"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
The scream he successfully sent out was echoing throughout the coliseum. Everyone watching trembled from the excitement that went through their bodies, from the scream they heard.
Even Cordelia could feel every nerve cell trembling from her feet to her head. Although her student was only a freshman and his power did not enter the ’strong’ tier, he was indeed able to complete round 16.
Without a second thought, Atlas put his holy sword in his inventory and let himself fall to the earth. He lay there thinking of nothing despite the rain pouring down on him.
His body had recovered a little from fatigue, but despite all this, he really wanted to sleep.
Knowing that he could not pass Round 17 in any way, he said "I give up" with a full voice, even though his mana and aura were already regenerating.
With that, the space around him began to crack. Closing and opening his eyes only once, he was sent to the rest room where he entered the arena.
As Atlas tiredly tried to stand up, River and Irene suddenly helped him and helped him to his feet.
"You did very well," Elise said with a smiling face.
Hearing these words, Atlas returned the smile of the girl holding him and then playfully replied, "I know."
While Elise and Irene were trying to help him, Bellatrix suddenly appeared in the restroom and disappeared by grabbing Atlas by the ear, saying "I’m borrowing your friend, girls." and pulling his ear.
When Atlas came to, he could see the Sages gathered around him. In the middle of the Colosseum, he was standing in the air and being carried by Bellatrix like a princess. It would be fair to say that it was quite uncomfortable.
"Hang in there," Bellatrix said with a smile on her face. Cassandra’s face was dripping with jealousy and Bellatrix wasn’t handing Atlas over to her just to annoy her.
"Excellent!" a voice suddenly boomed from the coliseum. Cordelia shouted with a grin on her face as she spread her arms wide and pointed to the line-up in the sky:
"THE FIRST PART OF THE SEMESTER EXAM IS NOW OVER!"
With these words of the ancient woman, cheer after cheer went up in the entire coliseum, and Atlas turned towards the huge dais at that moment and started to see his sister.
At that moment Atlas’ heart ached, not because he was hurt or anything, but because of a strange happiness.
His sister was looking right where he was, tears were streaming down her beautiful face and falling to the ground, and her smile seemed to tell him how proud she was of Atlas.
Atlas had somehow managed not to embarrass his sister in this life.
"As you can see, the top three of the rankings have been announced. Atlas Shorekeeper, Camellia Bloom and Aster Bloom. The ranking prizes will be handed out in five minutes! Congratulations to all students and I am happy to announce that the arena exam is now complete!"
Cordelia turned to Atlas as she finished her words and then returned to the dais, stroking his head as he flew through the air and was carried by Bellatrix, saying, "You have no idea how proud I am of you, Atlas."
She instantly teleported to the dais, enveloping all the Sages, and therefore Atlas, in her magic. When Bellatrix finally put Atlas down, his sister Eva gave him a big hug.
Eva literally swept Atlas off his feet and started to turn around hugging him.
"Hahahaha! That was amazing Atlas! I’m so happy for you, well done!" Eva said.
Atlas was obviously trying hard not to cry.
[Well done, Atlas.] He was suddenly confronted with a message. This message was from Nyx.
[That was great, young man.] Another message came from Selene herself.
[It was one of the most perfect battles I have ever seen in my life.] even Ares sent a message.
Dozens of gods and goddesses were sending him messages one after the other and congratulating him.
After five minutes of deep conversation and Camellya and Aster’s sincere congratulations to Atlas, the trio was sent to the centre of the coliseum with Cordeli’s orders.
It was time to hand over the prize.
Cordelia gave a medal to Aster for third place, then to Camellia for second, and finally to Atlas.
"These medals symbolise your enormous achievements this year. Camellya and Aster, don’t be upset that you came second and third. Having seven magic rings and killing round 15 and thousands of wyverns and half-dragons is not easy for young mages," Cordelia said suddenly.
"So keep your chests up! Atlas was able to do better than you because a special goddess values him highly and on top of that he can use both aura and mana. You’re not weak, he’s just... weird." she added, a little playfully.
With that, Cordelia took out two stones from her magic bag. Everyone realised what this stone was in the first second they saw it.
"Mana Regeneration Stone?" Camellya suddenly questioned.
Cordelia shook her head and then said, "That’s right. I give you these two stones, which will increase your mana regeneration by 40%, as a reward, in the hope that you will help not only the empire you are a dynasty member of but the whole world in the future. Congratulations."
Camellya and Aster smiled as the sounds of congratulatory applause from the seats of the Colosseum reached everyone’s ears, and then fell to their knees in front of Cordelia and thanked her as if she were a professor, not a Sage:
"Thank you, Professor, we will never forget you, even when we graduate from the academy!" she shouted.
When it was Atlas’ turn, everyone knew what was going to happen.
"Atlas Shorekeeper. The first-place winner will receive a short course of study in a skill from me or any other Sage. However, as your personal teacher, I will change this prize. Tell me, what do you want from me?"