After walking for a bit, they finally arrived at the back of the arena, where there were rows of shops that sold different kinds of stuff.
From just standing outside the shop, they could see through the glass that they were some sort of combat tools or ingredients for mages.
Most of the items were clearly not meant for them, but they soon found something in the middle of an intersection that caught their attention.
It was a giant circular screen nearby that displayed two mages fighting each other, with hundreds of people standing all around it.
On one side was a fire mage wearing a red uniform, casting hundreds of fireballs right at their opponent.
On the other side was an ice mage wearing a mix of blue and white uniform, standing still with no signs of doing anything.
But upon closer inspection, the ice mage actually had an ice barrier that was the thickness of a fingernail.
Despite how thin it appeared, not a single fireball could be made past it. Every single one of them was blocked off.
Not even a small dent formed as the ice mage confidently stood still, looking back at the fire mage with a smirk.
"He's constantly repairing the ice barrier..." Luna commented as she finally noticed something off about the ice barrier.
"Is he going to fight back? How's he going to win?"
Camille wondered as the ice mage made zero attempts to attack. He just kept letting the fire mage throw spells at him nonstop.
"He's probably just stalling for the enemy to run out of mana——"
Before Chloe could finish her sentence, a middle-aged man in the nearby crowd suddenly chimed in.
"Running out of mana? That's a level-five mage right there. Both of them had enough mana to cast all these basic spells for days.
Just watch and learn if you don't know what you're talking about... They know the ins and outs of each other's skills hundreds of times now."
"Can I ask who these two mages are?" Alex curiously asked.
"They are just some level five mages that have been fighting each other in the arena for days to get rank 1."
"Rank 1?" Sophia asked, her face looking a little confused by it.
"Yeah, Rank 1 in the school tournament for mage level five category... You guys are new here?" The stranger asked.
"Yeah."
As the fight continued, the constant fireball finally broke the ice barrier. But the entire fighting arena had turned into ice.
From the ground to the walls to even the ceiling. Everyone could see the pure cold temperatures through the display screen.
It was cold enough to cause the air to start freezing into snow. Within seconds, the fire mage stopped attacking, opting to cast a wall of fire that surrounded him.
"Ice Aura... They definitely are mage level five." Alex murmured, his mind remembered seeing it in the textbook.
As more and more ice formed around the Fire Mage, it started to threaten to trap him in the very tiny area around his fire wall.
Everything was favoring the ice mage until a sudden fiery flash appeared.
All of the snow and ice melted and evaporated within seconds, turning into steam as the two mages went out of sight.
But it quickly captured the two mages again as the camera seemed to have turned on its fog goggles of some sort.
The fire mage had finally used his aura, a burning flame that engulfed all nearby areas within ten steps from where he stood.
"Finally, they are taking this seriously." Another stranger in the crowd cheered in excitement as the fight started to get more serious.
As the two elemental auras clashed right between the two mages, it quickly turned into a sharp line between the two worlds.
One side was completely burnt with flame, so hot that the image was bending, while the other was clear ice shards and pale white snow.
All magic spells being thrown into the other side seemed almost pointless as they all vanished as soon as they arrived in the other person's aura.
"How are they all gone just like that?" Mary asked in confusion.
"It's their zone of control."
Seeing Mary still confused after explaining it, Sophia couldn't really explain it any further, as her head couldn't remember exactly what the textbook had said.
"When a spell flies into someone else's aura, the mana connecting with the spell will get broken, causing it to just vanish from thin air."
Alex's explanation still left Mary looking a little confused, but she didn't ask any further as they turned their attention back to the fight.
As the fight dragged on, some of the spectators began to leave as it became a complete stalemate.
"This is getting boring now. Let's go see something else." Camille murmured as she was the first one to suggest leaving.
After a short consideration, the seven of them all agreed as they headed back to where they were about to go earlier.
"Miss Amy really was right..."
Alex thought to himself as the whole battle made him realize that the smartest level four mage will always be no match against a level 5 who has his own aura.
---
"Welcome back! How was school today?"
Katherine asked as she opened the door, her face not looking mad at all despite the three of them coming home at seven o'clock.
"It was fun! We beat the arena challenge level two today! And we went exploring in the arena after class with Luna!" Mary excitedly replied.
"Oh, that's good... You all passed this time, right?"
"Of course, we all passed it... The first time was just a fluke," Sophia said proudly as they threw their backpack to the side.
"Mom, have you finished cooking?" Alex curiously asked, feeling his stomach rumbling in protest as they hadn't eaten anything since lunch.
"I had been waiting for you guys for the entire afternoon... You guys should have told me earlier if you were going out after class."
