The demonstrations continued, with most kids getting to and failing on the flaming javelin. Professor Elius only had to cast his flaming sphere spell one more time through the remaining kids, although Lily remained the only one to successfully defend against it.

While everyone was preoccupied watching and discussing amongst themselves, Lily prompted Arakil for an explanation as she was curious about the strange spell used against her.

[The professor conjured lava, a molten rock of extreme heat. The combination of earth and fire is what gave it weight. If you had let your guard down after the javelin, then it likely would have triggered your Ward. I'm surprised you didn't activate a shield talisman as reassurance.]

Lily had briefly considered that, and while she was pretty sure it wouldn't be against the rules, she thought it would have been against the spirit of this friendly competition. That, and she had wanted to show off her Nebula Veil, not her glyphs.

Once everyone was done, the professor announced a short break, although his idea of a break was for everyone to have a light jog around the grounds. The students grumbled but ultimately complied.

"Right, next up is pretty much a repeat of the last lesson. You will be taking up positions in a circle, and are not permitted to leave the center. Minor movements to adjust your position and field of view are, of course, allowed, but just be careful about it. The idea this time is to defend yourself rather than dodge, and be warned, the attacks can come from anywhere."

"Wouldn't that give an unfair advantage for anyone who has a spell that covers them fully?" one girl asked.

"Of course! There are advantages to all types of magic; however, that doesn't mean that they can sit by and bask in an easy win. Unlike last time, there will be categories of attacks. Blue is light attacks, and red is heavy attacks, and a wide defense may not be enough to block the latter."

"What's stopping me from just making a dome of rock and hunkering down?" a boy asked.

The professor chuckled, as if he'd heard this many times before. "Nothing, go for it. Although you'd better hope that it's good enough to stop the red attacks, which you won't see coming. Also, I'll give a hint that such tactics might interfere with future practical tests."

"Combining both, I bet," Arthur whispered.

"Dodging and blocking together. Probably specific colors or types of attacks," Thomas agreed.

"Like you can only dodge red, and must block blue? That could be fun," Hana replied enthusiastically.

Lotte clicked her tongue in annoyance. "I'd better start preparing…"

If I'm forced to dodge, I hope it's within reason… I don't want a repeat of the bees.

"As you continue to succeed, the attacks against you will ramp up. More attacks from blind spots, more red attacks requiring a more focused defense, and so forth. Getting 'hit' will lower the difficulty and mark you appropriately. Red marks are worse, in case you haven't realized. Any last questions before we begin?"

"You didn't really count the marks last time? Do they actually matter?" Hana asked. Clearly, she was upset about not being praised for her great success in dodging the bees.

"It would be rather unfair to be actually graded on a blind test, wouldn't it? Students who do extremely poorly, I have conversations with after the fact and offer guidance; you passed, so you needed no intervention. Although maybe after this trial exam you'll get to experience it?"

Hana snorted. "I accept your challenge."

The professor shrugged awkwardly, not really expecting her to get so fired up and trying to roll with it. "There will be actual tests that involve this, and it's required to upgrade your dungeon pass. If you can't adequately protect yourself, then you will be restricted from entering the lower levels. So while it's ungraded for now, you can use it as practice for when it counts."

The students nodded or made various sounds of agreement. Knowing that their dungeon pass was potentially on the line had once again reinvigorated them.

Once again, the professor pulled out the crystal ball, which he was using to observe the results of all the students. Arakil had also pointed out to Lily that it likely also allowed the user to control the magical formation as well. After the professor's warning about hunkering down, she figured he might focus on those students and give them a more challenging test to go against their defenses.

I hope he's not playing favorites. Although if it's all projections, then I don't think it can actually bypass my cloak. Although I'll still treat it as if it were real, it's good practice anyway!

The students took up their positions, and the circles began to glow. The professor reiterated not to leave the circle and not to interfere with any other students, and then it started.

Just like last time, glowing projections began to appear, except this time the bees were colored. To Lily's surprise, not everyone started with a blue bee, and some had started with a red one. It must have been entirely random, as Lily's was blue, while Lotte, who was next to her, was red. If it were based on their previous performances, you would have expected the opposite.

Lily's cloak apparated around her, shrouding her in its protective grace. The blue bee shot out like a bullet, disappearing when it came into contact with her cloak.

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Unlike the last lesson, there seemed to only be the tiniest downtime as another blue bee had already formed and flew at her from the right, just within her peripheral vision. Again, it harmlessly dissipated against her magical cloak.

Two bees came this time from opposite ends, both still blue. Lily glanced at each but only made minimal adjustments to her cloak, other than ensuring it was covering her entirely. The two bees struck, and she was already glancing around in anticipation of the next attack.

A red bee appeared and charged forward. Lily's cloak sprang to life and caught the bee away from her. Just as she had predicted, her cloak treated the blue and red bees as if they were the same, and in theory, she could cheat at the test.

I'd only be cheating myself, though. I'd get a verbal lashing from Arakil if I let myself get complacent.

Despite having an unprecedented advantage, Lily ensured she intercepted the red bees while remaining covered against the blue bees.

As the professor had mentioned, the attacks started ramping up, and Lily's proficiency in her spell was being put to the test. She'd be forced to intercept a red bee while needing to shroud herself against multiple angles of blue bees.

