counts as forfeit, and the battles continue until all but one of the ten has forfeited. Only magical warfare is allowed, though any form of magic is permitted. Does everyone understand?" He asked.

I slipped my helmet on, and activated my visor, scanning the group for abnormalities.

"Alright.-"

He began picking people and pointing them to parts of the stadium, ten in all. I was not chosen, but that was favorable, because I could observe and learn the format better.

The rest of us were ushered into a waiting area like a balcony, overlooking the arena. I leaned against the railing, watching intently.

The match began, and immediately one woman dominated the others, obliterating three's guards in a matter of seconds, and knocking them out with what looked like sound-waves.

The remaining six give her little to no trouble, and she was quickly announced the winner. Her name was Ira, a fitting name, with her wraithlike sound attacks.

The second group was called, and I, again, was not called upon, while Tizzy was. I gave her a good luck kiss, laughing. "Good luck, my love."

She grinned. "I'll be fine."

They went down into the arena, and I watched intently.

They were scattered, and I watched intently. When they were started, I kept my gaze wide, seeing everything, not just Tizzy. She overpowered one other Mage easily, and then began a power struggle with the last others, three rather skilled younger mages.

It ended in her knocking out one with a levitated rock behind his head, exposing herself in the process, allowing another mages attacks past her guard. She was knocked back by the concussive force, but relatively unharmed as the remaining two fought amongst each other.

I hummed. "I see... Very amusing..."

"What is?" A random Mage next to me asked, looking my armored form up and down.

"The most common form of attack from beginner mages is a concussive blast or a flame attack. The more talented mages are more... Creative. And apparently the weaker mages aren't afraid of team work. Good tactics. But unlikely to work in a real situation." I shrugged.

He snorted. "And you'd know?"

"I would. War is a lot less flashy than these little mages seem to believe... That will work to my advantage." I nodded.

"What will?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Their Naivety." I said simply.

--- 14:00 ---

The last set of ten was called, and I was finally on the roster. "Alright, you lot, remember the rules. No weapons- especially you, Lord Caleb, disarm yourself." He pointed to me.

I placed all my weapons in a chest nearby for this very purpose, locking it with a locks and also magic, and he nodded.

"Alright. And also, no intentional maiming, no Familiar's-"

"I thought any type of attack magic was allowed?" I asked.

"They count as weapons. That's the rules." He shrugged.

"And if I shift?"

"That's not attack magic. So, it's not allowed." He shook his head.

I sighed. "Go on?"

"Alright, no weapons of any kind, no maiming, no killing, and if your opponent forfeits, they lose, so don't attack them." He shook his head.

"Aww. Fun hater." I muttered.

"And remember, this is to show the extent of your knowledge of magic, not to defeat your enemies as quickly as possible, like it would be in a normal Mage fight, so focus on using your skills, not winning the tournament." He added in at the last moment.

"That's annoyingly basic." I grinned and jumped into the arena, ignoring the lift, and using magic to soften my landing, bending my knees.

About fifteen seconds later, the others arrived, and I stepped into the shadows that had grown on the walls as the day went by, distorting the light so it went around me. I immediately faded into the darkness, and smirked behind my mask as the match was started.

"Happy hunting, my friends..." I grinned.