Reborn in another world as a Hermaphrodite

After walking for a bit, they finally found the shops they were looking for, but something else distracted their attention.

It was a giant screen that displayed two mages fighting each other, with hundreds and thousands of people standing there and watching.

On one side was a fire mage wearing a red uniform, casting hundreds of fire spells at their opponent.

Meanwhile, on the other side was an ice mage wearing a mix of blue and white, standing still as if they were just watching their opponent.

The seven were shocked by the ice barrier's thinness—it was only as thick as a fingernail.

Yet, not a single fire spell could be made past the wall. Not even a small dent was formed.

"He's constantly repairing the ice barrier."

Luna pointed out as her eyes caught on the thin layer disappeared, then reappeared within a fraction of a second.

"Is he going to fight back? How's he going to win?" Camille curiously asked as the ice mage made zero attempts to attack.

"He's probably just waiting for the enemy to run out of mana——"

Before Chloe could finish, a middle-aged man in the crowd interrupted her.

"Running out of mana? That's a level-five mage right there. He's had enough mana to cast these basic spells for days.

Just watch and learn. They know the ins and outs of each other over hundreds of times now."

"Can I ask who they are?" Alex curiously asked.

"Just some level five mage that had been going to that fighting arena for days to beat each other for Rank 1."

"Rank 1?"

"Yeah, Rank 1 in the school tournament for mage level five."

As the fight continued, the ice barrier suddenly shattered into pieces. But rather than being hit by the fire spell, the ice mage teleported.

The fire mage stopped as a wall of fire surrounded him, just as snow started falling from the sky.

"Ice Aura... They definitely are mage level five." Alex murmured as he remembered seeing it in the textbook.

With the temperature rapidly decreasing for the two mages in the fighting arena, the fire mage was rapidly being cornered.

More and more Ice was forming around him, threatening to trap him underneath all the weights.

But with a blinding flash, the snow and ice suddenly all melted and evaporated into steam as the fire mage finally released his fire aura.

"Finally, they are taking this seriously." Another stranger in the crowd cheered in excitement.

As the two elemental auras tried to push each other away, it quickly became a stalemate.

Every magic spell that the two mages tried to throw at each other just instantly vanished as soon as it arrived in each other's aura.

"How are they all gone just like that?" Mary asked in confusion.

"It's their zone of control," Alex explained, but Mary still looked just as confused.

"The other person's aura destroys the element composition, and the mana controls it. So it just vanishes when it reaches it."

Sophia's explanation made it much easier for Mary to understand as the fight devolved into who had more mana to pour into their aura.

In the end, the ice mage was able to overwhelm the fire mage's mana, although there were close calls.

Especially when the fire mage tried desperately to run in to spearhead his fire aura to break the ice mage's static defense.

It left a strong memory for Alex, as he realized that the mage's level was the deciding factor in the fight.

He finally understood why Miss Amy just told him to focus on increasing his mana to level up rather than using strategy.

All strategy was pointless if they had more mana or flat out an entire level or more above you.

Soon, more and more time passed as pair after pair of mages appeared on the screen to fight.

"Oh snap, it's already seven o'clock! Sorry, we have to head back to the dorm!"

Camille and Evelyn quickly dragged the other two out of the arena, leaving the three who had just finished watching.

"Let's go home now," Alex suggested.

"Yeah..."

After walking for a few minutes, the three finally arrived back home.

"Welcome back! How was school today?" Katherine asked as she opened the door.

"It was fun! We fought the arena challenge level two today!" 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 as all three of them put their backpacks on the rack.

"Mom, have you finished cooking?" Alex asked, rubbing his stomach in hunger.

"It's already finished. Some of them might have already gotten a little cold since you guys took so long today.

Actually, what took you guys so long? Isn't class over for you guys at five o'clock?"

"We went to the arena to check it out on our own since Miss Amy said we needed to go on our own in the future."

Alex replied as he stuffed his mouth full of food, with the other two rushing to eat their food as well.

"I see..."

"Mom, how about you? How did your day go? Did you do anything exciting?"

Katherine was caught off guard by Sophia's sudden question, but she remained calm.

"I just clean the house and make the food for you guys. That's all I'm content with."

"How about raising mage level?" Mary asked.

"After you reach a certain point, it's hard for meditation even to make the smallest increase.

I'm already satisfied being with you guys, so don't worry about me, okay? Just focus on 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 results, or simply put, achieving a higher mage level.

---

For the rest of the week, the three of them headed to class and then to the meditation room in the arena.

It was one of the shops they saw that everyone went to, with only a small price for beginners that they could afford.

When the three told Katherine about it, she was a little surprised, as it wasn't a thing when she was in classes.

Even though it was repeated every single day, none of the kids were bored of it.

They could feel progress being made, with their initial mana being enough for three fireballs max, all the way to almost twenty fireballs.

Sophia and Mary felt they were reaching the early stage of mage level one peek based on the textbook descriptions.

Half of the class even reached the early peek and just needed a breakthrough to reach mid-stage.

Alex, however, was a completely different story.

He was slowly falling behind everyone in the class, just as he expected.

Still, there was progress being made, from casting two fireballs to ten fireballs without needing to meditate to recover.

Day and night, he meditated any time he could, just for the smallest increase.

It even made Katherine and both of his siblings a little worried as they packed up for the upcoming three-day weekend camp.

---

"Alex, you aren't going to pack?" Sophia curiously asked as she packed the clothes she was going to wear into her backpack.

"Later, I can feel I'm just slightly off."

Seeing Alex returning to meditation, Sophia and Mary both started picking clothes to pack inside his backpack.

"You three ready?" Katherine asked as she walked into the room.

"Yeah, we're ready... Alex, get out of your meditation."

Seeing Alex not responding, both of the girls looked over to Katherine on what to do.

"Just wait five minutes. If he doesn't wake up, then I'll wake him up."

As all three of them sat down in front of Alex, they stared, staring at his face out of boredom.

"Mom, what elemental affinity is Alex?" Sophia quietly asked as she couldn't feel any particular element near him.

She could think back to the meditation room with all seven of them together to save cost.

Both Evelyn and Luna always had a slight water element near them, with Chloe's wind element and Camille's earth element.

Mary had an even more noticeable hint of dark energy, matching her dark affinity, which was backed up by her dark stars in the past.

"That's a secret. I can't tell you that."

"Why not? He already knows both of our affinities, and it's impossible to hide anyway when we reach mage level three."

Sophia's argument made Katherine fall into silence as she still didn't want to tell the two the truth.

"Mom, it's okay if you don't want to say it... Sophia, we shouldn't ask for someone's privacy like this."

Mary pushed back against Sophia's point, feeling it to be a little inappropriate.

After a short silence in the room, Katherine finally made up her mind as she revealed her decision.

"He has no affinity."