Magna led Brian outside the Black Bull base to start his so-called 'new member welcome party.' The others also followed the two of them; they even brought a sofa outside and comfortably sat down to watch what would happen next.
"Listen here, kid. I don't care how you do it, as long as you can block or neutralize the attack I launch, that's enough."
Magna walked to an empty plot of land, standing opposite Brian, holding the Black Bull robe in his hand. "If you can do that, you will be an official member of the Black Bull, and I will give you this robe."
"Any way is fine, right? I understand."
Brian said to Magna while starting to warm up on the spot a little. This was not too necessary for him, but one shouldn't take the formality of this action lightly.
At least it showed that Brian still valued Magna's proposed 'new member welcome party.'
"Go all out, no need to worry about me."
Brian wore a confident smile when looking at Magna. "My magic is Earth Magic, so feel free to use any attack spell that you think can take me down."
"If you're that confident, it seems I don't need to hold back then."
Magna wore a somewhat cruel smile; although he knew he didn't mean anything by it, it didn't look like it suited testing a newcomer very much.
"Fair warning, this attack isn't weak!"
Magna's Grimoire flipped through the pages, and immediately a fireball was formed right on the palm of his right hand.
"Oh my, should I stop them?"
Vanessa spoke up when looking at the fireball in Magna's hand; she turned to the person next to her. "Finral, aren't you preparing to save the day?"
"Hmm…?"
Finral, when named by Vanessa, didn't know what would be appropriate to do, so he just gave a forced smile. "Actually, I think I don't need to do anything in this situation. If I have to do something, I think I should worry about Magna more."
"Are you serious?"
Vanessa tilted her head in surprise; she seemed to understand what Finral's words meant. Her gaze shifted to look at Brian. "Is that rookie that strong?"
"Yeah, he is much stronger than Magna."
The person speaking this time was Luck; he relied on intuition along with the ability to sense mana extremely well to guess how far Brian's strength was from Magna's.
The remaining people were not too interested, but when hearing that Brian was stronger than Magna, they also attentively watched the match between the two.
Yami at this moment took a drag of his cigarette and exhaled smoke; his face did not express much emotion.
As soon as Magna set up the 'new member welcome party' game, he already knew the result of the match; it was just that he wanted to see how Brian would handle the situation, so he stayed silent and let things unfold.
Based on what Brian had shown at the Magic Knights selection exam, along with his decision to join the Black Bull, Yami really wanted to evaluate what kind of person Brian was through this small battle.
How would Brian treat Magna, someone weaker than him? Would Brian behave the same way he did with that noble at the Magic Knights selection exam, or would he behave respectfully and friendly toward Magna?
Yami really wanted to know what Brian would choose.
"Fire Magic: Exploding Fireball!"
Magna threw the fireball in his hand straight at Brian. The fireball flew at an extremely fast speed; although not as fast as Yuno's attack spell, Brian judged it to be a hard-to-dodge attack spell.
"Earth Magic: Stone Skin!"
Immediately, Brian used a reinforcement spell, helping his body increase its defensive capability significantly. Not only that, but he also wrapped his body in mana, ensuring Magna's attack would not be able to cause any damage to him.
Boom!!
The fireball exploded directly upon hitting Brian; the explosion it caused after impact was not small.
If the person hit by this attack was a normal mage, that person would definitely not be left unscathed. At least they would have to be burned or quite seriously injured.
The dust created after the explosion completely covered Brian's body, making those outside unable to clearly see his current state.
"He was still able to defend in time, so he must be okay, right?"
Vanessa said in a slightly worried voice. "If that face gets burned, it would be a pity…"
"Are you only worried about that…?"
Finral's mouth corner twitched once; he then, along with the others, looked at Brian when the smoke from the explosion dissipated.
Standing right in the middle of the smoke, Brian's body was gradually revealed. There was not a single wound on his body; clearly, Magna's attack had no effect on him.
But, the fact that Brian was unscathed after Magna's attack was not what they were concerned about right now.
"Hey, his Grimoire…"
"Yeah… It's a four-leaf clover Grimoire."
The Black Bull members were astonished looking at the Grimoire floating next to Brian. His Grimoire was the exact same Grimoire that the first Wizard King had once possessed.
