Aida sat with Levi for Day 3 matches, since they were slated to fight last.

  "It really is almost over, isn't it?" Levi commented, lounging back in his seat as they watched Sue gracefully dodge her opponent's whips of fire, looking more like she was dancing with fiery ribbons than actually fighting. "Your next two matches are guaranteed wins, and with Lara..." he peered at Aida. "Are you going to try to beat Lara?"

  "Taking on Dev was enough. You think I don't have more important things to worry about?" Aida demanded. Levi grinned and shrugged.

  "I'm just asking. The thing I've noticed about you is that you insist you don't want to do many things, but when you're shoved into a situation you end up doing more than you have to."

  "I'd rather do a little bit more so I can get out unscathed."

  Despite Levi's annoying pokes and prods at Aida, she appreciated how they seemed to have reset their relationship back to their original easy friendship. They could just banter casually, without having to overthink what was being said.

  Finally, it was time for Aida's match.

  "You've got this! Don't stress," Levi called lazily after her.

  Levan greeted Aida with a smile and a fist bump.

  "Are you ready?" he asked cheerfully. His utter ease made Aida wary, though she supposed after his previous two matches (Lara and Dev, respectively) getting to fight Aida would be considered a walk in the park.

  "I think so," Aida said, laughing nervously. "...How do you do that?"

  Levan cocked his head. "Do what?"

  "Be so calm," Aida replied. She waved vaguely towards the rest of their classmates, all of them manifesting minor disparities in their behavior as they prepared themselves for their matches. "I mean, even the best combatants still aren't as relaxed as you."'

  Levan chuckled. "That's because the rankings don't really matter to me."

  Seeing Aida's confusion, Levan smiled again. "I already know what I want to do when I graduate, which isn't fighting, and how I rank won't affect anything."

  He glanced over her shoulder to where Professor Bruce was standing in the center, about to declare the match starts. "I'm happy to talk more, after the match is over. But don't think just because it doesn't matter to me I'll easily forfeit," he added, a small smirk on his face.

  Aida nodded, grinning. Levan was surprisingly mature for his age, and she could appreciate his attitude. He wasn't just saying it as an act; he truly knew his skills and value lay beyond what the school rated him as. How else could he maintain such a laid-back attitude?

  As soon as Bruce released them, Aida Ice Blasted Levan, forcing him to form his own barrier against her hail. Levan ducked out from behind his ice barrier, a grin on his face as he also recalled their preliminary ranking match. He returned fire, shooting icicles at Aida that she easily avoided.

  They were at an impasse for several moments, exchanging mana blasts and trying to outwit the other with elemental manipulations, but they were both too similar in ability, and too cautious to underestimate the other.

  If we continue with this stalemate, I'm going to run out of mana before him.

  Aida wouldn't be surprised if that was Levan's plan - her improved combat prowess still wasn't nearly as much threat as another mana practitioner's self-sabotage. Since she didn't have the resources to guarantee victory in a war of attrition, she had to default to risk-taking; try to force a mistake from Levan.

  Taking stock of Levan's mana, she saw that he, indeed, wasn't planning a sneak attack. He was deciding to focus his energies on defending himself from Aida's attacks, refusing to let himself be caught off-guard like before.

  That also meant he was taking great care in keeping Aida at bay, blocking her attempts at stealing from the puddles of water that were beginning to flow behind him.

  Aida was beginning to grow increasingly frustrated at Levan’s passivity as the fight went on. He wasn't even bothering to attack much anymore, unless it was a clear shot. His halfhearted efforts to "attack" her seemed more like an attempt to cover the fact that he wasn't really fighting her.

  As Aida's eyes passed over the professors and audience, wondering if the Affiliates or Professor Bruce would demand for them to fight properly, she noticed Levi leaning back in his seat with his hands behind his head, watching her match nonchalantly. He tilted his head in a shrug, obnoxiously stretching his lips as he mouthed silent words at her.

  "Not working."

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Furrowing her brow, Aida peeked over the barrier she was hiding behind to see what Levan was doing. He was also crouched behind his own barrier, and she saw wisps of his dirty blond hair poking over the top of his wall.

  Well, if nothing else is going to work...

  She planted her palms on the top of her wall, launched herself over, and sprinted towards Levan with Mana Surge boosting her speed.

  Levan wasn't prepared for her assault. She had already leaped over his barrier, his hands barely able to block her heel as she drove her leg down towards his astonished face.

  He crashed through his own ice wall due to the force of her kick, rolling head over heels across the ring as she chased after him, taking advantage of his confusion to gather up all the excess water.

  As soon as he came to a stop, he was met by Aida's fist, which he barely blocked again before he grabbed her hand, preventing her from pulling back. They exchanged various blows, both of them getting steadily bruised up as their fight transformed wholly into the physical realm.

