The Copy Mage

The circular arena had a radius of 50 metres and in the centre stood Ivan with the rest of the youths on the edge of the arena.

"The will test will now begin and I would warn you to be prepared for the release of my power," he announced.

The crowd became silent in anticipation and knew the Newbie Competition was always interesting to observe and spot any new talents joining the academy.

Ivan stood calmly in the centre of the stage, until suddenly he had a burst of power and figure of a beast was formed from energy around him.

The crowd and the class gaped in awe and instantly felt an incredible amount of pressure on them.

It was a bear-like beast and the previously calm and handsome man seemed to transform into a fiendish and powerful bear due to the energy form around him.

ROAR

Ivan released a monstrous roar that had unbelievable power behind it and caused a few of those in the class to be launched flying off the stage.

Damian stood his ground and clenched his teeth to help him bear with the pressure as a powerful beast aura radiated from their class representative.

Almost ten of the weakest in the class had been knocked off stage by the sudden aura, and most of those still standing were struggling.

Looking at the rest of the class, Julia, Matilda, Cole and Milo seemed to be least affected and the first to courageously take a step closer to Ivan was Cole.

His large body, calm expression and Soul Spirit would intimidate anyone as his skin changed to a grey-silver metallic colour and the ground below him began to crack as he continued forth.

[Amazing, I definitely need to copy that Soul Spirit and our class representative's as well] thought Damian seeing their power.

The rest of the class were just in the background compared to the 5 who could all sense that each other were capable and were competing with each other.

Despite the Will Test having only just begun, the top 5 were solidified in Ivan's eyes who was analytically observing his students.

Next to push closer to Ivan was Damian who thought that the more he waited, the more fatigued he would become.

He had also thought that if Cole succeeded before him, then there was no chance for him to catch up in points and needed to surpass him in this stage to even out the odds.

Pushing forwards despite the pressure, the second to move was Damian, which surprised everybody looking at his small and seemingly weak body that had pushed forth.

Ivan seeing Damian, had an interested smile as he watched the child, with shining yellow eyes and his scruffy white hair, closely.

Milo, Julia and Matilda all followed after Damian and Cole unwilling to be last.

Meanwhile, most of the rest of the students were struggling to bear the pressure at the edges, let alone move closer to Ivan.

All of them unleashed their Soul Spirits and were applying it in unique ways to bear with the pressure, apart from Milo and Damian.

Cole used his Hardening Soul Spirit directly and effectively to strengthen his body and charge forth, while Matilda was using her Sonic Scream Soul Spirit to fend off the pressure with her sound waves, and Julia was using her Water Creation Soul Spirit to form a water barrier around her and physically fend off the pressure.

Damian looked towards Milo and knew from the beginning that he couldn't use his Soul Spirit all the time and that it was extremely draining on him and could see that he was struggling without using a Soul Spirit just like him.

[Utsusu activate the Maxwell Fire Soul Spirit] communicated Damian within his mind.

Damian felt the same sensation he always felt when his changeable energy would begin to scorch and burn red as it flowed through his body.

Flame Reinforcement.

[I cannot let my first friend fail in front of so many people] thought Damian.

He could see Milo had already dropped to 1 knee and although was better than most in the class, from the way he was going and without using a Soul Spirit he wouldn't be able to make it to the top 10.

Damian's body had a thin layer of burning red energy and Damian could feel that the flames streaming through his body were reinforcing and strengthening his body.

Everyone noticed Damian's increase in strength, but surprisingly instead of continuing forwards, he turned back and went towards Milo who was crawling towards the centre.

Milo managing to lift his head, saw the lightly flaming figure coming towards him with his bright yellow eyes and felt touched and had never had someone willing to help him in such tough situations.

Reaching Milo, Damian wrapped his arm around him and under his shoulder to lift him over his shoulder.

Despite the disparity in size, with his Flame Reinforcement, Damian's body was in a very strong state.

"Come on fatty bro, I can't win this competition without you," said Damian while supporting Milo and started heading closer to Ivan.

Currently, the closest to Ivan was Cole who was the first to begin and was 20 metres away from Ivan, which was incredible, but it was obvious he was struggling and would collapse at any moment.

Next were Julia and Matilda, who were 30 metres away, while Damian and Milo were 35 metres away and were on par with a few other slightly stronger and strong-willed classmates.

"Why did you come back, you were on par with Julia and the other girl, you could have gotten second place," said Milo not wanting to hold Damian back.

"Come on bro we are going for first place together and we will show the strength of our will in this competition," stated Damian encouragingly with his yellow eyes burning with determination.

Damian and Milo have only met for a single day, but both were very different and almost to the point they had no similarities, apart from their drive and friendliness.

They both felt that mutual friendship and almost brotherhood after meeting once and both wanted to help and support each other as each other's first companion.

"I can do this" screamed Damian with the immense pressure on him.

The pressure Damian was taking on was much stronger than the others as he was taking on most of the pressure bearing on Milo by supporting his body upwards.

"This just got interesting" mumbled Ivan with a curious expression.