And so, the days passed by one after another.
Ikki, Stella, and Shizuku continued to breeze through the selection matches without encountering any obstacles, winning again and again with ease. The three first-years became increasingly popular, to the point that even people outside the school had no choice but to take notice.
Of course, although they seemed to be progressing smoothly, that was only on the surface. Quite a few unknown problems had arisen along the way.
They were mainly Ikki's problems.
After all, the Kurogane Family had never wanted Ikki's reputation to spread. Now that Ikki was becoming increasingly famous, that was naturally the last thing they wanted to see.
Thus, during the selection matches, the Kurogane Family had caused Ikki no end of trouble, both openly and covertly. They had tried to make him lose his qualifications for the Seven Star Sword Festival, or even get expelled so that he could no longer become a Magic Knight.
Unfortunately, Ikki was no longer the same person he had once been. If the Kurogane Family wanted to make a move against him, avoiding serious damage was impossible. On top of that, Shizuku was helping him, while Stella occasionally lent him a hand out of friendship. As a result, all the Kurogane Family's schemes naturally came to nothing.
Ikki continued to win his way through the selection matches while overcoming one unknown trouble after another.
Likewise, Stella and Shizuku advanced smoothly as well, bringing the selection matches ever closer to their conclusion.
Under these circumstances, Luo Zhen instead became the most leisurely of them all. Aside from occasionally conducting some research and experiments related to magecraft, and offering Ikki, Stella, and Shizuku some guidance to help them improve, Luo Zhen seemed completely detached from the proceedings and simply lived his own