  After soaking a few more hits, Aida threw her arms around Levan's waist, dragging him to the ground as she ducked her head, gritting her teeth as he wrapped his legs around her petite body, raining blows down on her back. Water Cage!

  Immediately, water swept over the two of them, softening Levan's blows as he fought against the sudden resistance. She felt him immediately release her as he tried to rectify his mistake, but her Mana Resistance - supplemented by his panic - was far stronger than his Mana Penetration.

  Levan turned his attention towards Aida, blasting her with mana through the water, which Aida didn't even try to fight. Aida couldn't help but exhale a precious breath of air at the impact, but she let the blast carry her to the edge of her water bubble, where she fell out onto the ground, coughing.

  Aida remained sprawled on the ground, aware she was leaving herself completely open to whatever Levan would decide to do, but unable to divert brainpower away from her Water Cage to drag herself into a more defensible position.

  Levan had finally calmed down, and was alternating between trying to swim out of her Water Cage and trying to break through her mana control. Unfortunately for him, Aida wasn't going to let him have a chance if it was the last thing she did.

  Unfortunately for Aida, however, she was rapidly running out of mana, despite having salvaged unclaimed water from the ring.

  The edges of her vision began turning black, her breathing shallow as she strained to keep her Water Cage up. She could barely feel Levan struggling in her water, but she couldn't tell if it was due to him losing consciousness or her...

  ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  "Ah, you're finally awake."

  Aida blinked blearily up at Healer Luk's silhouette blocking out the sun. "Who won?"

  "It was a very close match," Luk said crisply, ignoring Aida's question as she pulled her to her feet. "Come now, time to vacate the ring so the Woods can start their matches."

  Healer Luk unceremoniously dumped Aida on a stool next to Levan at the Healing station, pouring her a cup of tea as the Wood students filtered out to the arena.

  "Do you know who won?" Aida asked the pale-faced Levan. He grinned shakily.

  "I think you did. I passed out."

  "Wow," Aida murmured, sipping her tea. "Great job. You really pushed me to my limit."

  He chuckled weakly, glancing at her with his aqua-colored eyes. "You did much better this time. It was a well-deserved win."

  Aida shifted awkwardly, uncomfortable with the praise. She didn't feel like she deserved it, especially considering how Levan hadn't even bothered to initiate any true attacks against her. It was all purely self-defense from his end. She decided to change the subject.

  "So what are you doing after graduation that your ranking doesn't matter?"

  Levan's eyes brightened. "I'm going to be working on a cultivation method that would reduce the resources required to grow crop staples."

  Aida paused, her mind sluggish as his idea sounded familiar.

  "Isn't Levi's dad working on something like that?"

  "Ah, he's mentioned it?" Levan asked excitedly, color flowing back into his face. "Yes, that was a project I've been working on since first year at Maglica. My parents mentioned it during a family gathering on New Sun Day, and so—"

  Levan began speaking enthusiastically about how he discovered hydroponics and was able to get several important family heads from the agricultural industry interested in his work. From what Aida could gather, Levan was some sort of relative of Levi's, being the son of a hybrid Water and Wood union: not quite distinguished enough to have a well-known name, but not low enough that he wasn't allowed to pursue his own interests.

  He was now talking about his next project he was in the midst of developing, with the hope that once he left Maglica he would be able to devote sufficient time to it.

  "A potion that can speed crop growth?" Aida repeated slowly. "What would make it different from fertilizer?"

  "It is an enhanced fertilizer! My potion will be infused with my own mana, which will force the crop to grow faster - not quite as fast as a Wood practitioner can grow a plant, but it should be able to help nonpractitioner farmers produce more crops during a season." Levan had turned in his seat towards Aida, his fervor evident. "Do you see how valuable such a potion can be? Humanity won't have to be concerned with basic food supply if I can get this potion developed - especially considering how dangerous it is for nonpractitioners to go out foraging and hunting right now."

  Aida nodded thoughtfully. It was so refreshing to hear about ideas that weren't wholly driven by status.

  "Unfortunately, there are still a lot of obstacles before I can start working on this potion full-time," Levan said, sighing. "The water farms are quite sensitive to environmental changes, so I'll be heavily involved in experimenting to make it suitable for different climates - I've been talking to Uncle Alvin, who said he'll support my living expenses as I test out and modify the setups."

  "That sounds like you'll be traveling a lot," Aida observed. "Aren't you worried about how dangerous it's gotten now with all the monster attacks?"

  Levan smiled meekly. "That's the main thing my parents are concerned about. This is going to be a very expensive endeavor, so...we haven't fully agreed on what I'll do after graduation..." The way Levan said it so reluctantly sounded as if he had less of a say in his life trajectory than he would like. Intrigued at meeting another person who might be in a similar predicament, Aida couldn’t help but probe more. Maybe she could get some culturally-relevant ideas on how to sway her own "parents."

  "What do your parents prefer?"