I became very nervous again, with Jack sitting right next to me, and I still didn't know why I was like that.
"Congratulations on your fight," Jack said, breaking the silence. His tone was kind and made my chest tighten. "You did well out there."
"Um, t-thanks," I said.
He smirked and said, "No need to be so tense. You earned that score, Ark."
I nodded sheepishly but didn't make eye contact. He wasn't wrong about me getting a score of 70; that was good, but the 20 extra points made it hard to be happy.
"What's got you so nervous?" he asked.
I didn't respond. He turned to the arena and asked something that made my face pale. "Is it about what your grandfather did?"
I turned to him in fear and worry but I could see his face, it was calm and caring.
"I don't know what you mean," I said quickly, but Jack didn't believe me and waited.
I turned away and breathed, relenting to his gaze. "He only donated some rare resources to the academy. He did it on his own without my knowledge in order to make it easier for me to get in."
It wasn't the entire truth, but it wasn't a lie either.
He listened to my response and nodded. "I won't pry into your family dynamics or past. Just know I am always available to talk if you need it."
He then stood up and turned to the arena.
"Oh, and don't push yourself to talk if you aren't ready. We just met, after all, so it's understandable," he said calmly and walked away to watch his friend.
I stared back at him and placed my face in my hands. 'Why does he do this to me!' I shouted internally.
After another minute, I heard the announcer say, "Araki of the Blackvine Tribe!"
At the other gate, a massive creature lumbered into the arena. I could only stare in shock. I'd never seen anything like it before.
Its main body was a massive boulder. Instead of a head, a glowing runic design was carved into the front of the boulder, glowing with blue light.
Its limbs were smaller stones and rocks, held together by glowing strands of magic. The arms were long and ended in hammer-like fists, while its legs were thick, supporting its size.
None of the rocks were touching each other; instead, they were all floating a little bit apart from each other.
"What is that?" I heard several people ask, confused.
"It's a Stone Golem!" the Orc person I saw earlier shouted in surprise.
I turned to Jack, but he wasn't paying attention to what the others were saying. Instead, he was watching Araki closely with a look of worry on his face.
I hadn't seen him worried once this entire time, so it was a shock.
I turned back to the fight and noticed what Araki was holding. It was then that I realized why Jack was worried.
Araki was holding a bow and quiver of arrows.
'Arrows against a walking pile of boulders! How is he supposed to pass?!' I thought to myself.
The golem started to move towards Araki, but thankfully, it was slow, so Araki had some extra time.
He pulled back an arrow and aimed for the main body.
clink
The arrow hit and bounced off the hard stone.
He pulled back another arrow and aimed for the joints.
clink
The same thing happened, and the golem didn't slow down. It seemed to be moving faster.
Araki started to move around and keep his distance, and the golem followed.
The golem, seeing it couldn't get closer, punched the ground, pulled out a large boulder, and threw it at Araki.
The boulder moved fast, but thankfully, he dodged it in time, though he was shocked by its precision.
"It shouldn't have known to do that," I heard Jack mumble to himself, and I became even more worried.
'Could someone be controlling it or making it smarter?' I thought.
Araki and the golem continued like this for a while, but Araki was picking up dust in the hope of blinding it and shooting arrows at the golem as well. Though because he was running, he missed several arrows, and they just stuck into the ground.
Eventually, Araki made a full circle around the golem and was back where he started.
"Wait... no, he isn't!" Jack exclaimed in surprise and astonishment.
Everyone around him turned in confusion, but seeing him excited drew all our attention back to the fight.
Araki then ran towards the golem, which surprised us all.
I watched as the golem swung at him, but Araki slowed down just before he came within striking distance and jumped on top of the golem's arm.
He pulled out an arrow and tried to stab the golem in the arm with it. He managed to get the arrow stuck in a crack, but nothing more.
He then jumped off its arm and ran away in another direction.
It was then that I noticed a circle with a diameter of 20 feet drawn into the ground surrounding the golem.
'How did that get there?' I thought in confusion, then realized, 'Wait! Isn't that where he was running earlier?'
I turned back to Araki and noticed one thing: he was dragging his tail on the ground. No lizardman ever did that when running, so I knew it was suspicious.
As I watched, he made a sharp turn back toward the golem and fired some more arrows at it. They all missed, but he didn't stop running.
"Is he suicidal?!" one person said.
Araki then made a wide turn before he reached the golem, still dragging his tail on the ground.