At this very moment, Brian suddenly erupted a colossal amount of mana, causing the dust near him to be blown away.
Others could all feel the colossal amount of mana from Brian, especially Magna, who was standing opposite him at a not-too-far distance.
"Hey, hey, what is that amount of mana?"
Cold sweat ran down from Magna's forehead; he had also seen very clearly the four-leaf clover symbol right on Brian's Grimoire at this moment.
"What the hell did Captain Yami bring back to the Squad?"
The pressure radiating from Brian onto Magna was very great; this pressure made him feel that he was standing in front of someone no different from Captain Yami.
Although he didn't believe that Brian could be as strong as Yami, the amount of Brian's mana definitely did not lose to Yami with what Magna was feeling.
Brian at this moment was still releasing a large amount of mana, but when Magna and the others thought he would proceed to counterattack, Brian suddenly stopped; he no longer radiated mana to the surroundings.
"Hmm…?"
Brian's inexplicable action made Magna frown. "Hey, what are you doing?"
"I finished your challenge, right?"
Brian replied comfortably when his Grimoire lowered and rested neatly in his hand, keeping the smile on his face from when he accepted Magna's challenge.
"You said it before. Any way is fine, as long as I can block the attack or neutralize your attack, then I will be successful. And now I have done it, I have blocked your attack, so… Shouldn't you give me the Black Bull robe now?"
No longer enduring the pressure radiating from Brian's colossal mana, Magna, upon hearing Brian's words, regained his attention.
"Oh, of course."
Magna laughed awkwardly when seeing Brian walking toward him. Truth be told, even he was drawn into this challenge when Brian started to erupt his mana.
If Brian really wanted to fight him, he wouldn't know how to fight him anymore. Just standing in front of the pressure that Brian radiated, he already felt how big the difference in strength between the two sides was.
"Here, Black Bull robe as promised."
Magna gave Brian the black Black Bull robe; Brian received it and put it on immediately afterward.
Brian's daily outfit was very simple, but when wearing the Black Bull robe, for some reason, it matched strangely well. It made him look much more stylish.
"Looks good."
Magna praised Brian, after which he walked to Brian's side and put his arm around his shoulder; his voice at this time had something cautious. "My name is Magna, also from a remote village like your Hage village."
"Nice to meet you, Magna."
Brian smiled then shook Magna's hand. "The attack just now was really strong. If I hadn't defended in time, I probably would have been seriously injured."
"Haha, strong my foot, you're just joking."
Magna only now regained his cheerful mood when Brian was not arrogant as he thought. "Just now, I saw it all. You only used one reinforcement spell then took mana to cover your whole body to defend. You didn't even use a defensive spell, so don't be modest."
"That's right, you are much stronger than Magna!"
The remaining Black Bull members also walked to the two of them, and the person who spoke was Luck; he now looked extremely excited.
"Hey, hey, you didn't use full force when fighting Magna, right? How about fighting me a match?"
"No, sorry but I think I won't fight you right now. Let's do it another time."
"That's a promise!"
Brian left Magna's shoulder; he started to get to know each member of the Black Bull under the satisfied gaze of Captain Yami.
Brian's attitude toward everyone in the Black Bull was not distant at all; he also did not show any arrogance or coldness in communicating with the members of the Squad. With this, Yami could be somewhat at ease when Brian joined his Squad.
'Now there is only one more worrisome person…'
Yami's gaze glanced slightly toward one side of the Black Bull base; not only him, but Brian also looked toward that direction; this action of Brian did not escape his sharpness.
"Get to know your teammates, I'm busy now."
Yami left a sentence like that then went into the base; in just a split second, he had decided to let this happen as naturally as possible.
"Magna, after finishing, remember to introduce our base to the new guy."
"Yes, sir!"
Magna immediately accepted the mission Yami assigned to him; he turned to Brian. "Now, let me introduce each person for you to know…"
Under Magna's enthusiasm, Brian quickly got to know the other members of the Black Bull. And throughout that entire process, Brian's gaze was always glancing in a direction above the base.
"Hmph…"
A small "humph" sound, not clear who it was from, was heard right as Brian looked.