Other times, there would be a barrage of red bees, and just when you thought it was over, suddenly a small group of blue ones would try to ambush you. The constant need to be aware of your surroundings and react in time was a stressful mental workout, but Lily was oddly finding some serious enjoyment in it.

Truthfully, she'd wanted to do similar practice sessions with Theo, but Instructor Richardus had declared it far too risky even with their donated Wards. Even privately, when she'd begged Theo, the risk-averse bear had refused.

Unlike the dodging, Lily felt like she was truly in her element now. Before, she was frantically trying her best, acting like a frenzied animal bouncing around her cage, but now she was the one in control. She quickly noticed that the bees made a distinct noise when they appeared, and you could even tell which color it was based on the difference in sound.

Soon Lily found herself glancing around less frequently, and instead her sensitive ears were the ones doing the heavy lifting, twitching slightly to each bee and her cloak reacting accordingly.

This is so much fun!

Lily wasn't sure how much time had passed; she was almost lost in the moment, but eventually it came to an end.

"And stop!" Professor Elius called out.

Lily's shoulders slumped, and she actually let out a sigh, feeling like her fun had come to an end.

"Very well done, all of you. I hope you learned that simply hunkering down blindly is not the best course of action, and it's always important to be aware of your surroundings. Judging by your combined results in the two classes so far, I think we are going to have one of the best years yet, and believe me, that's saying something after what happened last year!"

The professor was chuckling to himself as the students curiously glanced at each other, wondering what he was referring to.

"If there are no further questions, I'll let you all off early," he replied jovially.

There were none, and so the class was happily dismissed.

"Well, I think that went better than the fireball at least," Lotte said as she approached Lily. "How did you do?"

"Very well, I think," Lily replied honestly. "At the end, it was so much fun that I lost track of time."

Lotte clicked her tongue. "Damn, I was basically begging for it to end early. I'm feeling absolutely drained trying to make so many crappy mud shields. I've never had my Mana be this low before. I'm going to crash so hard tonight."

Weird, they aren't real bees, so how are they making everyone spend Mana? Lily wondered.

She examined her own Mana Core, but even disregarding her exceptional regeneration thanks to her passively cycling when not in use, it was surprisingly full. Even with her cloak being magic-resistant, it didn't add up, and the tired looks of the other students only furthered her confusion.

Looking at Arthur and Hana, even those two bundles of burning competitive energy were looking quite drained. Hana, during the dodging practice, was still full of energy, so it made no sense.

"Those red bees were terrible! I need to work on a small shield like you," Arthur said to Hana, mid-conversation, as Lily and Lotte approached them.

"The blue ones gave me trouble," Hana replied. "When they were swarming, they'd overwhelm my wind sphere and hit me before I could refresh it. I tried doing a double layer like you, but they just interfered with each other."

"Oh yeah, that can be annoying. There's a little trick I can show you that my dad taught me," Arthur replied.

"I think I just hate all bees, regardless of the color," Thomas replied, having just arrived.

"Same here. Red, blue, it didn't matter. Both were a menace," Lotte added.

"How'd you do, Lily?" Hana asked. "After beating the professor's final spell, I have to assume you did well."

"Um… I think so? It was honestly pretty fun."

"Fun?" the four replied in unison.

Lily tilted her head in confusion, not understanding their unified reaction.

"If being attacked in the back is fun… I think you need to get your head checked," Arthur replied bluntly.

"I mean, she's not even out of breath, maybe she did have fun?" Hana replied.

"Did you hunker down with your cloak?" Thomas asked. "I could imagine it standing up to an assault even with his warning."

Lily was about to shake her head when Professor Elius approached the group.

"She most certainly did not hunker down," he replied, evidently overhearing some of their conversation. "To be perfectly frank, it was one of the most impressive performances I've ever seen from a first-year. There's always one or two who block my final spell, but I dare say what you did in the circle truly took the cake."

Lily's friends were staring at her expectantly.

"I just blocked and intercepted when I heard the bees coming," she answered truthfully.

"You could actually hear the bees?" Lotte asked.

"Damn rabbit ears," Arthur grumbled.

"She wasn't the only one to notice. Believe it or not, you can also smell them coming," the professor replied with a smirk.

"No way," Hana replied.

"I'm not kidding. This magical formation created by the headmaster is a masterpiece. There are unique sights, sounds, smells, and every in between that you can think of. The hope is to bring out some good instincts in every student, and Lily's performance has proved him right once again."

"Damn, my wind spells make too much noise for me to hear things," Arthur cursed.

"Then that's something you need to consider when down in the dungeon. If you can't hear enemies coming, what else can you rely on?" the professor asked.

"Smells? What if you used the wind to bring the smells to you?" Thomas suggested.

"An excellent idea. You could also learn a detection spell, if you are capable of doing so, or many other possibilities. Still, this just goes to show you that sometimes nothing can beat just one's naturally heightened senses."

"A detection spell would probably work for me…" Thomas whispered in agreement, the professor nodding at him.

"I hope I've given you all something to think about," Elius said with a grin. "Anyway, I just wanted to say well done, Lily. You've impressed this old man."

"Since when are you old?" Arthur asked.

"Older than you youngings. Now get going!" he retorted, making a shooing gesture.

Lily and the gang shared a clumsy laugh as they finally departed, talking eagerly and sharing possible ideas with each other, no matter how fanciful or silly they sounded.

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