All three of them awkwardly scratched their head as they sat down at the dining table, not arguing back as Katherine came out with plates full of food.
"Mom, how about you? How did your day go? Did you do anything exciting? Or did you just stay home all day?"
Alex quickly noticed Katherine's face flinching a little, but it quickly recovered to normal as she gave her usual answer.
"I had to clean the house today and make the food for you guys... That's all I'm content with right now."
"Mom, you are a mage too, no? Are there no classes that you can go to in this school or something?" Mary curiously asked as they began eating.
"After you reach a certain point, it's hard for meditation even to make the smallest increase.
Don't worry about me, okay? I'm already satisfied being with you guys... Worrying about yourself first."
All three of the kids felt touched but didn't say anything back, as saying thanks wasn't going to cut it for them.
They knew the best way to make her happy was to prove it with actual results, or simply put, achieving a higher mage level to make her proud.
---
For the rest of the week, the three of them live a simple life.
They woke up in the morning, got dressed, and went to school. After class, they headed to the meditation place they found at the back of the arena.
It was one of the shops that they saw that drew massive crowds at he entrance, with a big advertisement that it could boost mana gains.
When they told Katherine about it, she was a little surprised, as the whole concept of a mediation room wasn't a thing when she was still in school.
She didn't hesitate to give them a little allowance, enough to go to the meditation place every day in the afternoon.
Although the same schedule was repeated every single day, Alex and his two sisters weren't bored at all.
They could feel real progress was being made every single day.
Both Sophia's and Mary's initial mana went from only enough for three full fireballs max, all the way to almost twenty fireballs without breaking a sweat.
Sophia and Mary could feel they were starting to hit the early stage of mage level one peek, at least according to the textbook description.
Everyone else in the class was starting to reach the peak as well. Along with the peak was a drastic slowdown in expanding the mana capability.
When one of the students questioned Miss Amy about it, everyone soon learned it was normal to have it happen.
Their body was getting ready to go beyond the curve, which required solidifying the mana base actually to reach mage level two.
In other words, it was only a matter of time. Everyone in the class was instantly overjoyed upon hearing the news.
Except for one particular person in the class... Alex was the only outlier, as he didn't look remotely happy.
There was no 'slowdown' for him. He never felt his body was reaching any sort of peak. This was not to say there was no progress.
He went from passing out after casting two fireballs to casting ten fireballs without needing to meditate for mana.
But still, Alex could feel he was falling behind. He tried everything, from meditation between breaks to even meditation late at night.
Nothing worked.
---
As the end of the month weekend finally arrived, Alex and his two sisters were all inside the bedroom.
"Alex, you aren't going to pack?" Sophia curiously asked as she took out several clothes from the drawer.
"Later, I can feel I'm just slightly off. Just give me a minute."
Seeing Alex sitting in the bed, going back to meditating, Sophia and Mary both went back to the drawers to take out their clothes.
"Sophia, you sure we should do this?" Mary nervously asked as she watched Sophia put her cloth into his backpack.
"That's what he gets for not packing his backpack——"
"You three ready?" Katherine asked, interpreting their conversation as she walked into their bedroom.
"Yeah, we're ready... Alex, get out of your meditation."
Seeing Alex not responding, both of the girls shrugged their arms as they looked over to Katherine as a response.
"Just wait five minutes. If he doesn't wake up, then I'll wake him up myself."
As all three of them sat down on the bed and waited, they all stared towards his face, looking at him out of boredom.
"Mom, what elemental affinity is Alex?" Sophia quietly asked the question that had always bothered her mind.
She could vividly remember the textbook stating that the strongest elemental affinity usually appears near the person during their meditation.
When they all went to the meditation room together in the arena, both Evelyn and Luna always had a slight water element near them.
Chloe had the wind element, while Camille had the earth element. Mary had a noticeable hint of dark energy, with herself being surrounded by light energy.
Alex was the only one who didn't have a single element near him, almost as if he were just a void.
"That's a secret. I can't tell you that."
"Why not? He already knows both of our affinities, and the textbook said it's impossible to hide anyway when we reach mage level three."
Noticing Katherine's face still looking a little hesitant, Sophia continued pressuring her for an answer.
"C'mon, Mom. We already talked about this before. We aren't going to hurt each other or anything because of it."
As Katherine sat in silence, thinking whether she should really tell them the truth, Sophia was about to speak up until Mary interupted her.
"Mom, it's okay if you don't want to say it... Sophia, we shouldn't ask for someone's privacy like this."
"I'm just a little curious, that's all... Mom, you don't have to say it if you don't want to."
Sophia shyly murmured as she felt a little embrassed having her younger sister call her out like this.