Arcane Heir: History's Strongest Mage

"This should be good." Rudy muttered, nudging him on the elbow.

Michael nodded silently as he watched Braydon's team head down the stairs and into the arena. He was thankful that they were not the first names called for the exam—especially after hearing the professor speak earlier.

Watching others compete first would allow him to gauge just how strong a tier-two beast was. Despite seeing some magical beasts in the wilderness between Velmara and Whitevalley, Michael was not knowledgeable enough at the time to infer their strength.

All he knew was that they were far too strong for him. But now that he'd attended Arcadia for a while, he had learned the classifications for magical beasts.

Similar to spell tiers, magical beasts were broken into tiers from one to eight—with one being the weakest and eight being the strongest. Of course there were higher tiers, but those were reserved for mythical and ancient spells.

A magical beast was classified through a variety of criteria. Attack, defense, lethality and temperament. Generally, if the attack of a beast is equal to a tier two spell, it would be classed as a tier two beast—but that was not always the case.

Usually, the final grade was based on the criteria with the highest tier. Since the ferocious beast had a tier two defense, and its attack was tier two—it was classed as such.

While there were certainly outliers when it came to ranking magical beasts, this was the general standard.

Yet as Michael watched from the crowd, a question popped into his mind.

Where is the boar? Do they have one for each team? He thought, scratching his head.

Apparently it wasn't just him who was confused.

Yet in the next moment, a violet magic circle appeared in the middle of the platform startling everyone present. The surrounding space seemed to shimmer, displacing the light from the sun—blinding them for a moment.

Then in front of his eyes, a figure appeared.

Its body was huge, twenty feet in length and ten feet high—covered in thick matted fur. On its gigantic head, two large tusks protruded from its jaw, curling upwards slightly, giving it an almost demonic look.

Its whip-like tail, pointy ears and flat snout gave away its identity almost instantly.

At first the figure looked surprised, but its gaze quickly fell upon the professor and Braydon's team ahead of it. The ferocious boar raised its head and squealed, the shrill sound echoing within the arena.

Michael felt shocked seeing the display. Not only was the boar huge, it seemed extremely aggressive.

"Your exam begins now!" The professor shouted, casually kicking off the platform and jumping to the edge of the arena. As her shapely body gracefully landed, the space around the platform shimmered slightly before a shield manifested.

Braydon, Craig and Toby turned serious, only now getting over the shock at the sudden appearance of the boar. The former got into a ready position and started to bark out orders—telling his lackeys to surround the beast.

The boar ignored the other two, its wild gaze focused on him intently.

It lowered its head, pawing at the ground as if preparing to charge. The sight was intimidating, so much so that the first-year students in the crowd were dead silent, watching with bated breath.

Michael too felt intimidated as he watched from the stands.

But before he could even think, the large body of the boar moved into action, keeping its head low as it surged directly towards Braydon. It was as if no other target existed but the one in front of it.

"Now!" Braydon yelled, ordering his lackeys.

Craig and Toby shot forwards, their target the hind legs of the beast. As if they'd rehearsed it, the two landed a sharp kick to the joint of the leg, aiming to kill its mobility.

"ARGH!"

However, they both yelped out in pain as their attacks landed, causing a few students to jump in fright. It seemed they had underestimated the defense of the boar.

Their technique is lacking… Michael commented inwardly.

The combat technique should allow a mage their level to land an attack with the power of tier three or four—provided they did it correctly. Even Melody with her lackluster control had been able to hit tier three prior to her improvement.

But for some reason, Craig and Toby were unable to do so.

However, it shouldn't be surprising.

It's a lot harder to pull off in the middle of a fight, he thought, feeling some anxiousness.

Braydon's expression turned grim as he saw his teammates fail to execute the plan, but surprisingly he didn't panic. He tucked his elbows into his sides and lowered his head slightly—as if powering up.

Even from the stands Michael could see the orange mana sparking up his arm, an indication that he was filling his muscles with mana.

However, with the ferocious boar accelerating towards him, it looked like he was about to get trampled.

By the side, professor Quinn's body tensed up slightly, as if ready to make a move the moment anything seemed out of control.

As the gap closed between Braydon and the ferocious boar, the class held their breath. Worry, anticipation, horror—many emotions were present as they waited for the result of the clash.

"TAKE THAT!" Braydon bellowed, stepping forward and planting his left foot before twisting his body—sending a straight on punch towards the thick skull of the boar.

A dull thud echoed within the arena, causing a feeling of dread within the hearts of those present. Dirt and dust was sent flying into the air from the impact, obscuring the scene.

Michael narrowed his eyes, trying to see the result, yet the dust cloud made it impossible. He turned his gaze to the professor, only to see that she was still in the same position, a satisfied smile on her face.

Did he defeat it? In a single punch?

A deep squeal sounded once more, this time sounding a little disoriented.

"Kick its ass!" Braydon's voice cracked as he yelled out. In the next moment, the dust cloud grew in size before the sound of continuous dull thuds rang out from the arena.