'What is he drawing, something?' I thought.
We continued to watch as Araki ran around, dragging his tail on the ground and avoiding the golem.
When Araki finally stopped running, he was standing on the outside of the circle, and the golem was walking towards him, moving closer to the center of the circle.
The drawing he did was unknown to me, but several people had looks of astonishment, including the kobold mage, Zek.
"Impossible! A circle that big requires too much mana for him to have. Unless..." Zek said, confused, but then realized Araki's plan.
I was still in the dark, though and could only watch.
When the golem got close enough to the center of the circle, Araki pulled out a small crystal and placed it on the edge of the circle.
Suddenly, from all the arrows he missed that landed inside the circle, lines of orange magic appeared and connected them in a specific pattern.
I noticed the lines matched what Araki had drawn into the ground and realized it was a magic circle, though what it did I couldn't tell.
He backed away and said a spell I couldn't hear.
I noticed the arrow Araki stuck into the golem glowed a blue light instead of orange, and a blue line of magic between the golem and the small crystal was formed.
Then the magic circle pulsed, and a massive column of flames erupted from the circle.
I could feel the intense heat from where I was sitting, and no one said a word, just stared at the absurdity of what was happening in front of us. All of us, except for Jack, who had a crazed and excited look.,
The golem was caught in the middle and couldn't bear the heat. It turned orange, and some of the smaller stones began to melt or crumble from the intense heat.
After a full minute, Araki leaned over, panting, as the fire died down, and we could see the golem.
Its limbs had all crumbled or melted, and the boulder it had for a body had cracked in half.
Araki had killed the golem.
No sound could be heard; everyone was silent, too shocked to say anything.
Only after a full 2 minutes could a sound be heard.
The announcer, hesitating a bit, said, "A-Araki, 92 points."
Nothing happened, and Araki, after catching his breath, bowed and walked back to the viewing area.
My mind was racing, trying to process what I'd just seen.
When Araki got back, he walked over and sat next to Jack, ignoring everyone else.
When he sat down, Jack placed a hand on his back and congratulated him, "You did great, Araki. I can't believe you thought of that!"
He sighed, clearly tired.. "Yeah, but I only won by using its core as the power source, and even then it was a gamble, but thankfully it worked."
"Well, regardless, it was awesome!" Jack said.
"Glad you liked it. Now if you don't mind, I am going to sleep," Araki said and laid down on the bench, instantly falling asleep.
"Attention, all students and applicants. We are going to take a 20-minute break to repair the damage to the arena."
"And to the other applicants, please take this time to rest and get ready for your exam," the announcer said to everyone in the arena.
I didn't hear any responses, just people getting up and walking away, probably still in shock from what Araki did.
A few of the other applicants who built up the courage went up and asked Jack what Araki did while I listened from a bit farther away.
Jack then proceeded to explain how he did it.
"Araki used his tail to draw a magic circle into the ground."
"Araki uses a special type of magic passed down by his family that gives him a mental connection to all his arrows for a few minutes after being shot."
"Thanks to this ability, all the arrows he shot into the ground would act as magical conduits."
"He used the design he drew out on the ground as a guide for the magic and created a giant magic circle with it."
"Think of it as making a mold for casting metal. His tail made the mold and the magic was the metal."
They were satisfied with that answer and were about to walk away when Zek, the kobold, asked in a rough yet slightly high-pitched voice, "He used the golem's core for the power, didn't he?"
Jack looked down at the kobold and nodded. "Good eye. The arrow he stuck into the golem acted as an improvised conduit to transfer the magic in its core to the circle to act as the power source."
"What core?" one applicant asked.
Jack pointed to the golem's remains. "Look inside its main body. You can see a large crystal. That was its core and power source. Without it, the golem would just be a bunch of rocks."
"Overall you could say the golem powered the magic that killed it."
Zek stared at Jack, then at the sleeping Araki.. "And because of all the calculations and mental strain that required, it caused him to pass out."
"Pretty much," Jack said with a laugh.
"You Zek, right? You know a lot about magic," Jack said to the kobold.
"I have been studying under my master for years. Of course, I know a lot," he said smugly.
"Well, I hope to see you around," Jack said.
Zek looked doubtful but interested. "You haven't taken your test yet. How do you know you will pass?" he asked.
Jack smiled. "Because I am stronger than Araki," he said with a smirk.
Everyone looked confused but quickly started imagining what Jack could be capable of.